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?

 The stars of Fox’s “American Idol” expect great things from new judge Ellen DeGeneres , but they are all saying something different about her addition to the judging panel of Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi, and her replacement of songstress Paula Abdul.

Host Ryan Seacrest told Fox News at the Primetime Emmy awards on Sunday that DeGeneres, a comedian with her own daytime chat show, is a “superstar.”

“She will change the sexual tension,” Seacrest said of DeGeneres, who is lesbian and last year married longtime girlfriend and actress Portia de Rossi in California, before voters in the state banned same-sex weddings during the November 2008 election.

“Simon and Paula had a specific kind of tension, but this will be quite different…” Seacrest told Fox.

DioGuardi, who only joined the show this past season, told People magazine at an Emmy after-party that “Idol” producers’ recruitment of DeGeneres was a “genius decision,” and that she wishes she had thought of it herself.

One of the most pointed comments about DeGeneres’ addition came from director Bruce Gowers, who won an Emmy for his role with “American Idol.”

“I think there will be a lot more fun on the show than there was before,” Gowers told reporters backstage.

“I think we’re going to get even higher ratings,” he said.

But Gowers backtracked when asked if he meant the show suffered with Abdul in the judge’s chair, saying that was not the case.

Despite drawing more viewers than any other show on television, “American Idol” did not win its first Emmy until 2007, which was six years into the show’s lifespan, and even that was for the relatively unexciting category of best technical direction.

 Will next season’s arrival of DeGeneres, a highly respected figure in Hollywood, change things and get the show more respect from Emmy voters?

The producers of Fox’s  program “American Idol” are likely asking themselves what they need to do on their show to ever beat CBS’ series “The Amazing Race” and win the best reality competition trophy at the Primetime Emmys.

Singing competition “American Idol” remains the most watched show on TV, and the team behind the show would surely like to cap that accomplishment with an Emmy for the program.

But it was not to be on Sunday, as “The Amazing Race” and its tale of globetrotting competition, again took the trophy, winning in the category for the seventh straight year. That got Jeff Probst, the host of the rival reality show competition “Survivor,” who won an Emmy for his job on the program, talking backstage to reporters about a possible solution to “The Amazing Race’s” dominance.

“Maybe ‘Amazing Race’ should just do what Oprah (Winfrey) did and just pull themselves out of the competition and say, ‘We’ve won enough, our walls are full of trophies, we’ll let someone else win,’” said Probst, whose show survivor is also on CBS, just like “The Amazing Race.”

Bert Van Munster, one of the creators of “The Amazing Race,” was not about to take Probst up on his suggestion.  Standing backstage with the team behind the show, he jokingly said, “I’m going to have to discuss it with my committee, but it’s unlikely.”

And he showed no signs of wanting to pull the plug on “The Amazing Race,” which began in 2001.

“I’m a paranoid television producer,” he said. “I would never give something up that’s so good.”

“American Idol” producers moved swiftly to replace Paula Abdul with comedian and TV chat show host Ellen DeGeneres  as the new judge on the show which starts again in January.

But is Ellen the right fit for the show?

Fans are split and even media watchers were stunned by the move, which serves the dual function of closing the door permanently on Paula, and making the show talked about all over again after a summer of shock announcements.

For a TV show that’s primarily about finding America’s next instant pop star — and one which is ultimately chosen by the public — there’s been a lot of hoo-hah this year about the judging panel, whether its Kara DioGuardi’s return, Simon Cowell’s future, Ryan Seacrest’s lucrative new contract or Abdul’s ultimately failed contract manoevres.

So what do you think is ultimately the most important and/or entertaining part of “Idol” — the contestants, or the chemistry on the judging panel?

And how will Ellen fit in, and will her presence on the “Idol” panel make you more or less likely to watch next year when the show has finished tossing out all the thousands of hopeless singers and gets down to the Top 20?

