Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment -- it's really quite good!
I spend a lot of time watching and thinking about and writing about American Idol—for many lofty sociological reasons, but mostly, really, because I enjoy the show. That said, Kelly Clarkson aside, I rarely listen to any music made by Idol singers once they have graduated from the show. Because, of course, they’re garbage. HOWEVER, my affection for last season’s Adam Lambert transcended my biases against Idol-produced artists. As I watched Adam, week after week, I grew convinced that he would make a record I truly loved. He wasn’t a contestant; he was an artist.
And now—months after his second-place finish to Kris Allen, a show-biz lifetime since the confetti and pyrotechnics ushered Adam off our TV sets—his album is here. (Cue hysteria.) But rather than just listen to it in the privacy of my own home, I have decided to share my inaugural spin of Adam’s much-hyped debut longplayer, For Your Entertainment, with you, dear Reader—because you were here with me through the long season of Idol, because you too have been waiting for this.
Unless you weren’t, or haven’t. In which case: Thanks a lot! Some friend!
No, it’s OK, I forgive you. Let’s look past that ugly quarrel…by listening to the first record from the man who finished second on the ninth season of Idol: Ladies and gentlemen…Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment!
[presses play]
1. “Music Again” OK, jumping right in! I’m excited! Well, not really. I’m ambivalent. But let’s get to the music! Hmm. Kind of an electro feel here. Some nice melodic changes on the bridge. Wait, wait…oh…oooh…wait…I love this! This chorus is GREAT. I’m going to listen to this over and over again. It, like, scratches an itch or something. You know that feeling? Like I didn’t even know I had this itch, now here’s this chorus and all of a sudden I can’t stop scratching it? No?
2. “For Your Entertainment” I’ve heard this song before. Not metaphorically. This was on his website or something. This is the single, right? I liked it the first time, and I still like it. He’s doing the crazy vocal acrobatics, which feel a little out of place here. But, on the whole: I like it!
3. “Whataya Want From Me” Ballad, I guess? Slow song. Slower-ish. Man, I just love it right away. I’m an easy mark. Is this the cut Max Martin wrote? Kinda sounds like his style. I love this song, too! This is already the best album I’ve heard from any Idol finalist! And I’m only halfway through the third song! Take that, Phil Stacey!
4. “Strut” Y’know, a few years ago, this sound was really cool—this sleazy, Goldfrapp-y, Gary Glitter-y guitar thing—but now it’s a little played. This is the first skippable track so far; it’s not bad, it’s just….perfunctory? It’s OK.
5. “Soaked” Starts off like Meatloaf, big, weeping, sweeping strings and piano, then Adam goes all theater on us. Woof. I’m tempted to just skip this. This is why theater folk shouldn’t make pop music—this right here is exactly the reason. These tendencies are unconscionable. Let’s just hope he’s got it out of his system.
6. “Sure Fire Winners” Here we go, straight back to the dance music. Kind of Lady GaGa-ish. Is this the song he wrote with her? He wrote a song with her, right? I have to check the credits. This is pretty good. His taste level is obviously really high, but it lacks the twisted-pervert element that makes GaGa so cool. Maybe it’s because you know from watching Idol that Adam’s a really sweet guy, whereas GaGa is a completely enigmatic fetish freak. I love both of them, but GaGa makes this stuff work. Adam has a long way to go before he reaches her level of depravity.
7. “A Loaded Smile” Spacey, ambient, a little Tears for Fears-y. This was definitely his wheelhouse on Idol, these goth-y, techno-y ballads. This is probably the best use of his voice so far. It’s weird how awesome this sort of wailing vocal insanity can be on Idol, and how annoying it is in real life. Although it’s occasionally annoying on Idol, too. So…there ya have it!
8. “If I Had You” Am I really only halfway through this album? Seems hard to believe. I wonder how frequently I listen to albums straight through on first listen. It can’t be all that often. I like to skip around, listen to certain songs over, and then dig in. But I also think albums are too long, generally speaking. Ten songs is perfect; 12 is my max. This one is…14? Great.
9. “Pick U Up” Track 9…time for some filler! Actually, this might be the Max Martin cut. Kinda has his fingerprints on it. So…potential third single!
10. “Fever” Wait, maybe this is the GaGa track? Anyway, this is very Scissor Sisters-y. Maybe this is actually written with the guy from Scissor Sisters? I like Scissor Sisters, but I can’t say I was watching Idol for weeks on end, thinking, “All these hours will be well spent if only another Scissor Sisters emerges from the pack.”
