Exclusive
Melissa Etheridge to Adam Lambert: "Don't Believe Everything They Say"
F Micelotta/American Idol 2009/Getty Images; Lester Cohen / Getty Images
Melissa Etheridge predicted something like this might happen.
She spoke as if she were reading a crystal ball when we chatted at the American Music Awards before Adam Lambert's controversial sex-charged performance.
We asked Ms. Etheridge what advice she'd give to the out and proud 27-year-old glam rock Idol star. Little did we know that her well-seasoned words were a foreshadowing of things to come later that night...
Exclusive
Adam Lambert: Dating? No. Clubbing? Yes!
Josephine Santos, PacificCoastNews.com
Adam Lambert and his boyfriend, Drake LaBry, may have recently called it quits, but that doesn't mean the singer is on the market.
"I'm so busy with all this stuff and with the record that I'm really just focused on the music right now," Lambert told us last night at TV Guide magazine's Hot List Party at the SLS Hotel.
Not that he doesn't enjoy having a good time. Lambert was spotted after the TV Guide bash hanging at Hollywood's Bardot nightclub. In addition to chatting with Samantha Ronson, I'm told he appeared quite cozy with "a blond model-like guy in his thirties."
OK, now we can talk about the music...
Exclusive
Kris Allen: Adam Lambert Doin' Just Fine Post-Breakup
Janette Pellegrini/Getty Images, FOX
Kris Allen says there's no need to worry about Adam Lambert after his split from boyfriend Drake LaBry.
"He's doing good," the American Idol winner, 24, told us yesterday at the People's Choice Awards nominations announcement. "He's obviously not completely happy about it, but I think it was just something that needed to happen."
As for any competition brewing between Allen and Lambert...
Kris Allen's Time Is Running Out
It's no fancy-schmancy album cover art, but it sure is pretty.
American Idol champ Kris Allen has unveiled the music video for his first single, "Live Like We're Dying," and overall, it's pretty standard. A guitar-wielding Allen performs his song in the middle of the desert on a larger-than-life-size digital clock, while countless unexplained tattered and torn curtains blow in the wind around him.
You know, that old chestnut.
The former Idoler does what he can to turn up the heat on the small screen, at one point literally throwing what looks to be a gigantic fireball.
On the other hand, as videos of the coffeehouse variety go, it's not too shabby.
You decide: Does this debut make a big splash or is it just another drop in the bucket?
________
Wait, there's more. Check out The Big Picture gallery for everthing happening in Hollywood today.
Glambert Debuts New Single: Are You Entertained?
Just in time for Halloween, the Glampire himself has loosed upon the ever-critical Interwebs the first single/title track from his debut album.
Described by Adam Lambert as "dance music with a glam-rock shuffle beat," "For Your Entertainment" premiered on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show this morning and is currently streaming on Lambert's official site.
While the cut may not show off the American Idol runner-up's pipes as much as his reality stint did, it more than defined his style.
And ferocity...
Adam Lambert: Leave My Album Cover Alone!
http://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/5232323034; rcarecords.com
Call it the twinkle defense.
The glam, campy and overly dramatic Adam Lambert has confounded his critics by releasing an apparently indefensible album cover that's (wait for it) glam, campy and overly dramatic.
Who saw that one coming?
But the American Idol runner-up has heard his haters' battle cries and is rallying to his own defense, taking to Twitter to justify—but absolutely not apologize for—his artistic vision as rendered on his inexplicably controversial For Your Entertainment debut.
And for those who find it a bit too outlandish, well, that just so happens to be the look he was going for.
"Thank you to those who appreciate and understand that the album cover is deliberately campy," he wrote this morning. "It's an omage [sic] to the past. It IS ridiculous.
"For those that don't get it: oh well…Glad to have gotten your attention," he added. "Androgyny. Rock n Roll."
And, of course, controversy. Like any good rock 'n' roll star.
(Originally published Oct. 29, 2009, at 11:01 a.m. PT)
________
Does Adam Lambert swing both ways?
Check Out Adam Lambert's Artistic Vision
rcarecords.com
We've always known subtlety isn't Adam Lambert's speciality.
The glamtastic former Idoler has unveiled the cover of his upcoming debut album, For Your Entertainment, due out Nov. 24, and if you're of the camp that thinks more is more, this artwork's for you.
From the blue shininess that does double duty as a hairy fedora and fingerless gloves to the hallucinatory, starry background, we figure Lambert had one of two things on his mind when he posed for this inarguably pretty picture:
"Look into my eyes and feel my music" or "Ha ha, look how dramatic I am!"
He told E! News last month that the folks at 19 Entertainment were being "completely supportive and collaborative" as they worked to facilitate his "artistic vision."
Well, without having heard the songs, we can't thank the producers yet, but hats off to their hair-and-makeup department.
________
Call us crazy, but something about this album makes us ask the question, Who's Cuter Without Makeup?
Adam Lambert: Not Above Kissing Women
Alexei Hay for DETAILS
We blame Lady Gaga for this.
After working with her on his new album (the rather lamely named For Your Entertainment), Adam Lambert now says his lips are made for smooching—either sex.
"I am gay, but I like kissing women sometimes," he admits in the new issue of Details. "Women are pretty. It doesn't mean I'm necessarily sleeping with them."
This little revelation came after a groupie encounter during the Idols Live Tour.