The Fox TV network and the producers of “American Idol” are scrambling to find a replacement for Paula Abdul . The network has talked about British celebrity Victoria Beckham and pop star Katy Perry as guest judges. But can anyone fill in for the “Straight Up” singer and former Laker Girl on a permanent basis?

As Time magazine critic James Poniewozik told Reuters, “The reason that people sometimes make fun of Paula is the reason that people watch Paula.”

Abdul has racked up a litany of “weirdest moments,” and Fan Fare mentioned a few in a blog post here.

“She’ll be remembered mostly for her crazy talk on the judges’ panel,” Poniewozik said. “Just weird, kind of hazy and tactically un-diagrammable sentences. Sometimes she refuses to criticize singers when they clearly need it.”

And yet, Abdul has been widely viewed as an important part of the top-rated “Idol” formula for success. Simon Cowell, the alpha judge on the reality singing contest, said last month that he had “made it clear” that he wanted Abdul back on the show. Abdul and Cowell sat side-by-side on the panel, and their interactions often devolved into silly, love-hate taunts and tussles that got the audience laughing or howling.

Abdul may have been the most erratic judge on “Idol,” but critics often say she was more interesting to watch than co-panelists Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson. It remains to be seen if the “Idol” producers will even look for a permanent replacement, or if they will return to having three judges, as they always did until this season when they added DioGuardi.

The four-judge format was unpopular with many critics. As a commentator for news outlet MSNBC wrote earlier this year, “For a show already chock-full of filler, increasing the blather seems like a no-win situation.”

What do you think? Can Abdul be replaced? And if not, should Fox go back to three judges or try to get her back somehow?

Only “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul could break out a box of crayons, hand them to fellow panelist Simon Cowell and say, “Here you are 6-year-old. Oh, that’s an insult to 6-year-olds.” Cowell reacted by drawing on her.

Chalk up that episode from this past season to the long list of oddball moments that Abdul brought to “Idol.” With her announced departure from the program, Abdul will leave the show without its resident eccentric, a personality who has often gotten fans talking with her funny behavior.

There was the time last year that she critiqued contestant Jason Castro for two songs, when he had only sung one. She also once said, “Constructive criticism is about finding something good and positive to soften the blow to the real critique of what really went on.”

Uh, what?

She also handed out to contestants her custom-designed jewelry, and no one wore the baubles prouder than this year’s contestant Tatiana del Toro. The following are a couple more of Abdul’s “best of” moments on “Idol.”

Are “American Idol” producers really going to dump Paula Abdul after all these years?

Or is the emotional judge (or her representatives) just playing mind-games at this late stage in a bid to get a better offer for the next few years after Ryan Seacrest upped the stakes by securing a new three-year deal reputed to be worth around $15 million a year?

And with a little over two weeks to go before auditions start in front of the panel for that golden ticket to Hollywood, the official silence around the future of newcomer Kara DioGuardi has been stunning.

Paula might be the most unpredictable, some might say wacky, member of the judging panel but would the show be the same without what one fan this week called her “rainbows and colors”?

Despite his reputation as “Mr. Nasty”, fans have made clear that they would think twice about watching if Simon Cowell were to quit the show. But would they feel the same about Paula going?

Maybe “Idol” producers should allow Americans to vote and decide whether to put Paula, or Kara, in the bottom three. Who do you think would end up being sent home?

It reminds us of those old Disney commercials in which, after a big victory, a sports star is asked where they are going next, and the answer is “Disneyworld,” or something close to that.

But in this case, it is recent “American Idol” winner Kris Allen, who after winning the TV talent contest last month wasn’t schmoozing with Mickey Mouse, he was singing for Wal-Mart investors at the mass market retailer’s annual meeting in Arkansas on Friday.

Reuters was there (Smokey Robinson was, too) and here’s a link to our video of Kris, posted on YouTube.

American Idol winner Kris Allen @ Wal-Mart 2009

“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)