Tuesday 5 May 2009

Rock On!


Well after my last rather self-indulgent post, it's time to get back to business.

Adam has been ahead of his game so far.  He's challenged himself like no other contestant and as a result, he's showcased his abilities with different genres before their dedicated week.  He did Play That Funky Music ahead of disco week, and he's already done a brilliant electro-infused rock classic in Born To Be Wild before rock week.  We know he can rock the pants off of everyone else there, but does that mean that he won't be able to rock it out this week?  Much like how I felt during disco week, I would love to see him take the genre to the extreme, especially with Slash as the mentor, but at the same time, I don't want him to do it predictably.  Adam is simply expected to do very well this week and I'm quite nervous that our expectations are way out of reach.  Would he reveal to us yet another different facet of his craft?

After Wednesday's headfuckery, it's very tempting to be anti-AI.  I'm sure Adam is way above it, but I would love for him to come out with a shockingly outrageous and subversive 'Fuck you!' performance so that if he's booted off, the AI machine might not be able to sink its claws into him as deeply as if he'd won, and he'd make a mockery of the show for its worshipping of dreary production-line mediocrity bereft of creativity.  On the other hand, if there is a week in which he's able to get away with something like this, then it would be when his fans are fully riled and rallying around him, and he may be able to afford taking a massive risk to give us another pivotal moment like Ring of Fire.  Oh how I'd love that!

I don't know exactly how popular Slash is, but would his appearance during rock week draw in a crowd who wouldn't usually watch Idol, and would they be struck down by the brilliance of Adam Lambert?  And would this crowd be sizeable and is it possible for them to be tempted to vote, and what would motivate them?  How would Adam adapt to appeal to that audience?  What would the other contestants do, and how would he set himself apart?  Should he play it safe after the scare?  It's near impossible to satisfy his whole spectrum of fans, so which section is it more important to satisfy now and post-AI?  Is it better for him to secure popularity with the casual voters so he wins the competition, or is it better to deepen his loyal following by sticking close to his artistic inclinations?  I can't even begin to imagine what's goes through Adam's head as he weighs up all the different possibilities and outcomes to come to a decision.  This game is so freaking complicated!

At the moment, we're expecting a solo performance along with a duet, which begs the question of how that will be played out.  I'm annoyed that another Adam solo is being sacrificed for the sake of keeping the competition alive.  I wish they'd just give him his own show to do whatever the hell he pleases.  Will whoever gets to duet with Adam be able to bask in his halo or be forced to stand in his shadow?  I think it'll be the former because Adam's had plenty of experience with duets so he knows now not to completely dominate.  I'm interested to see how they'll be judged, whether it's on the overall performance or whether it's as individuals.  Will the pairings reveal to us the producers' game?  And how the hell are they going to fit it all in?

This post is full of questions I'm avoiding answering for now because I don't want to obsess any more over all the different possibilities of what I think Adam might do and with what kind of song.  As I've written before, I don't want to sculpt my expectations and spoil my surprise.  I'm going to have to stay away from the internet until showtime.  Tuesday is finally here.  I can't wait.

2 comments:

  1. I'm veray nervous!

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  2. Me EITHER! I just spent the last couple hours burning CDs for a couple friends that really like Adam but have never stirred themselves to vote, let alone give their money to iTunes. Here's hoping that a couple of spins of an amazing array of songs, especially the gorgeous studio Feeling Good, will inspire a couple more too-cool-to-participate fans to pick up the phone and VOTE.

    Like you, I don't want to set expectations too high for tonight's Rock Night. But yesterday's Idolatry episode got me so excited. I know Slezak is an unapologetic Allison superfan, but lately he's been giving Adam some credit, and this latest ep includes some short but GENIUS montages of Adam/Allison/Kris rocking out, set perfectly to "I Wanna Rock:"

    http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/05/allison-kris-ad.html

    How am I going to get anything DONE today with such anticipation for tonight??

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