American Idol may have generated artists who have sold more albums than last season’s glittery runner-up, but the show has never birthed a star of Adam Lambert’s magnetism. But depending on who you ask, he became the first former contestant invited back as a mentor because he energized the series (and raked in big ratings), or needs the show’s help as he’s “struggling” to live down his controversial American Music Awards performance from November: the latter was what the show’s executive producer spun to EW earlier this week. (The show has certainly attempted to spotlight former winners with truly struggling careers, like Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks.)
Look back at Lambert’s Idol run as the show’s glam-rock sex god.
Either way, Lambert returned last night to guide the remaining nine hopefuls through songs by Elvis Presley, a rock star to whom he was oft compared by his loyal fans last season. The good news: Lambert didn’t hold back, bringing some much-needed straight talk to the mostly underwhelming cast. The bad news: the performances were still fairly horrendous. Even worse: Ryan Seacrest couldn’t resist throwing Lambert a stupid curveball at the top of the show, mumbling about how “my tongue is not nearly as talented as yours.” But wait, a silver lining: it was still better than this mind-numbingly awful rendition of “For Your Entertainment” that aired on Idol ratings rival Dancing With the Stars on Monday. Yes, it’ll actually make you miss the AMAs:
Ones to Watch:
• Lambert advised Crystal Bowersox to go electric and let her dreads down for “Saved.” She took half his advice and earned a full load of praise from Randy Jackson: “That could have been the second coming of Bonnie Raitt.”
• Casey James grinned and growled his way through “Lawdy, Miss Clawdy.” The judges didn’...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily