99and1, posts by tag: !slezak - LiveJournal

Adam Lambert's 'For Your Entertainment': How It Rates, Track by Track
Coming off his headline-grabbing performance at the AMAs, attention turns to the ''American Idol'' alum's fresh-in-stores debut disc. Our in-depth look at its peaks (''Music Again'') and some missteps (''Aftermath'')
By Michael Slezak | Nov 23, 2009
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20…



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Go here to watch the interview: http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/11/19/…



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Adam Lambert: Who's outraged by the OUT cover controversy?
by Michael Slezak
Categories: American Idol, American Idol 2009, Current Affairs, Gay/Lesbian/Kathy Griffin, Whining
http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/11/18/…

As you may have read yesterday, Aaron Hicklin, editor of OUT magazine, wrote an open letter to American Idol season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert, accusing the singer and his management team of the following: only agreeing to the OUT cover shoot if it included a straight woman*; demanding they not make Adam look “too gay”; and not agreeing to be on OUT’s cover while the Idol season was going on. (Little known fact: The Gay Mafia bylaws state that any gay celeb who doesn’t immediately agree to an OUT cover request can have his/her membership card** revoked. Fact that somehow seems to have been lost on Hicklin: The folks at Fox don’t cooperate with solo contestant covers/interviews till after the Idol season has wrapped.)

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Even though Entertainment Weekly gave us a review of Kris's CD a little while ago, Slezak himself wanted to weigh in. :)

Kris Allen: A track-by-track analysis of his self-titled debut album.



My colleague Whitney Pastorek recently reviewed Kris Allen’s self-titled debut (out today) — but as EW’s resident Idoloonie, I couldn’t let today’s momentous release go by without a borderline crazy analysis of every track on the record. Yeah, I know, I already went overboard on lead single “Live Like We’re Dying” (as a snippet, a full song, and a video), and I previously weighed in on 30-second leaks and/or Miami-tailgate performances of the American Idol season 8 champ’s remaining dozen tracks. But for those of you who’ve either declared Nov. 17 as Kris Allen Day or who don’t understand the meaning of an Idol off-season, the following deep dive is for you. Let’s get the party started, in chronological order, after the jump!

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Kris Allen on Internet rumors: 'That stuff breaks you down as an artist and a songwriter'
by Michael Slezak

A few hours ago, on the eve of the release of Kris Allen’s debut CD, I sat down with the American Idol season 8 champ (who was clad in a stunning Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons jacket*) for a freewheeling discussion about his songwriting process, the themes of angst and love under siege that prevail in many of his songs, and the grimy plastic sheets that flap in the wind during the video for his lead single “Live Like We’re Dying.” But since it might take a few days to edit down the raw footage, we thought we’d give you a 94-second sneak peek right this very second. Here, Kris discusses why he no longer trolls the Web to read what prognosticators and critics have to say about his musical output, and how he and the folks at 19 Recordings made the conscious decision to let him sound like (gasp!) an actual human being on the 13-song collection that will have a chance to take the music world by storm over the next several months. Press play below for your @KrisAllen amuse-bouche, then check back later this week for the entire interview feast. And as always, to get up-to-the-second updates on my Idol musings, follow me on Twitter @EWMichaelSlezak!



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