11. “Sleepwalker” Another synthy ballad. Are these really ballads? Technically speaking, I mean. How is “ballad” defined? This is like an electro ballad, like Depeche Mode or The Killers; not, like, a Bryan Adams ballad. Anyway this is amazing. Like, perfect. Dark, cool, catchy, with this sick “Umbrella”-ish echo-y chorus. Mmm. Perfect for his voice; perfect for his whole eyeliner-y, nail-polished Los Angeles Adamness. Just perfect. I love this! I’m back to loving this record! You have no idea how happy this makes me!
12. “Aftermath” Ugh. Forget everything I just said, as we veer into Bon Jovi/Nickelback arena-rock world. I guess Adam is better at this sort of cheesy power-balladry than Daughtry, because Adam is better than Daughtry, but this is so exactly the antithesis of “Sleepwalker.” It’s pompous and patronizing, as if he’s passionately singing from the edge of a cliff, with his arms outstretched and his shirt billowing in the wind. That is an actual (yet unnamed) genre of music: windswept, shirt-billowing power balladry. And I hate it.
13. “Broken Open” Oh, this is “Mad World.” Not “Mad World,” but this is Clive Davis telling Adam to do another “Mad World.” Why not just do “Mad World”? I mean, we’re 13 songs in—it’s not like anyone would care, would they? Texturally, this is really nice—all glitchy ambient, like The Notwist or Postal Service or something—but…so was “Mad World.”
14. “Time For Miracles” Hey, it’s that horrible song from 2012! Thank you, Adam, for stashing this at the end, so I can stop here! Thank you, dear Reader, for reading! Now let’s all go back and listen to “Music Again” some three dozen times!
[presses stop]
I’m mystified by the negative reviews. This is a great album.
Once “For your Entertainment” starts playing, to sit still, you would have to be dead.
Adam made EXACTLY the album he wanted. The details tell the story. The layered vocals. Outstanding. I suspect this album will be a much greater hit overseas than in this country.
I bet the reviewer will be amazed by the “depth” of Kris Allen. All that talent hidden in so much average.
Another dime a dozen singer, very little talent and needs a gimmick to gain the audience. His genre crossover is te gimmick. He’s nothing special.
Great, honest, stream-of-consciousness review. I think this album is really, really good. Easily the best Idol album. My favorites are Fever, and, since I love the theatrical stuff, Soaked. Fever needs to be a single, scissor sister or not. It’s so damn catchy!
Okay…so did you like the album or not? Doesn’t matter because Kelly Clarkson is the greatest Idol ever and forever.
Thanks for the comments! Apologies to all who didn’t like the stream-of-consciousness style — it wasn’t intended to be a “review,” per se, but one fan’s hyperactive and immediate reaction. I totally understand though; I’ll write a real review after a week or so with the record and post it here.
ANYWAY!
Spent all day listening to this record after penning my initial thoughts. So many strong songs. I checked all the writers credits after I had written the piece — had no idea Hawkins wrote “Music Again,” though it clearly is his style (and it’s no surprise I dug it so much, as I dug the Darkness, too). I was right with Martin and GaGa re. “Whataya Know” and “Fever,” respectively. “Whataya Know” might be my favorite track right now. And “Sleepwalker” keeps growing on me. Also had no idea Rivers Cuomo and Greg Wells wrote “Pick U Up.” When did they start writing together? I’m a big fan of both (but this feels a little generic to me). Also, Alex James is credited on “Sure Fire Winners” — is that Alex James from Blur? Because that would be so rad. Did not know Bellamy wrote “Soaked” — is that a Muse song, or did he write it for Adam? (My original draft had a Muse reference there, actually, but it was cut for space; for the record, I don’t like Muse, so it’s no shock I didn’t like that cut.)
Finally, Adam’s voice makes all this material better. It’s a terrific record; definitely the best album to come from Idol.
I know you were going for wacky cute but srsly this is a lame review. Thanks for being pos though. First of all you completely ignore each songs attributes. uh hello lyrics of FYE? Sure Fire Winners a really difficult song to sing and Adam himself said so and it’s shockingly seamless transitions could not be done by anyone else. Strut? wtf it has a message that he wrote and is totally TODAY with a nod to TRex. DUH yes Fever was Gaga written and she was in the STUDIO when he recorded it coaching him to go farther and farther. Pick U Up has the Rent Broadway style crescendo that brings tears to a real music lovers eyes and again, a vocal control (throughout the album) that is impossible to find in any other current mainstream artist. Thanks to Lambert’s gift and 17 years of vocal training including opera.
What kind of reviewer does stream of consciousness cray and makes uninformed comments particularly when they portend to be such an Idol tard and this is the single most awesomely unique album to come out of that lame show…with an artistic vison of Lambert tying together multi genre songs with the tie in being him and his creative direction on how the producers should produce it.
FAIL on the review, but thanks, really, sigh