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Its here! And it sounds as good as it looks!!!

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This is so much fun

As I've mentioned before, this is my first time being a Glambert when a new album comes out. Usually I'm just trying to catch any little thing new on YouTube or catch the occasional new interview. Now I'm using VPN to watch Starstruck and catch interviews and performances in Australia. And of course listening to High Drama on a loop!

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"Adam Lambert was live"

Probably the second best thing I could see from Instagram on my phone. The best is "Adam Lambert is going live now." Unfortunately, he went live just after I started class, so I didn't even know I missed it until I got home.

Anyway. His live Monday I've already watched twice. I just love when he "gets on the soap box" about something. The way he talked about weight and body image is just so comforting and inspiring. I love how comfortable he is with himself.

I'm still working on that myself.

I've got a family history on my dad's side of type-2 diabetes related to weight. I've never been skinny. I'm not built to be skinny. And between hearing about weight from the other parent and kids being kids, I've been working to love myself.

Bob the Drag Queen gave some advice I've been trying to keep in mind when I look in the mirror: focus on the things you like, even if it's something as small as one tooth. I like how I look when I'm wearing clothes. I've gotten to the point where I'm less worried about what size the clothes are than how they look and feel when I'm wearing them. And my hubby loves how I look with or without clothing, so that's always a nice boost.

I'm still trying to figure out where the dislike of my weight is coming from. Is it coming from my past? Is it because I'm worried about my health? I'm hoping it's the health side and I'm overcoming my past. But I think to really know, it's going to take some professional input that I can't afford right now.

Well, I didn't expect this to go that direction. But yeah. I love when Adam has the time to go live like that. Just chilling out and getting randomly deep. That is part of why I am a Glambert.

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a message from Rahul Kohli 

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Just a gorgeous appreciation post.

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So excited!

I became a Glambert in 2020. After Velvet came out. While I have bought all of his albums and the various singles, and I pre-ordered the QAL live album, this is the first time I've been interested when a new album came out!

I am so excited! I pre-ordered High Drama both digitally and on "crystal clear vinyl" yesterday! And it's not just that it's new music. It's that my purchase has an impact on where the album charts when it does come out in February!! I actually get to have an impact this time! I don't think I've ever done that with someone I listen to before. Either they don't have new stuff to put out or they're nowhere near the charts.

This is so exciting!

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Frustration with the judges

I'm rewatching Season 8, if that wasn't obvious, and I keep wanting to vent my frustration with the judges into the article with nowhere specific to fit it in. I know I need to address that the judges are there, but I find myself wanting to ramble and complain about them more than I really need to.

That's why I'm going to do it here!

I know most people find Simon annoying, but I simply see him as straightforward and giving the tough criticisms that they are going to face in the industry. Randy is the more annoying judge for me.

Randy is constantly saying that Idol is a signing competition. He dismisses performance choices and connection with the song or the audience. Which is funny because he also likes to say that wasn't the right song for them, which is, at least in part, about connecting with the song. If you can connect with a song, you can deliver it.

Also, Idol is more than a singing competition. When you Google American Idol the subtitle of the show is The Search for a Superstar. That is what the show is! They're not just looking for someone who can sing, they're looking for a recording artist. Someone who could be a superstar. They don't find that every season. Honestly, I'd say Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Adam Lambert are the best examples of superstars they've found. That's not a lot considering how long the show has been on and that each season features around 12 artists at a go.

I feel like the constant characterization of the show as a singing competition by the judges makes their critiques confusing for the audience. They rarely say that the person cannot sing. Really, if there's any singing critiques during the season, it's about range and other things that they simply want to make the finalists aware of. But the audience seems to take it as an affront to their singing abilities.

Clearly the judges' opinions have only so much sway over how audiences vote. Kris and Adam were only in the bottom 3 once during the season. Danny was never in the bottom 3 but didn't make it to the finale. Hmmm.... that is a good point. I think I need to work from that in my article.

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Rock Week

I'm up to Rock Week in season 8 and it is both my favorite and most frustrating episode.

Danny and Kris are the reasons why it is so frustrating to watch. They just finished their duet and it's not that it was bad, but it wasn't a duet. And it clearly was the wrong song for them. To me, it feel more like they're both on stage performing at the same time instead of a duet.

To me, the true duet is Adam and Allison. They really worked together and interacted on stage. They were singing together instead of at the same time. They connected and it shows in their performance. It helps that it is rock week.

Of course Adam getting to start the show was perfect for this week. Simon was right, nobody could top that performance. And I think that's what Danny and Kris were thinking going into the week, as evident by their performances. It's not that Kris was bad, but it just felt like he was trying instead of being the artist he had been all season.

