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Vote for the Worst Album Review - Adam Lambert "For Your Entertainment"
Jennifer Hudson to Star in "Winnie"
Variety Magazine announced that Jennifer Hudson is going to star in "Winnie", a movie about the former wife of the famous South African President Nelson Mandela. The film begins production on May 30 and will follow Winnie Mandela's entire life, dealing with highlights such as her activism for her husband, and lowlights such as her later association with a bodyguard who murdered a 14 year old. Boomie will also be singing the theme song. Congrats, the movie sounds great!
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VFTW Radio will be taking a one week hiatus tonight, but tune back in next week on Wednesday, November 25 when we'll be live and discussing the inevitable failures of Adam Lambert's soon to be released album and American Music Awards performance.
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Editor in Chief of Out Magazine Mocks Adam Lambert and His Handlers
Oh, the excuses for this one are going to be priceless! It seems that Aaron Hicklin, Editor in Chief of Out Magazine, is calling out Adam Lambert for being a hypocrite in the very same issue that features Adam on the cover. Hilarious! And it's actually really funny. Here are some excerpts from the letter, which call out Adam and his record label/management (those fine Idol affiliated folks).
"We're curious whether you know that we made cover offers for you before American Idol was even halfway through its run. Apparently, Out was too gay, even for you. There was the issue of what it would do to your record sales, we were told."
"It's only because this cover is a group shot that includes a straight woman that your team would allow you to be photographed at all - albeit with the caveat that we must avoid making you look "too gay.""
"Much easier to stick you in Details, where your homosexuality can be neutralized by having you awkwardly grabbing a woman's breast and saying, "Women are pretty."... Imagine how much more radical it would have been to go down on a guy instead of that six-foot Barbie. We don't think you would have a problem with that - why should you?- but your record label would, and letting them dictate the terms is the very opposite of rock 'n' roll."
"The irony is that right now it would be easier to get Kris Allen to do a Solo cover shoot for us. But only because he's straight."
This Aaron guy is awesome! We're loving him for telling it like it is.
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Are Adam Lambert's Presale Numbers For His Album Unexpectedly High?
News is flying around the internet that Adam Lambert's presale numbers for his For Your Entertainment album are incredibly high. Let's break down what's actually being said:
November issue of Rolling Stone: "Pre-orders are through the roof", says Carl Mello of music chain Newbury Comics.
Entertainment Weekly, November 20: "A rep for Amazon.com tells EW that presales for that week are the highest of the year - and that Lambert has done better in pre-orders than any American Idol alum ever."
Remember, these are magazines. Their information is dated, probably at least a few weeks. Adam Lambert had great presale numbers over a month ago... but no one has been talking about the album since people actually got a listen to his music and saw his album cover. We're sure Adam will sell decently in his first week regardless, because most Idols do. His semi-fame and his rabid Sparkle Cows will see to it that he has a decent debut. Remember, even Taylor Hicks sold almost 300,000 copies of his album in its first week. We expect the album to tank in its second week. just as "Time for Miracles" did. Without strong radio play from a single, Adam can expect the same fate as Taylor.
So is Adam's album setting any records? No. The presale numbers are just higher than other Idols, not necessarily unexpectedly high. And presales don't completely determine an album's first week performance. Yes, Adam has a shot at debuting well in his first week, but this isn't guaranteeing anything. The Sparkle Cows are just grasping at straws to make it look like Adam is going to be a star. Which he won't. Again, VFTW is the voice of reason.
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Is Adam Lambert's Label Already Ditching "For Your Entertainment"?
We're not sure exactly what it means, but Adam Lambert's official site is touting "Adam's new single For Your Entertainment" and then "Adam's new single Whataya Want From Me". Have they already given up on "For Your Entertainment"? The irony is "Whataya Want From Me" is a much worse song, and the lyrics include "don't give up on me, I won't let you down." Too late. You can listen to the song above to judge. It's clearly a reject from Pink's last album.
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Kris Allen Performs "Live Like We're Dying" on Conan O'Brien Last Night
Adam Lambert's Single "For Your Entertainment" Fails To Chart in Its First Week
Wow, that's even worse than we expected. After "Time for Miracles" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #50 and then disappeared the week after, we expected a similar fate for his new single "For Your Entertainment". However, "For Your Entertainment" failed to even debut on the Hot 100 at all because it's so bad. It's currently on the Bubbling Under chart (for songs that aren't good enough to be in the top 100) at #107. Wow, that's pretty sad that his official single can't even top a bad movie song. Not even the rabid Sparkle Cows and their multiple iTunes accounts could help Adam debut in the top 100 songs of the week? It's not that hard to do. For comparison purposes, Rihanna's "Russian Roulette" debuted by selling 132,000 copies. Adam sold only 18,000. Where are all of the fans who voted for him on Idol? Did they finally realize he has no talent?