Mark Ballas' Girlfriend Is Ready to Rumba
John M. Heller/Getty Images
Will Mark Ballas bring his real-life romance to the dance floor?
The Dancing With the Stars pro hoofer's girlfriend, singer Joanna Pacitti, tells us she'd love to compete on ABC's hit cha-cha competition show.
"I would love to do it," Pacitti, 25, told us at this weekend's Project Angel Food benefit in L.A. "I love watching him. It brings the biggest smile to my face, so I can't imagine how happy I'd be dancing with him."
The two-time disco-ball-trophy-winning Ballas, 23, is in favor of the idea, too...
Exclusive
Katharine McPhee: I Wouldn't Be Surprised If Simon Ditched American Idol, Too
Kevin Winter/ Getty Images for PCA; AP Photo/Matt Sayles
Katharine McPhee wasn't exactly shocked to learn that Paula Abdul was leaving American Idol.
"It doesn't surprise me, because it wouldn't surprise me if Simon Cowell was leaving the show," McPhee told me at last night's benefit concert for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank and Feeding America.
"They've all been on the show for so many years…Do what you've got to do," she said. "People try to figure out the real stories and I'm like, 'Who cares? She wants to go.' "
In fact, McPhee thinks it's time for the show to shake things up a bit with someone like Ellen DeGeneres...
Exclusive
Adam Lambert Swears He's No Idol Puppet
Ray Mickshaw / FOX
Adam Lambert is like a modern-day Braveheart.
American Idol and 19 Entertainment may be putting out his debut album, but they're not taking his creative freedom—or so he claims.
"I think there's a little bit of a misconception out in the public that people that come out of American Idol are puppetted and kind of controlled," he tells E! News exclusively. "That hasn't been my experience one bit. They've been completely supportive and collaborative with me and all the powers that be are really trying to facilitate my artistic vision."
In addition to working with A-list producers RedOne (Sean Kingston's "Fire Burning"), Linda Perry (Christina Aguilera's "Keeps Getting' Better") and Ryan Tedder (the man behind the controversial Beyoncé and Kelly Clarkson tracks), Lambert is writing some of his own stuff.
"For a handful of these songs, I've gotten to write on them," he says. "So I really feel I've gotten to inject a lot of this music on the album with my own personal vocal stylings and my own lyrical content. A lot of it talks about stuff I really care about and that I find interesting, so that feels really good."
In addition to his excitement about his album's debut on Nov. 24, Lambert can't wait to see Ellen DeGeneres take a on a certain verbose judge come January…
Simon Cowell's Gone Soft (and Long-Winded) in His Old Age
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images
Someone needs to pull the pen from Simon Cowell's fingers.
While we love it when the crotchety American Idol judge decides to air his dirty laundry in public (that Susan Boyle botch list was a classic), is an absurdly lengthy diatribe really necessary?
On the cusp of his 50th birthday next week, Cowell wrote a letter to himself published in yesterday's Daily Mail in the U.K. In it, he looks back on the past few decades, scolding himself for poor decisions he made in the '80s and '90s and patting himself on the back for the good ones.
It would be a good, self-deprecating, third-person about-face, but regardless of what he says, nearly 3,500 words makes for nothing but a puff (as in puff, the magic ego) piece.
The Big Picture
All Growed Up Guess Zac has officially adopted the smoldering look, 'cause we haven't seen a smile in weeks
More PhotosMost Commented
- Bitch-Back! Breaking News—Johnny's a Hottie (916)
- Rob and Kristen "Relaxed" Together in NYC (673)
- Costars and Suits Give Robsten Their Blessings! (650)
- Rob Flies Back to L.A. With Kristen (545)
- Truth, Lies & Ted: Twilight Special (478)
- Why Won't Sarah Palin Go Away? (448)
- Adam Lambert: For Your Entertainment—or His? (437)
- Is New Moon Even Good? (425)
- Review: New Moon Is Either Just Fine or Way Mopey, Depending On Who You Are (363)
- Bitch-Back! Is There Drama on the Gossip Girl Set? (345)
Top 10 Stories
- Dancing With the Stars: A New Winner Raises the Disco Ball
- J.Lo's Ex: There's "Maybe One Spanking," but I'm Not Selling a Sex Tape
- Nicole Richie Back in Her Own Bed
- GMA Doesn't Want Adam Lambert's Sloppy Seconds...Cue The Early Show!
- Goodbye or Good Riddance to Jon & Kate Plus 8?
- Oprah's Mom Settles Clothes Call Lawsuit
- Rihanna Sings Threesome, Avoids Going Naked on GMA
- Michael Lohan Runs Out of Family Members to Alienate, Starts Leaking Jon Gosselin Tapes
- It's a Sexy Job, but Adam Lambert's Gotta Do It!
- Donny Discovers Parts He Never Had Before for Dancing With the Stars Finale
Fashion Police
Sloppy SuitingGwyneth dares to experiment with hard-to-wear satin, but the result is dull and unpolished
More Photos
-
For the Love of Ray J, Which Is Apparently Considerable
Cashmere measures up ... but just barely more >> -
-
Thanksgiving Forecast: Not Even Turkey Can Spoil the Day
Death and destruction may abound elsewhere, but it's a Good Day L.A.! more >>
Fun & Games
Latest Movie Reviews
Shop
-
All New Shop E! Online New site, new stuff!
-
Chelsea Lately Coffee Mug Check out the new Chelsea Lately section at Shop E! Online for more
Get Your E! News Now
