“American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert built a broad base of support during his run on the show this year. After all, “Idol” got to be the top-rated program on U.S. television by appealing to moms, dads, teens, doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs and everyone in between.

So when he took the stage on Sunday night at the American Music Awards and simulated oral sex with a back-up dancer, kissed a male keybordist on the mouth and gestured to the audience with his middle finger, he was bound to lose some of that broad “Idol” audience. Lambert all but said as much when he told Rolling Stone magazine that if his performance “offends (people), then maybe I’m not for them.”

But was it right for Lambert to put on such a sexually charged performance at the AMAs on network television, shortly before 11 p.m. on the East and West Coast and before 10 p.m. Central Time, when some teens and younger viewers might still have been watching the show? Does Lambert bear a special responsibility to reign in his sexual provocation, since he presumably has many young fans from his “Idol” days?

ABC on Tuesday canceled Lambert’s scheduled appearance on its “Good Morning America” as a result of his performance at the AMAs, after it received more than 1,500 complaints about his stage antics, but the singer has other TV appearances lined up.

Of course, the fact that Lambert is openly gay plays a significant role in the controversy. Last week, Aaron Hicklin, the editor-in-chief of gay magazine “Out” posted an open letter to Lambert after the singer posed for a cover shot. In the letter, Hicklin said that Lambert’s record label and management insisted that the magazine “must avoid making (Lambert) look ‘too gay’” and that they insisted he only appear on the cover in a group shot, not by himself.

Hicklin also criticized Lambert’s appearance in the magazine Details, in which he was photographed cupping the breast of a statuesque, nude female model. Hicklin suggested it would have been more radical to pose with a guy.

Lambert responded to Hicklin’s criticism by telling Entertainment Weekly magazine that Hicklin “has his agenda and has his opinions, which I respect, but they’re not necessarily my opinions” and that the editor “really crossed a line” with his criticism.

Was Lambert’s AMA performance a bid to reclaim some street cred by putting his sexuality front and center?  Lambert defended it by telling Rolling Stone “there’s a double standard” in the entertainment world. “Female performers have been doing this for years — pushing the envelope about sexuality — and the minute a man does it, everyone freaks out,” he told the magazine.

Either way, the “Idol” singer has put the lie to one early criticism of his performance style. When Lambert lost to Kris Allen in the “Idol” finale in May, New York Times critic Jon Caramanica wrote that Lambert, a former musical theater performer, showed himself to be just “an old-fashioned song-and-dance man” and that “if he was hiding something, it wasn’t his sexual preference, it was his conservatism.”

No one is saying that about Lambert now. But did he go too far?

Singer Adam Lambert has graduated from “American Idol,” ended his flirtation with classic rock band Queen and now he has one message for his fans, “Baby, do what I say.”

That last quote among the lyrics from Lambert’s new single “For Your Entertainment,” the title track from his upcoming album. The album comes out on Nov. 23, but the single came out on Friday, debuting on “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest’s L.A. radio station. It’s now playable at Lambert’s official website. To listen, click here.

The single features lyrics like the following, “Let’s go/ It’s my show/ Baby, do what I say” and the equally assertive, “Oh, do you know what you got into?/ Can you handle what I’m ’bout to do?/ Because it’s about to get rough for you/ I’m here for your entertainment.”

You can say this for Adam, he’s not shy.

The singer with a penchant for flashy costumes and eye makeup, who finished second this year on “Idol” to Kris Allen, appears on the cover of his forthcoming debut album looking glamorous and ladylike, and even somewhat resembling pop star Rihanna. The openly gay Lambert said that the cover shot was meant to look “campy” and “ridiculous.”

Lambert declared recently that “glam is back” when the cover art was unveiled. How long has glam rock been gone? Most people would say it didn’t last much past the early 1980s, so back when MTV was still known for playing music videos, and Ozzy Osbourne was known as the “Prince of Darkness,” instead of as the star of  reality show “The Osbournes.”

Can Glambert revive the music popularized by the likes of the New York Dolls, David Bowie and his heroes, Queen? Or will the music start to fade like so much old make-up?

Remember “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert?

Last season, his penchant for flashy costumes and eye makeup on the No. 1-rated TV talent show earned him the nickname “Glambert”.  After the show ended, he disclosed publicly that he was gay. You can read about it here and here.

