Adam Lambert: Poptimist of the Year?

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Not really. But yeah, new Adam Lambert strikes me as a rare instance of a mainstream US artist taking on what I can only think of as "Eurovision style," a hodgepodge of hyper-glam, synth-pop, torch songs, and soarin' male falsetto. Somewhere between BWO and the Ark, or something?

Anyway, dramaqueenage abounds and the whole album is worth a listen -- as girlboymusic put it, "simultaneously mediocre and fabulous." Its mediocrity scans to me as workmanlike, but it's a different sort of work than I'm used to from American artists.

Do any other major American artists from the past few years sound anything at all like this? All I'm coming up with is Scissor Sisters -- but anyway they're way more popular in Europe.

Obvious echoes of Lady GaGa, who probably deserves some mention in this convo, in fuh-fuh-fuh-"Fever":

Synth-struttin':

No-that's-not-The-Feeling pop in "Pick U Up":

Etc. So what the heck is going on?

Comments

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

GaGa's demo of "Fever:"

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I knew it and yet I did not fact check it. (And by "knew it" I mean "heard vague similarities," but did not seek any track listing info etc. so heyyyy for all I know the Scissor Sisters produced the whole album and the Feeling was the backing band!)

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Nope, just the teenpop (er, in the broadest sense of the word) regulars -- Greg Wells and Rob Cavallo -- plus Max Martin (duh) and an assorted cast of characters that include Gaga, Rivers Cuomo, and Justin Hawkins among others. *Headsmack* forgot about probable Darkness in Adam's DNA...

[fugitivemotel.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, how about Semi Precious Weapons (http://www.semipreciousweapons.com/)?

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Everyone I know who likes Adam Lambert does not like pop. They talk about pop in context of him and what it means that he's in pop and etc but since they have no interest in the rest of pop I find this somewhat offputting.

With the whole sexuality ambiguity he's a heartthrob for the fanfic generation with enough showmanship to create some essence of popstarness but his music appears to be atbest a weak vessel for his other celebrity. I've only heard him sing twice so might be being overly judgemental but frankly, Max Martin can fvck right off in my book and if that's the sort of thing people want then blergh.

Apparently he got his c0ck out at the AMAs or something?

/grump

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Nb: if anyone attempts to accuse me of homophobia for not liking Adam Lambert, I swear I will combust.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're homophobic, I just think not liking Adam Lambert suggests that you irrationally hate all gay people.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Still can't figure out who that dude on the phone in your LJ pic is :(

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

I like Adam Lambert. I also like pop. WHAT NOW?

More importantly, I am waving my arms around like the Lost in Space robot at your telling Max Martin to fuck off immediately after dismissing people who don't like pop.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Waah what is wrong with Max Martin? He did my #th favourite song of the year (Britney's '3') though I guess you mean that early 90s boyband-Britney slsh-swurp-BING sound.

I am going to go and listen to some Adam Lambert now to form my opinion, brb.

[koganbot]

"Fever": High notes sound more like Waxl and Crüe than like Darkness and Mika, though I'd be hard put to explain why. But it means he won't merely blink his eyelid til the tear runs down your ear, he'll squeeze whatever he has to squeeze 'til the tears run down your leg.

"Strut": Eurobeat or no, he's veering kinda Aerosmith, but the track is too static - or maybe that's just the fault of the YouTube rip - so let's say he ought to be veering Aerosmith but he needs a "Sweet Emotion" or "Back In The Saddle" or "Dream On," so here it sounds a bit like he's attempting rock as a foreign language.

"Pick U Up": Seems very emo late-'90s though without the wall of rock; this is the Rivers Cuomo track, right? Doesn't quite feel like he owns this one either, but he does deliver the thrills.

Hard to get a bead on.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I may have deleted something about how, unlike Scissor Sisters (and the Darkness) there's no hint of a "post-" in front of whatever it is Lambert is doing, which might be why the signifiers seem to come out of the 80's (among other places) without nostalgia goggles. It's a very strange album.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Yep, definitely deleted it -- couldn't formulate the thought at the time.

[richaod.livejournal.com]

I did a bit of a mini-review:

"This album REALLY needs to be renamed "The State of White American Popular Music in 2009". The mishmash of some of pop's biggest artists contributing songs - from Pink and Lady Gaga to Matt Bellamy and Rivers Cuomo - means the album overall doesn't have much of an artistic vision on Lambert's behalf. As a showcase for the songwriters, it's obviously uneven - the low points being Linda Perry's typically uninspired facsimile-pop, and the highs Pink's "Whataya Want From Me" - a perfect fit for Lambert's glam-inspired style. On the other hand, Matt Bellamy's theatrical "Soaked" sounds EXACTLY like a Muse cover, which would be utterly laughable if it wasn't so convincingly sung and produced.

As much as the inconsistency stops For Your Entertainment from being anywhere near cohesive, it's proof that pop on a wider scale is alive and well - and more importantly, still creative. If this is where pop music at its most high-profile is at, I'm definitely looking forward to where it's going."

And I thought I was onto something, but then you mention a Eurovision vibe and I start to second-guess the whole thing...