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Glitter and all, singer preening toward title, and away from the big question
There is nothing more valuable to the health of an eight-year-old TV series than a surprise. And when it comes to “American Idol,” surprises are few and far between.
We can depend on one winner per year, someone who will either proceed to a robust, award-laden career in music (like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood), or not (like what's-her-name and that other guy). And we can also depend, every couple of seasons, on a losing contestant dishing out sweet revenge on the charts (Chris Daughtry), at the Oscars (Jennifer Hudson), or on Broadway (Constantine Maroulis, who just became the show's first-ever Tony nominee).
But once in a very long while, someone arrives who doesn't just dominate “American Idol,” but challenges and even changes it. “Idol” has always positioned itself as a portal to what '“America” (meaning, its particular viewers) desires in a newly anointed star. It's no accident that each episode's opening credits showcase faceless CGI humanoids striding toward their destinies. “Idol” stars are supposed to be blank slates, “relatable” folk with extraordinary talent whom we elect in an orderly fashion and elevate to success.
Meet Adam Lambert. Adam has messed all that up. Adam is nobody's idea of a blank slate. Adam is a surprise.
There was a time not too many seasons ago when, with his mop of glam-rock cobalt-blue-on-dyed-black hair, his earring, his sneering, and his unambiguously ambiguous sexuality, Adam would have been brushed off early on, chum thrown at the sharkish judges for a laugh during the audition rounds.
And there was also a time, more recently, when Adam would have made it to Hollywood but been dismissed as ''too Broadway'' or ''too musical theater'' — phrases that are Idol's heterocentric way of weeding out male singers with a little too much throb in their voices and an attentive flair for the drama in lyrics.
Then in walked this 27-year-old from San Diego, a chameleon of a singer who was unashamedly everything that the Fox reality show thought “we” didn't want. And he flattened the competition.
One week he'd surge priapically through “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction” like someone who'd daydreamed a lot about Mick Jagger's body language. Another week he'd slow-torture the '70s disco hit “If I Can't Have You” down to 16 rpm and take us with him. He could morph from a quasi-punk whom the judges accused of being “like something out of Rocky Horror” (“I like Rocky Horror,” he shrugged back, in a wonderfully understated middle finger of a reply) to a Rat Pack sharpie to a grown-up crooner. Other contestants who have tried this on “Idol” routinely get accused of lacking identity. But Adam may be the first to understand in his marrow that shape-shifting has become an essential element of our love for pop musicians.
There's always been a fracture between how you succeed on “Idol” (essentially, by playing the game) and how you succeed beyond “Idol” once you enter a world in which being the cookie-cutter product of a network series is a liability. But Adam has taken a (big, sequined) battering ram to that aesthetic. And he's doing so while playing out the big issue — the gay question — with a complicated mixture of caution and shrewdness. Though Adam is widely assumed to be gay (even his celebrity rooting section, which ranges from Kathy Griffin to Hairspray director Adam Shankman, thinks he's out), the most he would say to EW about the public scrutiny is “I know who I am. I'm an honest guy, and I'm just going to keep singing.”
That nonanswer is a window into the fact that neither we nor the show has come as far as we'd like to pretend. Can an openly gay contestant win “American Idol?” The question is being considered everywhere from fan blogs to The New York Times — but we're still one openly gay contestant short of a test case. While the Internet has provided gay “Idol” fans like me with ample photographic evidence that Adam seems to enjoy performing dental exams on other guys using his tongue, Adam hasn't said “I'm gay.” “American Idol” hasn't said “He's gay” (the closest the judges have come is to compliment Adam for being “brave” enough to be “himself”). And teenage girls in the audience are still waving hand-lettered signs saying ''MARRY ME ADAM!!!'' (That feels...unlikely.)
So we're just guessing about Adam. Simon Cowell told TV Guide that Idol has ''never had an issue'' with its star contestant's sexuality, which is ''a huge step forward.'' Actually, it's a huge step sideways. While Adam's competitors come packaged with humanizing backstories — Kris Allen is married, and Danny Gokey, as you may have heard seven or eight hundred times, is a widower — Adam's personal life remains shielded. He was apparently made by the hand of God and left in a basket backstage at Wicked, where he was discovered, bestowed with a lifetime supply of black nail polish, and raised by musical-theater queens.
Adam's sexuality offers a fascinating challenge to the show's status quo. Is “Idol” ready for a gay winner? Possibly. After all, its British forebear “Pop Idol” crowned a contestant, Will Young, who came out shortly after he won. And “Idol” itself came close when Clay Aiken, then closeted but somebody who even houseplants surmised was gay, finished second. But is “Idol” ready for this gay(ish) winner? Perhaps not. Clay, after all, never sang “I'm gonna give you every inch of my love” while wearing skintight pants and green-glitter guyliner. In general, “Idol” voters have demonstrated a strong preference for contestants who are a little abashed, nervous, demonstratively relieved when they survive. And Adam doesn't do humble. Preeningly elongating his bombastic falsetto and shimmying in his shiny suits, he strutted through the early rounds oozing confidence. On “Idol,” it's good to be the best, but dangerous to act like you know it. Ask Chris Daughtry.
As a culture, we like gay underdogs, but on reality-competition shows, we haven't seen many Adams before — someone who enjoys selling his sexuality, who looks you in the eye, flirts, and dares you not to flirt back. We're fine with gay men as vulnerable lost souls singing suicide-hotline emo ballads like “Mad World.” But what's exciting about Adam is that, despite that superb performance, he really isn't that guy. He's out, loud, and proud. Well, two out of three.
Many readers will say “Why are we even discussing this? Why does it matter whether he's gay or not?” It doesn't. Or rather, it shouldn't. Except that unlike his counterparts, who commodify their lives on their sleeves, Adam isn't talking about it. He's handled inquiries with disarming jokiness. Ambushed recently by a TMZ reporter who said, awkwardly, “So, you could be the first...,” Adam replied, smiling, “The first what?” daring the reporter to finish the thought. He didn't. But neither did Adam. Maybe it's still too costly to say who you are. It's certainly costly not to. Does he feel he can't? Does the show feel he shouldn't? Is his choice personal or strategic? Will it pay off? And does any of this represent progress?
I can, at least, tackle that last one. Progress is when all those other questions no longer need to be asked. But since, win or lose, Adam Lambert is going to be the most exciting new star “American Idol” has found in quite some time, I can't wait to hear his answers.
ADAM LAMBERT FTW!
Posted By: Lacy
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