For My Entertainment

I just finished watching Adam Lambert's performance at the American Music Awards. Six months had passed since the last time I saw an Adam Lambert performance and as much as I remember loving every single one of his songs on American Idol, I'd somehow forgotten just how exciting he is when he's performing.

I have to confess that I haven't yet watched the rest of the show. I recorded it mostly just for Adam and he's all I've watched so far. I'll probably check the rest out tomorrow. Going by in fast forward mode, it looked like there were some interesting performances.

Adam certainly didn't disappoint! I hadn't realized that he was going to be the grand finale of the evening, but he definitely ended things on a high note. I really like his first single, the title track from For Your Entertainment, and the performance was deliciously Adam: sexy, theatrical, and with an S&M edge to it. All of it, of course, revolving around that amazing voice of his.

No doubt Aaron Hicklin will disapprove of the fact that Adam danced with and fondled female dancers during the performance, but he also lead a couple of half naked men around on leashes, danced with male dancers, and gave a full on, open mouthed kiss to a keyboard player who I think was male, though it was a bit hard to tell.

In other words, there was nothing safe or low key about it. Adam doesn't have to tone it down or worry about a voting audience any more. He is most definitely here for our entertainment, and I hope he continues to push the envelope and deliver performances like this for a long time to come.

His first CD comes out tomorrow, by the way. I can't wait!

UPDATE:

I live on the West Coast and the moment in the performance where Adam shoved a male dancer's face in his crotch, simulating oral sex, was edited out. We got a shot of the drums at that moment instead!

So, I had no idea until today, the day after, about that moment. It seems to be garnering a lot of attention, along with the (confirmed) male/male kiss. Just reading the gay blogs and the comments on them this morning, things seem to be about half and half, with one side loving Adam for pushing the envelope and the other finding it everything from 'tacky' to 'a setback' for the image of gays.

I find that completely ridiculous, by the way. First of all, the kiss Adam gave his male keyboardist is a stunt along the same lines as the Madonna/Britney kiss a few years ago, and Adam himself noted that there is a double standard when it comes to what two women are allowed to do as opposed to two men:

"I do feel like there's a bit of a double standard in the entertainment community, on television, on radio. I feel like women performers have been pushing the envelope, especially, for the past 20 years. And all of the sudden a male does it and everybody goes 'Oh, we can't show that on TV.' For me, that's a form of discrimination and a double standard. And that's too bad."

Adam is helping to break down that double standard, you have to admit that at least! I also think the fact that Adam is openly gay lends to the homophobia behind the reactions. When two straight female pop stars do something like this, it's titillating. If a straight male pop star had done it, there would still be a backlash, but I doubt it would be as extreme. Homophobes know Adam likes to kiss boys in real life, so they feel especially insulted that he did so on TV.

As for the 'simulated oral sex', I think it fit the tone of the performance. I think we Americans in general are far too prudish about such things. It's not like it aired during the dinner hour, either, it was nearly 11 p.m.

Adam certainly knows how to get people's attention. Even during American Idol he seemed to be someone that people either loved or hated, and that will obviously be the way it is throughout his career.