Now that Adam Lambert is finished competing for the pole position in America's biggest (and often blandest) popularity contest, the powers that be -- and feverishly police their potential stars' reputations -- have deemed it a good time to unlock and unload all the secret Internet goodies they've kept hidden for the past four months.
The most talented American Idol contestant to ever grace the show's stage (except maybe Kelly -- I still count her performance of "Since U Been Gone" at the MTV Video Music Awards as a life changing experience) had his MySpace, Friendster, and other social networking profiles set to private until recently and now that everything is out in the open fans have gone to great lengths to find out exactly what Lambert has been up to -- and mixed up in -- over the past few years.
Here's a few of my favorite things that have been revealed:
- The above comment Lambert left on a friend's MySpace page proves that he was sassy, sexually deviant (just how I like 'em) and Rock 'n Roll way before he started shaking his hips and belting out Queen in front of millions of people.
- Adam's Friendster profile's main pic shows the then purple-haired singer making out with his then boyfriend and features the following from his "about me" section: "I sing...all types...all the time...and loudly. (deal.) I'm an eccentric AQUARIUS. I love to sleep in. Visually and verbally expressive. 6'1" 170lbs 24 yrs. Openly Gay. Honest. Anylitical."
- He's apparently friends with Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (at least Friendster friends).
None of it is anything I didn't already know, but somehow finally seeing it there on my screen -- and said so plainly -- gets me just as excited as I did when I thought he had a chance of actually winning that stupid show. Social networking sites give us a little glimpse into people's lives -- and it's especially titilating when we come across profiles of people who weren't yet famous and didn't have any reason to suspect they should censor themselves (not that I'm convinced Adam would censor himself now. He seems pretty OK with who he is and what he's trying to represent). Here's hoping that AI was just the beginning for him and that at some point there won't be the need for secrecy or locking MySpace profiles -- even if the big reveal is always kind of fun.
Finally -- if you haven't checked out the great American Idol Op-Ed Out's Editor in Chief Aaron Hicklin wrote for the Washington Post this past weekend, get on it.
-- NOAH MICHELSON
Previously > American Idol: Upset 2009
