Q3: What an intriguing commentary. After Idol, we all wanted Adam to shoot across the sky as an immediate superstar. He had the talent. Randy, Paula, and Simon all acknowledged that was his place to claim. We were puzzled and frustrated that the world did not immediately fall at his feet and proclaim him the best thing since peanut butter.
And it is possible Adam could have done that - could have gotten overnight acclaim. He could have made an album of great song covers with a voice that would melt butter. He could have gone the route of SuBo, releasing an album with a nice pretty (but very normal) picture on the front and nice pretty, familiar and much loved songs.
He chose the road less traveled. He chose to let his freak flag fly, to paint outside the lines, to be over the top, to experiment with an eclectic album of unknown songs different from anything he had done on Idol. He chose to create a "show" with a plot, with visuals, with costumes and dancers rather than to just stand and sing his face off. He chose to give us what we didn't know we wanted.
Some cringed and turned away. Others shook their heads, confused. Still others criticized and complained that this was NOT the Adam they had voted for on American Idol. It was an uphill battle against the tide.
Now, we are starting to see the tide turn. His appeal is broadening beyond the "new adopters" and extending into a new appreciation for someone so talented and so decidedly not the norm.
Adam didn't blaze across the sky like a meteor after Idol. But meteors burn up in the atmosphere or crash to earth. Adam was like a rocket lifting off. At ignition, there is a huge roar and plume of smoke, but as the rocket starts to move it looks like it will never rise from the platform. Then slowly, slowly, the smoke clears and it picks up momentum, shooting higher and higher, its own fuel powering it into the stratosphere and beyond.
Already the comparisons to Adam abound; on Idol, on the fashion scene, in the music and celebrity world. Humans compare things to the established standards, and Adam is becoming that standard.
More and more, I am convinced Adam is doing it perfectly. And with great courage, instinct, and humanity. ILHSFM.
