a quickies guide to adam lambert
runzu saw the Rolling Stone outtakes of Adam and demanded to know who this awesome gorgeous person was. So I told her I would spam her with links, and she requested a post, and since she is awesome and I like pulling people into my new obsessions, here we go! (one more time!)
I think Jacob pretty accurately describes my initial reaction to Adam:
And I hate him because dude, calm down. You are everything people should and do hate about Broadway. Literally. But really, I love him because he is what you call "inner-directed." There's lots of people who are just so into being themselves, whatever that means, and most of the time that means being just enough of themselves so that people won't murder them, or being what other people have told them are themselves to bring them down from the actual crazy that their actual selves would cause them to be, which is how you get a Danny Noriega.
...He is not really very attractive, if you take it apart. His skin, I'm going to stop mentioning because enough already, but then there's his stupid girl hair and all the necklaces and the prancing. Oh, Lord, the prancing. But he's definitely a person who is attractive because they are awesome, not because their face is particularly special. And then there's the whole sex thing he's doing, which is basically like an advertisement for this thing called sex, like have you heard about it, which was another main reason I hated Constantine. But there's something balancing it out a little bit. Maybe because he honestly seems like he knows what he's doing, or finds the blatant sex stuff hilarious -- which we know he does -- or just the "you know you've thought about it," kind of offhanded willingness to raise the bar Constantine set so long ago. It's like I always tell my sister: "Sometimes slutty is good, because boys are dumb."
But his voice is good, and can do backflips and your laundry at the same damn time, which is impressive. He has no sense of shame whatsoever, which makes me nervous but serves you well in this kind of game. He seems brilliant and unbearable and up his own ass, which are all attractive qualities. And slutty is, again, good. So I guess... I sort of have a crush on this little performance. Yeah, I gotta say: Put it all together and I am buying it. Or am I? I don't know. It's just ... weird. I'm sorry I keep spinning my wheels here, but I feel weird and crazy.
So yes, Adam makes me feel weird and crazy. Here are some video examples of why:
"Satisfaction": So yes. I saw this and was like, why is this gay dude trying to freak me through my TV? Also, do I care why? No, no I don't. I will just enjoy the freaking. YES INDEED.
"Black or White": this performance, while not his best vocal, I felt really made me think about the meaning of this song, and also made me realize that this is a guy who isn't going to go the Clay Aiken route. He's not hiding ANYTHING. His hair is empty of secrets.
Ring of Fire: Um yeah. As people on twitter and musicboxgirl can attest to, this performance made me WEIRD and CRAZY and I couldn't tell if I loved it or hated it but I definitely knew that I loved Adam for doing something so weird and crazy and turning Ring of Fire into a song that sounds like it'd be in a Bollywood softcore porno. YES.
"Tracks of My Tears": I seriously cried watching this the first time.
"Mad World": I cried during this, too.
"Feeling Good": The steps. The suit. THAT NOTE AT THE END. He seriously makes me feel crazy.
"Whole Lotta Love": And then he sang Led Zepplin. And promised to give every inch of his love. Um. YES PLEASE.
"A Change Is Gonna Come": So he sang this the week before the Prop 8 ruling. And it just. I cried again. There are very few singers that can make me cry. But it's like... you could see the connection to the song, his own personal connection and you know, it just felt like a victory, that a gay man could come on American Idol, on FOX no less, and not hide his sexuality away, and not neuter himself or censor himself, and that America would keep voting for him. Because a change is gonna come, damnit. KNOW HOPE.
And then, once Idol was over, he was unleashed onto the press. He gave awesome interviews. Like This one from Idolatry where he talks about Bill O'Reilly finding pictures of him on the internet of him making out with boys. And then! He got the cover of Rolling Stone where he said things like:
"There are so many old-fashioned ways of looking at things, and if we want to be a progressive society, we have to start thinking in a different way. There's the old industry idea that you should just make sexuality a non-issue, just say your private life's your private life, and not talk about it. But that's bullshit, because private lives don't exist anymore for celebrities: they just don't. I don't want to be looking over my shoulder all the time, thinking I have to hide, being scared of being found out, putting on a front, having a beard, going down the red carpet with some chick who is posing as my girlfriend. That's not cool, that's not being a rock star. I can't do that."
And this:
"I love it this season when girls went crazy for me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s all hot. Just because I’m not sticking it in there doesn’t mean that I don’t find it beautiful."
And also this:
"Going into Idol, I assumed, ‘OK, people are going to talk.’ I mean, I’ve been living in LA for 8 years as a gay man, I’ve been at clubs drunk making out wih somebody in the corner. But photographic evidence? Didn’t count on that. Wasn’t ready for that. I’ve only dressed in drag three or four times-and of course I took pictures, because I looked amazing-but I don’t tuck and wear breasts, that’s not me. Sucking my boy’s face? Yes, that I will own."
And this:
Discrimination, though it's usually minor, is a fact of his life. Just the other day, and American Idol chauffeur told him that he had no problem with him, "because at least you're not girly," Lambert shudders. "Man, it's so ignorant," he says. "Why can't some men have strong feminine sides? Does that make them less of a man? I don't know why our society has such an emphasis on masculinity and femininity-it's really gross. I don't think you're truly sexy until you don't care about that."
And finally:
"Middle America may think that what I am is gay, but here in Hollywood, gay guys are all about trying to fit in-they're obsessed with looking and acting hetero. Clay Aiken's gay, and I'm gay, and we couldn't be more different. The only thing that's the same about everyone in the gay community is that we're gay. Do we have anything in common besides the fact that we like dick? Why can't we just talk about a human community?"
