Adam Lambert takes to Twitter to respond to the response to his album cover: “Thank you to those who appreciate and understand that the album cover is deliberately campy. It’s an omage [sic] to the past. It IS ridiculous. For those that don’t get it: oh well… Glad to have gotten your attention. androgyny. Rock n Roll.” Still waiting on him to address the unfortunate font choices, though! [@adamlambert / Twitter]
official statements
Adam Lambert Is Fabulously Sulking
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official statements
official statements
Maybe he dropped the “H” to make 140 characters.
Aw, I kind of love it. It’s glam by way of Prints Plus. Velour Goldmine! It’s so absurd and instantly dated that it’s a pretty nice encapsulation of the era, in that nearly everything in the aughts has been recycled in a really dumb way.
The comments on the official site are pretty disturbing, in that many of them are basically telling him they’re upset with him for being “too feminine” and “not the Adam we know and love.” Yikes.
@hortense: I love “velour goldmine”! I dislike how low budget it looks, but it is troubling that some people dislike it on the basis of looking too feminine or gay.
Camp != shitty for shittiness’s sake. But I can’t say I expected better of Adam Lambert so wevz.
I dislike this because the Photoshop is terrible. He seems to have no right shoulder, and his left shoulder goes on forever. Also, He doesn’t seem to have any neck on the left side of his body.
@Nicolars: I love “velour goldmine”!
I was going to say, comment of the week!
I hate to plug my own stuff, but Jobriath anyone?
http://www.lovehatesociety.com/main/2009/10/2/jobriath-was-not-the-next-david-bowie.html
@NunyaB: Unfortunately, the babygays don’t seem to distinguish between camp in the B-52’s-promotional-videos-by-way-of-Grace-Jones-in-a-James-Bond-film vein and basic MySpace dreck; for some reason they really, really like harsh colors and vaccuous nothingness. I’ve heard the term “half-drag” used in regards to Lambert, and I like this because it is a good summation of his own aesthetic: a safe appropriation of a generally marginalized culture, with only one or two toes dipped in to retain Top 40 suitability. This album cover totally reflects that.
I must say that the repeated mentioning of Jobriath is something I’d like to see on a more mainstream scale, because it offers (A) some lessons on what happens when you try to commodify and sell to retail a lifestyle while piggy-backing off of others’ musical inroads, and (B) reveals just how not-at-all revolutionary the concept of Lambert-as-pop-singer really is. “Velour Goldmine” is absolutely the phrase of the day.
I still think the cover is fantastic in a hilarious, ugly, campy lo-budget kind of way.
It is wrong to say that this is only a “two toes dipped” cover, I think. This is a full on balls-to-the-wall assault. I don’t think anything is really being held back here; not sure how to make this LESS “Top 40 Suitable” without just having a few dildos hanging out of his mouth, and then it would just be gross.
“Aw, I kind of love it. It’s glam by way of Prints Plus. Velour Goldmine! It’s so absurd and instantly dated that it’s a pretty nice encapsulation of the era, in that nearly everything in the aughts has been recycled in a really dumb way.”
Yes.
@chachwitablog: I totally get what you’re saying; it’s not safe in the sense that it’s a gay man doing a Maroon 5 album cover. He’s not attempting to negate his sexuality or ‘trick’ people into buying his record. But so far as balls-to-the-wall sexuality, it certainly not this; this was a cover that was meant to evoke a sense of danger without being dangerous, so that it could still be sold at Wal-Mart.
I do agree though, this cover gave me probably one of the heartiest internet chuckles I’ve had all year. Total fan-made Adobe album cover.
Reading some of the comments about this cover elsewhere, I’m starting to wonder whether the people marketing Lambert aren’t going to run into a problem, namely that the audience most likely to actually buy his music and still care about him a year from now are the ones who embraced his threatening-only-to-the-most-conservative-of-red-state-grandmas Elvis-meets-Twilight side, not the futuro-Rocky-Horror sanitized drag that he was going for with the wings or this cover…
That being said, how did I miss the news that Justin Hawkins has worked with Lambert (and is apparently featured) on a couple of songs for the album???
@Thierry: That being said, how did I miss the news that Justin Hawkins has worked with Lambert (and is apparently featured) on a couple of songs for the album???
I missed it too! Sooo awesome.
Wow!! This is no cheap album cover. The people that worked on it with Adam did everything on it very deliberately - down to the retro fonts. It is totally artsy, deliberately overdone, and will become a classic! Think Diamond Dogs, Poison, and Lou Reed with a futuristic bent and self deprecating humor. I love it!! If you think it is some gay guy trying to be pretty, you are totally wrong. Adam is no drag queen!! But he does have a great sense of humor.
Oh and by the way, Adam’s album sales are rising. His CD has been in the top 10 pre-sales on Amazon for 35 days and he has moved back up to the top 3 in the last week. This cover is selling!!!