Album Cover Reviews

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Adam Lambert unveiled the cover for his forthcoming debut CD, For Your Entertainment, on his official site this afternoon, and to paraphrase the sadly under-appreciated 2003 single from current Dancing With the Stars contestant Mya: This cover’s like…whoa! A publicist for 19 Recordings reveals that the image was shot by Warwick Saint in August in New York City. And, to put it mildly, it’s a little more, um, out there than the pensive-yet-ultimately-benign images we’ve come to expect from Idol runners-up. (If you’re not familiar with the show’s post-second-place oeuvre, do check out Exhibit A, Exhibit B, and Exhibit C. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, of course.) Is America ready for this particular jelly? Some of my EW colleagues aren’t terribly optimistic, but might I remind them, we’re dishing a dude who sailed through Grand Ole Opry week with a hyper-sexual, sitar-infused take on “Ring of Fire.” Anyhow, while the Glambert nation collectively wipes its brow, catches its breath, and attempts to unlock its eyes from Adam’s hypnotic gaze (good luck!), here’s five things I think the cover art reveals about the artist and his debut disc, set to drop Nov. 23.

1) I’m catching homages to Michael Jackson (a single glove on display), Madonna (and a fingerless glove at that!), and Prince (the For Your Entertainment font is more than a little reminiscent of Purple Rain, no?). Clearly, the season 8 runner-up has no shortage of (formerly brunet, now cerulean) ambition, and whether you think Adam is deliciously gutsy or ridiculously presumptuous for subtly inserting himself into that A-list galaxy, at least you can’t accuse him of playing it safe.

2) And anyhow, more likely than not, Adam Lambert is actually an alien from a distant planet. Yes, that planet looks a little bit like it resulted from the collision of a Jem cartoon, The Neverending Story, Starlight Express, and K-Tel’s Power Glam Explosion (hat tips to my colleagues Samantha Harmon, Joe Lynch, Leah Greenblatt, and Mike Bruno for their unfiltered first impressions), but perhaps the extra-terrestrial has come to teach us something? Glam is back. Unicorns are real. And boring people are going to be zapped with giant lasers and turned immediately to dust. (Okay, this paragraph kind of went and did its own thing, but I missed a screening of The Fourth Kind to try to get this item up ASAP, and I’ve got space creatures on the brain. It’s too late to apologize.)

3) Lit properly, Adam Lambert’s locks resemble bird feathers. I won’t lie: That makes me a little jealous. Under similar conditions, all you’d see on my noggin is the unfortunate emergence of male pattern baldness.

4) The suggestion of nudity in this photo is going to make my mom a lot of Adam fans go weak in the knees. Oh, I know, dude might very well be wearing pants in this picture, but fans who threw sex toys at the stage during “Whole Lotta Love” during the Idol summer tour don’t need to know that, do they? Well played, Mr. Lambert!

5) I know Adam came out on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, but any theories/worries/suspicions that he would tamp down the gay while promoting FYE just went the way of the leftover milk in my cereal bowl this morning*. I mean, good, bad, or totally insane, this album cover is outre, playing up Adam’s pouty-lipped, yellow-mascara’d androgyny. America, get ready to taste the rainbow, metaphorically speaking.

What do you think of the For Your Entertainment cover? Share your impressions in the comments below, and to get instant notification of all my Idol scoop, follow me on Twitter @EWMichaelSlezak.
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http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/10/27/adam-lambert-for-your-entertainment-cover/


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Adam Lambert revealed his album cover for "For Your Entertainment" and it’s as spectacularly over-the-top and jaw-dropping as his memorable “American Idol” performances. The dude is a walking water-cooler conversation. And by golly, he’s done it again.

In the Tweet that linked to the cover, Lambert wrote, “Glam is back!!!” Judging from this album art, however, I don’t know that I’d say it’s back so much as hanging out at the mall Glamour Shots kiosk. (Will this eye-catching retro look help sell albums? We'll find out when it lands in stores November 23.)

The thing is, “American Idol” has a long history of eyebrow raising album covers. From Kelly Clarkson’s bad dye-job to David Cook’s unsettling Photoshop choices, “Idol” fans are often left puzzled by the images the artist and record labels select. Not so surprising that the CD covers are less-than-perfect considering the post “Idol” albums are often last-minute race-to-the-drop-date marathons to begin with.

So, we thought we’d have a little fun with “American Idol” contestants’ puzzling album artwork and count down the 11 most insane “Idol” album covers of all time. (We couldn’t decide on just 10...) But a simple flipbook compiling the CD covers isn’t enough for us. We decided to take it one (frightening) step further...

As a deliciously deranged bonus, I posed as each “Idol” singer, trying my best to recapture the “magic” in my own portrait. So without further ado, MTV News gives you:

The 11 Most Insane “Idol” Album Covers Of All Time, Starring Jim Cantiello!

[Note: numbers 11-7 will debut tonight. 6-1 will be revealed tomorrow.]

Concept and Photoshop credit goes to digital producer Sohyung Kang. Hot diggity, she’s good. So good, in fact, that 19 should consider hiring her to as their resident Photoshop guru. Am I right?
See you in your nightmares, kids!

What do you think of Adam Lambert's "For Your Entertainment" cover? How does it stack up to the previous "Idol" alum's album artwork? And how frightening am I in these "Idol" CD recreations??

http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/10/27/adam-lamberts-album-cover-reminds-us-of-the-most-insane-american-idol-covers/
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If you felt the ground quiver earlier today, fret not: That was just 80s Trapper Keeper designer Lisa Frank rolling over in her grave. (*Assuming she is dead, which we are.) That’s because today, a glowing orb from outerspace came hurtling towards the Earth’s surface, crashing into a field somewhere in America’s heartland, cracking perfectly down the middle to reveal quite the sight. No, not Arnold Schwarzenegger’s glistening nude body… Something much, much, much more sexually intriguing.

Ladies and gentlemen, today, we bring you Adam Lambert’s album cover: For Your Entertainment (click for high res copy):

This album cover is the FANCIEST THING WE HAVE EVER WITNESSED. Unicorns may not exist, but gay ones certainly do, and this album cover is more of a warning to that endangered species: Step your game up, you cashmere soft, ivory horned, glittery hooved motherf**kers. Cause Lambert’s through f*ckin’ around, y’all. Thank you, you beautiful Lambert, you. You have not let us down.

In other news, I just plunked down some hard earned bloggin’ bucks on a ‘78 Camaro so that I may airbrush his visage unto its hood and become my town’s classiest lady. It’s going to be a great year.

Raise your hand if you’re gonna have a slice of this to celebrate.

UPDATE: See BWE.tv’s T-Shirt Design… THREE LAMBERT MOON.

(Ed. Note: I’d like everyone to know that I actually wrote this post while myself hurtling through space, 10,000 feet in the air on a Virgin Atlantic airplane which is currently experiencing severe, slightly nausea-inducing turbulence. But this cover was so amazing that I threw safety to the wind, plunked down $13, and bring you this post live from somewhere over Arizona. Good day.)

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2009-10-27/adam-lambert-has-a-message-step-up-your-game-fancy-unicorns/