INDEED sir.
Okay the end. It is lunchtime. I am sure poor runzu is sorry she asked now! Ahaha.
I think Jacob pretty accurately describes my initial reaction to Adam:
And I hate him because dude, calm down. You are everything people should and do hate about Broadway. Literally. But really, I love him because he is what you call "inner-directed." There's lots of people who are just so into being themselves, whatever that means, and most of the time that means being just enough of themselves so that people won't murder them, or being what other people have told them are themselves to bring them down from the actual crazy that their actual selves would cause them to be, which is how you get a Danny Noriega.
...He is not really very attractive, if you take it apart. His skin, I'm going to stop mentioning because enough already, but then there's his stupid girl hair and all the necklaces and the prancing. Oh, Lord, the prancing. But he's definitely a person who is attractive because they are awesome, not because their face is particularly special. And then there's the whole sex thing he's doing, which is basically like an advertisement for this thing called sex, like have you heard about it, which was another main reason I hated Constantine. But there's something balancing it out a little bit. Maybe because he honestly seems like he knows what he's doing, or finds the blatant sex stuff hilarious -- which we know he does -- or just the "you know you've thought about it," kind of offhanded willingness to raise the bar Constantine set so long ago. It's like I always tell my sister: "Sometimes slutty is good, because boys are dumb."
But his voice is good, and can do backflips and your laundry at the same damn time, which is impressive. He has no sense of shame whatsoever, which makes me nervous but serves you well in this kind of game. He seems brilliant and unbearable and up his own ass, which are all attractive qualities. And slutty is, again, good. So I guess... I sort of have a crush on this little performance. Yeah, I gotta say: Put it all together and I am buying it. Or am I? I don't know. It's just ... weird. I'm sorry I keep spinning my wheels here, but I feel weird and crazy.
So yes, Adam makes me feel weird and crazy. Here are some video examples of why:
"Satisfaction": So yes. I saw this and was like, why is this gay dude trying to freak me through my TV? Also, do I care why? No, no I don't. I will just enjoy the freaking. YES INDEED.
"Black or White": this performance, while not his best vocal, I felt really made me think about the meaning of this song, and also made me realize that this is a guy who isn't going to go the Clay Aiken route. He's not hiding ANYTHING. His hair is empty of secrets.
Ring of Fire: Um yeah. As people on twitter and musicboxgirl can attest to, this performance made me WEIRD and CRAZY and I couldn't tell if I loved it or hated it but I definitely knew that I loved Adam for doing something so weird and crazy and turning Ring of Fire into a song that sounds like it'd be in a Bollywood softcore porno. YES.
"Tracks of My Tears": I seriously cried watching this the first time.
"Mad World": I cried during this, too.
"Feeling Good": The steps. The suit. THAT NOTE AT THE END. He seriously makes me feel crazy.
"Whole Lotta Love": And then he sang Led Zepplin. And promised to give every inch of his love. Um. YES PLEASE.
"A Change Is Gonna Come": So he sang this the week before the Prop 8 ruling. And it just. I cried again. There are very few singers that can make me cry. But it's like... you could see the connection to the song, his own personal connection and you know, it just felt like a victory, that a gay man could come on American Idol, on FOX no less, and not hide his sexuality away, and not neuter himself or censor himself, and that America would keep voting for him. Because a change is gonna come, damnit. KNOW HOPE.
And then, once Idol was over, he was unleashed onto the press. He gave awesome interviews. Like This one from Idolatry where he talks about Bill O'Reilly finding pictures of him on the internet of him making out with boys. And then! He got the cover of Rolling Stone where he said things like:
"There are so many old-fashioned ways of looking at things, and if we want to be a progressive society, we have to start thinking in a different way. There's the old industry idea that you should just make sexuality a non-issue, just say your private life's your private life, and not talk about it. But that's bullshit, because private lives don't exist anymore for celebrities: they just don't. I don't want to be looking over my shoulder all the time, thinking I have to hide, being scared of being found out, putting on a front, having a beard, going down the red carpet with some chick who is posing as my girlfriend. That's not cool, that's not being a rock star. I can't do that."
And this:
"I love it this season when girls went crazy for me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s all hot. Just because I’m not sticking it in there doesn’t mean that I don’t find it beautiful."
And also this:
"Going into Idol, I assumed, ‘OK, people are going to talk.’ I mean, I’ve been living in LA for 8 years as a gay man, I’ve been at clubs drunk making out wih somebody in the corner. But photographic evidence? Didn’t count on that. Wasn’t ready for that. I’ve only dressed in drag three or four times-and of course I took pictures, because I looked amazing-but I don’t tuck and wear breasts, that’s not me. Sucking my boy’s face? Yes, that I will own."
And this:
Discrimination, though it's usually minor, is a fact of his life. Just the other day, and American Idol chauffeur told him that he had no problem with him, "because at least you're not girly," Lambert shudders. "Man, it's so ignorant," he says. "Why can't some men have strong feminine sides? Does that make them less of a man? I don't know why our society has such an emphasis on masculinity and femininity-it's really gross. I don't think you're truly sexy until you don't care about that."
And finally:
"Middle America may think that what I am is gay, but here in Hollywood, gay guys are all about trying to fit in-they're obsessed with looking and acting hetero. Clay Aiken's gay, and I'm gay, and we couldn't be more different. The only thing that's the same about everyone in the gay community is that we're gay. Do we have anything in common besides the fact that we like dick? Why can't we just talk about a human community?"
INDEED sir.
Okay the end. It is lunchtime. I am sure poor runzu is sorry she asked now! Ahaha.