The cover of his forthcoming debut album “For Your Entertainment” is getting people talking about Lambert all over again, six months after he lost the “Idol” title to Kris Allen.

In a Twitter entry, the glam rocker called the album cover “deliberately campy” and said it was designed to be “ridiculous”.

“Thank you to those who appreciate and understand that the album cover is deliberately campy. It’s an homage to the past. It IS ridiculous,” Lambert wrote.

“For those that don’t get it: oh well… Glad to have gotten your attention,” he continued. “Androgyny. Rock n Roll.”

Lambert recently told Entertainment Weekly about his goals for the album, saying: “I wanna rock; I want people to dance, I want people to cry, I want people to smile and laugh. And I wanna play dress-up!”

Kris Allen releases his own debut album a week ahead of Lambert on Nov 17, called simply “Kris Allen”. Whose album will you be buying?

“American Idol’s” Adam Lambert surprised and awed fans all season with his unique brand of vocal gymnastics and dramatic flair, but nothing shocked “Glambert” followers more than when he placed second to low-key Kris Allen in the ultra-popular singing competition on Wednesday night.

Lambert himself, however, appeared unfazed by the loss of the “Idol” crown. Backstage after the show, he said he looks forward to making an album, and blew off the suggestion that his sexuality had anything to do with the season’s outcome.

“First or second– it doesn’t matter to me,” Lambert, who was clad in a black Roberto Cavalli jacket with a flashy brooch, told reporters. “For me it’s not really about what happened tonight, it’s about tomorrow. It’s about next.”

When one reporter suggested that the blogosphere would speculate about whether he lost because of questions about his sexuality, Lambert avoided confirming or denying that he is gay.

“Blogs have a lot of opinions, don’t they? I think that Kris won because he’s a great artist and I was happy to be a runner-up to that,” he said, adding that he and Allen had found a lot of common ground despite their very different backgrounds and styles.

“If there’s anything that can come from this experience, and I hope that all the fans out there can pick up on, is that even if you’re really different there’s a way to get along with each other,” Lambert said. “And it’s not about ‘Oh, you beat me because of this,’ or ‘You, you’re different.’ It’s about finding the common stuff that makes it work.”

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Photo Credit: Fox/Ray Mickshaw (Adam Lambert performs at the “American Idol” finale)

They went head-to-head in the final showdown of “American Idol” on Tuesday night, but if any animosity exists between finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen, it was not apparent when they spoke to reporters backstage after the show.

The only moment of friction, and it was all a joke, came when Lambert, the taller contestant between the two, lowered the microphone for the shorter Allen after the two stepped onto a speakers’ podium. Allen laughed at the gesture.

Allen summed up his and Lambert’s attitudes when he was asked how he was handling the hype surrounding the finale.

“I think both of us are kind of chill guys, so we can totally deal with it,” Allen said.

The two finalists had been roommates until recently, and as a joke question a reporter asked which contestant looks better naked.

“We don’t get naked together, sorry,” Lambert said, to laughter from reporters.

As for the singing, the stuff that really matters in the competition, Lambert said that he found symbolism in the songs he performed on Tuesday, which included “Mad World” by Tears for Fears and “Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. 

“I think ‘Mad World’ is kind of symbolic, it talks about people that don’t feel like they fit in,” Lambert said.

“I think ‘Change is Gonna Come’ is also symbolic in that anyone who feels oppressed can relate to that song. It’s been a civil rights anthem for a long time, and there’s all sorts of new civil rights issues that are coming up right now,” he said.

When it came to praise from the judges, Lambert and his falsetto stylings seemed to edge out Allen, his more homespun competitor from Conway, Arkansas, in their final competition on Tuesday.

While alpha judge Simon Cowell called the first round of the competition for Allen, assailing Lambert’s first performance as too theatrical and comparing it to “The Phantom of the Opera,” Cowell’s criticism of the Allen’s second song, “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye, was notably harsh for a season finale.

“If I’m being honest with you, it was like three friends in their bedroom strumming along to Marvin Gaye,” Cowell said.