And then there's Danny. I would like to know why no one stopped him from doing "Dream On." Adam is the only person who could have done those "Dream on"s at the end. Even Allison would have been pushing it. And how the fuck did Danny get through on that?! I still don't understand that. But he must have had enough of a fanbase to vote for him no matter what. And I still think there was a lot of overlap between Adam and Allison fans and it went harder for Adam that week, deservedly so.

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Trying to find focus

I have had an idea for an article for a bit now, but I'm having trouble figuring out exactly how to frame everything. Don't mind the ramble as I try to get some focus.

My main argument is that the real product of American Idol is not the artists, but their audience. Most of the people who end up as finalists in the competition are at least talented singers trying to become recording artists or artists who are trying to break into the industry. Adam is definitely the latter. Lil Rounds is an example of the former.

I just can't figure out how to go from there.

Most of it is the fact that the audience, not the judges, are the ones who decide who continues and who goes home. But so much of the results of that vote depends on who is voting. And I wasn't watching at the time, so I don't know how I would have voted. I think I would have voted for Adam because he was consistent and was doing rock, which is my preference. I probably would have also voted for Allison because she was just as awesome as Adam and she was so young to be pulling it off.

But I know part of what I need to talk about is how the show works and what it does and doesn't do for the artists. It's clear that they have freedom to do what they want, within the boundaries of budget, rights, and network television standards, which leaves them a lot of room. Also, since they're being prepared to become recording artists, working within a budget and the expectations of the audience isn't a bad thing to learn.

Outside of that, what song they choose, the arrangement, the performance, how they connect with the audiences--in studio and at home--is all up to them. Everyone on Idol knew Adam was gay, but he never said it on the show. No one pressured him to go either way with that. He's said he used some of his own wardrobe for performances. There's a lot of evidence for that, but how do I tie it into my argument? Right now I'm just thinking that it ties in because the finalists are showing the artist they are. Really, their weekly performances are like teasers for their eventual tour.

Something the tour after the show does even more. Just wating Adam's performances on the tour show us what he'll be like on a solo tour. Hmm. I hadn't thought about the live tour... He goes even more glam on the Idol tour and is more sexual and explicit as well. You can tell he was holding back a little in his performances on the show because it was network television, which he tends to do on performances for network television (AMAs not included). I may have to see if I can find clips of other contestants perfomring, epecially those cut before the top 5, to see how their tour persona differs from their TV persona.

The thing that keeps tripping me up are the judges. I know that I need to address their role in the show, but I'm not sure how they fit into the whole forming an audience argument. One week they loved Matt G and he ended up in the bottom 3, and I agreed with them that he shouldn't have been there. The next week they critiqued him across the board and he was safe. The judges' opinions and critiqes are a part of the show, but their influence on the audience is something I can't figure out how to address. Maybe I can try to find people's online posts from that time about the judges' feedback.

Or maybe that's the angle. That while the judges give feedback, it doesn't necessarily affect the audience's opinion of the contestants. While Adam rarely got negative feedback, he was only in the bottom 3 once, and that was after praise from the judges.

My other problem is that what started this was my understanding of the theory metaculture. Maybe I need to start with that part first and then build everything else off it. American Idol is a great text to analyze using metaculture, from what it does for the contestants to its relationship to the audience. And as I type this I realize that's a good approach to this.

Now if I could just do this for my dissertation!

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I don't use Spotify a lot outside of before class on Thursdays lately. But it seems I listened to it enough.

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A post shared by ADAM LAMBERT (@adamlambert)

So. Fucking. Gorgeous!

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It's weird

I was doing some research today, trying to build off what I put together for a conference recently, and I had a breakthrough in the strangest place.

I am building on an argument that was waaaaaay too broad: "diva" should be a gender-neutral term in popular music. I was using Adam as my case study. I realized after discussing it with those who came to my presentation that I need to simply focus on the feminine of my argument (divas are feminine, not female).

But in doing research, I've come to realize that I really need to be arguing for the existence of the diva in rock music, with Adam as my case study. The argument I'm making is based on rock's genre rules and may not extend to other genres as neatly. But that's not the weird part.

In film studies, there is the theory of the male gaze. That women/females are there for their to-be-seen-ness and to be gazed upon. That is the key that I was missing in my argument. Divas of all genres have a certain to-be-seen-ness about them. If they regularly play an instrument, it is the piano because they can still be on display. Mostly they are vocalists. Divas aren't drummers, guitarists, or bassists. They are putting themselves on display. Heightened by the clothing, makeup, hair, vocals, and performance they bring to the stage. A decidedly feminine quality, according to Western culture. But these men embrace that and run with it. This is definitely the key ingredient that I was missing before!

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David Bowie, “Backstage Purple Trousers” (1973), by Mick Rock. Nail polish matching the hair: it’s the details that matter.