LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Adam Lambert -- the man with the outsize personality who delivered an audacious octave-and-a-half sitar-tinged purr of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" on the most-watched TV show in the country, dodged sex toys thrown at him onstage during the "American Idol" tour and did it all without smearing his eyeliner -- is curled in the fetal position.
Balled up in a patio chair on the 10th-story balcony at the offices of 19 Entertainment in Los Angeles, Lambert is the portrait of the goth as a young man -- black clothes and combat boots; dyed black hair and black nail polish; Egyptian-themed jewelry matching the Eye of Horus tattoo on his wrist.
He grabs his knees and constricts himself even tighter as he reveals why he's so emo right now: He's attending the premiere of the film "2012" in a few hours. And his song, "Time for Miracles," plays over the closing credits.
"I'm going to be like this, in my seat, hiding in my popcorn bucket," he says. "It's going to be really weird."
Lambert laughs, unfurls his legs and straightens up in the chair. His worry is, of course, all a joke, an act, a performance. Because, true to the title of his upcoming album, Lambert is here for our entertainment.
DREAM CONTESTANT
When "American Idol" launched in 2002, creator Simon Fuller must have dreamed of a contestant like the 27-year-old Lambert -- one who mixes style and substance, one who can sing anything and cares about cultivating his public image. In a year, Lambert's gone from being one of a herd of auditioners at the San Francisco tryouts to landing the covers of Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone before his album, "For Your Entertainment," was even released.
For Fuller's music company, 19 Entertainment, the eighth season of "American Idol" was something of an embarrassment of riches. The eventual winner, Kris Allen has sold 1.1 million digital downloads of his "Idol" songs, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and contestant Allison Iraheta, with her preternaturally gravelly vocals and artful red and blue hair, is prepared to court the Hayley Williams/Avril Lavigne demographic.
But in a year when the clubby stylings of Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas are setting sales records, it's Lambert's slinky set of dance songs that are poised to steal the spotlight. "For Your Entertainment" will be released Monday (November 23); the title-track lead single sold 18,000 in its first week of release, according to SoundScan, while "Time for Miracles" has sold 68,000 in three weeks. This comes on top of the 997,000 digital tracks sold of Lambert's songs from "Idol."
"He's an artist with a true sense of who he is," RCA Music Group general manager/executive VP Tom Corson says. "It's our job to work with him and present him with options to help steer the ship -- but ultimately it's his call. He has a vision."