Judge Paula Abdul, appearing at the backstage news conference, provided the sunny view of the competition that she is known for, sidestepping a question about who she thought would win. Then Abdul was asked if all the judges will be back next year, an important question because Abdul’s own contract expires this season.

“Tune in,” Abdul said, as a handler dragged her away from the microphone.

Photo credit: Fox/Michael Becker

Adam Lambert and Kris Allen will be getting all the attention on Tuesday when they sing for the “American Idol” title. But new judge Kara DioGuardi will also be sharing the limelight.

Songwriter DioGuardi, who has worked in the past with Kelly Clarkson and co-wrote Ashlee Simpson’s hit single “Pieces of Me”,  is credited as co-writer of “No Boundaries”  — the new song that will be released as a single by the winner of the TV talent show, music industry sources say.

“No Boundaries” will get its first airing on Tuesday’s show in (presumably very different)  versions by Adam and Kris.  Web site Popeater.com will premiere the winning “Idol”’s recording of the song at 10 pm PT on Wednesday — moments after the 2009 “Idol” is crowned in the West Coast broadcast of the show on Fox.

Host Ryan Seacrest has revealed that Adam and Kris will also sing two other songs each on Tuesday — one must be a number they have done before on the show;  the other is a song chosen by “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller (Fuller is also the man behind British girl group “The Spice Girls”).

Among confirmed stars performing on Wednesday night as America waits to find out who they chose as their 2009 “Idol” are David Cook, Carrie Underwood, Queen Latifah, Black  Eyed Peas, Lionel Richie, Keith Urban  and actor Steve Martin — on his banjo?.

Rumors are flying fast about a host of other possible perfomers. Take your pick from Michael Jackson, David Bowie and Kiss — and maybe even ”Bikini Girl??”.

“Idol” producers aren’t saying — but who would you like to see singing a duet with Adam or Kris? And which of their own songs should they pick to clinch the title?

The elimination of Danny Gokey on Wednesday’s broadcast of “American Idol” answered a question “Fan Fare” posed the night before — namely if Gokey’s rival Kris Allen was really a “dark horse” contestant with any chance of winning.

The fans have spoken and Allen will face presumed frontrunner Adam Lambert in the finale next week. And importantly, he and Lambert were separated by just slightly more than 1 million votes, out of about 88 million total votes for the Top 3 contestants. Still, Lambert has by far attracted the most media buzz and praise from the judges, with Simon Cowell all but lobbying the viewers during Tuesday’s broadcast to vote for Lambert.

Allen, whose good looks have made him popular with female viewers, has become a fan favorite. On “Fan Fare’s” visit to the “Idol” set on Tuesday, nearly all the signs in the audience were for Allen. He appears soft-spoken and sensitive, never displaying the kind of boldness Lambert has flaunted throughout the season.

Allen specializes at smart, sensitive renditions of songs from the entire spectrum of pop music. Lambert is a rocker with soaring vocal abilities, who also has shown an ability to impress the judges with every type of musical genre, except maybe country. In some ways, the finale could echo recent presidential elections, pitting a contestant from the very Blue (or Democratic) state of California against one from the Red (Republican) state of Arkansas. While Lambert has been photographed kissing another man and in drag, Allen is a relative newlywed and a devout Christian who has traveled internationally on church ministry trips.

Is this Lambert’s competition to lose, or Allen’s chance to stage a surprise upset?

Photocredit: Michael Becker/FOX

“American Idol” on Tuesday entered the last week of competition before the finale, and we at “Fan Fare” had the good fortune to land second-row seats in the talent show’s live studio audience. (For the record, this twist of fate had nothing to do with our coverage of the show — it was good old-fashioned standing in line combined with almost two years of being on a waiting list.)

Watching “Idol” in its natural habitat revealed dozens of quirks imperceptible to the 25 million or so viewers who tune in at home. First off, the studio was smaller than expected — even more intimate than watching a live show in a theater. One audience member in our row even remarked that it was smaller than her college lecture hall.

Also, the judges seemed to spend more time out of their seats than in them. Accompanied by massive bodyguards, they walked backstage at every commercial break, rushing back to their seats sometimes with two seconds to spare. Judge Paula Abdul at least spent some time greeting celebrity audience members such as Kim and Kourtney Kardashian and their mom, Kris Jenner, as well as “The Hills” star Audrina Partridge.