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Adam’s album is a sharp departure from his time on American Idol. Back then, he was playing it safe and barely experimented with style except in very protected, calculated ways. But now he’s letting his freak flag fly on this album. The only thing is, I didn’t think it would be so boring and formulaic. Songs like “Broken Open” beg me to ask the question why Kris Allen was considered the boring contestant on Idol if Adam can release dreck like this. And after learning Kara DioGuardi wrote a song called “Strut” for the album, I was expecting an unabashed, gaudy anthem. The song starts with the line, “I want to start a revolution”, but it never really launches. It seems that Adam should be asked why he should bother with a revolution when he can sing songs that Pink, Lady Gaga, and others were smart enough to reject from their own albums? I’m sure it sounded like a good idea to sing a Linda Perry song after she’s had success with many pop artists, but “A Loaded Smile” is just terribly tedious. It’s amazing to see someone who seems so preoccupied with appearing edgy singing dreck like this, because there’s absolutely nothing interesting or edgy about the song. I would normally excuse some bad songwriting due to the fact that the Idols have to turn these albums around quickly, but Adam got his pick of working with some very popular songwriters, so there really isn't any excuse.
The biggest problem with the album is that Adam views himself as a sex symbol and wants to brag about it on songs like “Sure Fire Winners”, “If I Had You”, and “For Your Entertainment”. “Sure Fire Winners”, possibly the worst song on the album, includes lyrics where Adam brags about his big gun shattering your scene and how everyone wants to ride on his rocket ship. And “For Your Entertainment” is just a Britney Spears reject that sounds ridiculous being sung by a male. If Adam is so comfortable with his sexuality, why does he insist on singing “lover” and “baby” rather than use male pronouns? It’s a contradiction that makes the album seem self-conscious. If you’re so open with your sexuality, why take the effort to gloss over it? It’s almost embarrassing being a gay man listening to this album and hearing the moments of discomfort, especially since he seems obsessed with selling himself as seductive.
To be fair, the album has some decent moments. The only problem is that the songs with real potential are usually ruined by Adam’s incessant cat-in-heat howling. “Pick U Up” is a definite standout that I actually enjoyed until the laughably horrible Broadway-style bridge and inevitable wailing. “Sleepwalker” is typical Ryan Tedder faux fanfare fodder that might blend in on the radio if it weren’t for the over the top chorus and inevitable wailing. And while “Music Again” is an incredibly flamboyant piece theatrical gelatin, it’s kind of fun in the vein of The Darkness… until, you guessed it, the inevitable wailing. Thus, there really isn’t one song that could really make it as a hit unless you like that sort of thing. I don’t, and I’d wager to guess most people won’t, because it sounds painful and forced. The screaming is incredibly polarizing and not really going to pick up any new fans, because it doesn’t fit into the pop bubble in which he has immersed himself.
So who is Adam Lambert? Apparently he’s not the rocker he tried to be on Idol, and he’s not the Broadway baby that helped him attain his pre-Idol success (although “Soaked” and a few other album tracks are nothing but glorified Broadway soundtrack songs). He’s a pop diva, which isn’t really a surprise. It’s just too bad he didn’t have the cajones to do this type of music on Idol, because then at least the record buying public would have had an idea what they were getting into. Adam wouldn’t have finished as high as second place in that case, but he might have had a career. “For Your Entertainment” is essentially ensuring that he’ll be regulated to being a Trivial Pursuit Entertainment Category question by 2012, and it's "Time for Miracles" (aka payola) to save him if at all possible. This album is just a collection of songs rejected by other singers, and it's obvious why the songs were rejected in the first place. By the time you hear Adam coo “no no no” in a baby voice during the song “Fever”, you’ll be ready to throw the album out the window unless you’re a Sparkle Cow with blinders on. The only real path to success here would be to release “Sleepwalker” or “Pick U Up”… though it’s a gamble that either would succeed on radio without some massive payola. Then, he should just record a new album. Because this one isn’t going to get Adam any attention, Lisa Frank inspired CD cover notwithstanding.
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