Mikeala AxToGrind: (un)Cool.

So...

It's time to come clean.

I like Adam Lambert.

And it's hard to say that I really care what people think about it. It's not as if I'm some main-stream junkie or Idol fanatic, I just appreciate talent, and unabashed nature.

Lambert is a far cry from the usual stock of humanized, modest Idol finalists and, reflecting on contestants of the past, it's a bit of a wonder how he even came to be even accepted as far as Hollywood, as opposed to receiving the ax for, I don't know...over dramatics? (see; Bikini Girl? Hello?) But I suppose that raw talent does count for something nowadays. (Hopefully)

So, Lambert survived the Idol and at the 2009 American Music Awards made his (re?)debut, much to the displeasure of many. In a closing performance for the awards show, Lambert led two leather clad men across the floor by leashes, ground a singers face against his pelvis and kissed a male band mate. Lambert is still suffering the fallout of this performance, having been cancelled from Good Morning America as well as Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Lambert tweeted his response to the ABC cancellations, saying that the station was responding to "FCC heat", brought on by his "racy" performance.

But, really now? Of course there's virtually no mention anywhere of Janet Jackson fondling one of her dancers during her AMA performance.

And then there was the matter of the Early show censoring the photo of Adam Lambert kissing his keyboardist before showing a perfectly unedited photo of the infamous Britney Spears/Madonna kiss. CBS responded to the questions raised by issuing the following statement,
"We gave this some real thought. The Madonna image is very familiar and has appeared countless times including many times on morning television. The Adam Lambert image is a subject of great current controversy, has not been nearly as widely disseminated, and for all we know, may still lead to legal consequences.”

I really can't be the only one smelling double standard here.

Female musicians have gotten away with risque performances in the past, not garnering even close to nearly as much controversy as Lambert has in his short time in the public eye. Because Adam Lambert is a man, he simply can't do what women can do (no pun intended). And because he is a homosexual man, people feel that he shouldn't even try.

If a female performed Lambert's AMA "scandal" to the T, there would be no controversy.

and that's what irks me. There's a double standard here, pertaining to female and male gender roles.

People try to put Adam Lambert in a box. And he doesn't like boxes. He puts a nail-polished fist through boxes. Boxes for how as a man he should act. Boxes for how, as a man for American Idol, his performances should be.

Well, I've been criticized and chastised for showing an interest in Adam Lambert (beyond his supposed controversies), because he is deemed main-stream. Because he is from American Idol. And as I've stated before, I'm not an Idol fiend. It's now cool to be a critic. It's now cool to like the uncool, to be uncool.

And that's why it's not cool to like Lambert, because he's popular. You shouldn't talk about him, unless it's about his "racy" aspects.

But if being uncool is only now cool, then I've always been ahead of the curve.