Many in the mostly young, female audience also appeared to be partial to one contestant — supposed dark horse Kris Allen. There were more Kris-themed homemade signs (”Krazy 4 Kris”, for instance) being waved than those for either of the other contestants. And, one young fan was overheard after the show gloating that she had waved to Allen — and that he had smiled back!

So is “Idol”’s resident pretty boy Kris really a dark horse after all? His acoustic performance of Kanye West’s “Heartless” received universal praise from the judges, with Randy Jackson deeming it “better than the original.” His first song, “Apologize,” however, was less well-received.

But Allen rival Danny Gokey’s performances were by no means stellar, getting similar mixed reviews from the judges. They loved his version of “You Are So Beautiful” but were less enthused by his take on Terence Trent D’Arby’s “Dance Little Sister,” for which he was criticized for his dancing.

Golden child Adam Lambert, predictably, got rave reviews for both of his performances. Judge Simon Cowell, however, warned “Idol” viewers not to assume that Lambert would sail through to next week’s finale and reminded them that they needed to vote.

So who will be sent packing tomorrow night? Host Ryan Seacrest, toward the end of the show, made a point of saying that he had no idea what would happen on Wednesday night.

Is Lambert really the juggernaut he has been made out to be, and does Allen have a stronger wind at his back than many expected? Gokey is the only contestant never to be placed among the show’s bottom three vote-getters — but has he finally run out of steam?

With Allison Iraheta getting the boot on Wednesday night, three white men will duke it out for the “American Idol” crown for the first time in the show’s history.

Iraheta’s offing couldn’t have come as a huge surprise to the show’s viewers, who saw her land among the show’s lowest vote-getters three previous times this season. In that sense, she was no Chris Daughtry, whose shocking fourth place finish three years ago was replayed on Wednesday night’s show before his band performed its new single, the appropriately titled “No Surprise.” 

The 17 year-old Iraheta’s distinctive rock voice has been compared to that of “Idol” winner and pop superstar Kelly Clarkson, which is saying a lot because Clarkson has been on a tear ever since she graduated from the show in 2002, and in March she netted her second No. 1 album.

“Allison Iraheta, who has so much to be proud of, who is a role model to a lot of girls out there,” host Ryan Seacrest said immediately following the Los Angeles-born singer’s final performance.

Yet, if Iraheta was an inspiration to the young girls who make up such a large portion of “Idol” viewers, why didn’t she have the staying power of say, Clarkson, or other female “Idol” winners Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks and Fantasia Barrino?

And, what is it about this season’s final three contestants — Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey and Kris Allen, that led to the formation of the first ever “Idol” boys’ club?

In contrast to last week on “American Idol” when it seemed the contestants could do no wrong, the judges found plenty of stones to throw at the Top 4 on Rock Week. Except for Adam Lambert, who as usual thrilled the panelists.

Lambert, coming off his shocking first trip to the Bottom Three last week, sang British supergroup Led Zeppelin’s hit “Whole Lotta Love” and struck all the high notes, jerking his head to the side in rhythm with the band and glowering with an expression Elvis Presley might have worn if he was fused with John Travolta. The judges loved it. 

“You are a rock god,” said judge Kara DioGuardi, who was wearing a studded leather jacket that looked a lot like Lambert’s own outfit.

Even alpha judge Simon Cowell was impressed. “No one can top that now,” Cowell told the contestant nicknamed “Glambert,” who on Tuesday night sported his usual eyeliner.

But after Lambert wowed everyone, the rest of the contestants all ran into some criticism. Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash was the night’s guest mentor, and told the camera that 17-year-old contestant Allison Iraheta had a natural rock style, but had to get past her “fear.” 

Iraheta went on to earn mixed reviews from all the judges, except the easily swayed Paula Abdul, with her version of “Cry Baby” from the late Janis Joplin. Cowell and a couple other panelists faulted her for poor song choice, which prompted an interesting exchange when Iraheta explained why she picked the song and was interrupted by Cowell. “Allison, at this point just beg,” he said. “Beg.”

“I’m not,” Iraheta said. “And you always say that I don’t talk enough, so maybe I should just talk a lot.”