Maps of Music

For Your Entertainment (2009)

Where the lyrics of For Your Entertainment take you, and where it was really made.

Its debut week sold 198,000 copies and took the album to number three on the Billboard 200, a result for a singer who had finished second on American Idol.

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Album story

Overview

• For Your Entertainment is the debut studio album by American singer Adam Lambert
• Released 23 November 2009 by RCA Records
• A pop record; six songs were co-written by Lambert
• Contributors include Pink, Lady Gaga, Orianthi and Justin Hawkins
• First album after Lambert finished second on American Idol season eight

Background

• Lambert finished second on American Idol season eight in 2009
• Recording began in May 2009, shortly after the season ended
• Lambert cited glam rock as a key influence, with The Killers and Muse as contemporary references
• Three singles: For Your Entertainment, Whataya Want from Me and If I Had You
• The album was supported by Lambert's first concert tour, the 2010 Glam Nation Tour, which travelled across North America, New Zealand, Australia, Asia and Europe

Recording

• Lambert enlisted various pop and rock producers for the sessions
• Producers included Rob Cavallo, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, Shellback, Greg Wells, Linda Perry, Jeff Bhasker, Ryan Tedder and Howard Benson
• A&R executives at 19 Entertainment helped select collaborators, including Matt Bellamy of Muse and Rivers Cuomo
• Lady Gaga's earlier song Fever was offered to Lambert, who recorded it for the album
• Pink co-wrote and recorded Whataya Want from Me

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• American singer, songwriter and actor born January 29, 1982 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• Raised in San Diego, California; began performing with the Metropolitan Educational Theatre network at age 9.
• Attended California State University, Fullerton for a musical theater major, then withdrew to move to Los Angeles.
• At 19 got his first professional job on a cruise ship; later toured in Hair and appeared as understudy for Fiyero in Wicked.

Career

• Rose to fame as runner-up on the eighth season of American Idol in 2009.
• Debut album For Your Entertainment debuted at number three on the Billboard 200; lead single "Whataya Want from Me" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
• Second album Trespassing debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making him the first openly gay artist to top the album charts.
• Third album The Original High (2015) debuted at number three; fourth album Velvet (2020), fifth album High Drama (2023), and sixth album Adam (July 10, 2026).
• Has performed with Queen since 2012, replacing Paul Rodgers in the reunion project Queen + Adam Lambert.
• Made his Broadway debut in 2024 as the Emcee in the revival of Cabaret.
• Founded the non-profit Feel Something Foundation in late 2019 focusing on LGBTQ+ and human rights causes.

Reception

At release

• The Huffington Post's Joe Vogel called the album an instant classic
• Vogel said it marks one of the most impressive mainstream pop album debuts in recent memory
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Lambert sounds larger than life and that there is a lot of pure pop pleasure
• Spin called it perhaps the strongest, most flavorful batch of tunes to reach an AI vet
• Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt wrote that Lambert is the belle of a glitter-pop ball
• The A.V. Club's Steven Hyden called it a rough draft for an interesting career
• Rolling Stone's Jody Rosen wrote that the songs sound great but feel strangely stuffy
• The New York Times' Jon Caramanica called it overwrought, clunky and only sparingly entertaining

Reappraisal

• Metacritic average of 71 from 10 reviews, generally positive
• Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe praised Fever and Whataya Want from Me as standout pop tracks
• Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot called it anticlimactic after Lambert's Idol run

Records

• Debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 198,000 copies in its first week
• Remained on the chart for 50 weeks
• Billboard ranked it 29th on its 2010 year-end Billboard 200 listing
• RIAA gold certification on June 22, 2010, for over 500,000 domestic shipments
• Nielsen Soundscan reported 863,000 US sales by April 2015
• Peaked at number seven on the Canadian Albums Chart
• Music Canada gold on January 26, 2010, and platinum on March 24, 2010
• Finland gold; Silver from BPI on August 18, 2023

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Lady Gaga had written Fever earlier, but did not finish a version to her satisfaction; she offered it to Lambert because she felt it matched his style
• Pink wrote and recorded Whataya Want from Me but left it off her 2008 album Funhouse for personal reasons
• Justin Hawkins' Suburban Decay was considered, but Lambert decided not to record it, saying it was too different from the rest of the album
• After his controversial performance at the 2009 American Music Awards, Lambert was dropped from a few scheduled ABC performances; CBS invited him to The Early Show instead
• RedOne hoped to place at least six songs on the album, but none of his tracks made the final cut

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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