Adam Lambert's Dad Wanted Him To Apologize For AMA Performance

Adam Lambert has had to answer a lot of questions about his provocative American Music Awards performance on November 22. With the show more than a week behind him, he's still finding he has to explain himself. When he appears on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Tuesday (December 1) he'll once again open up about the performance that shocked some people.
"I suppose part of what I got caught up in that I forgot — this was the first time people were seeing me on TV again after 'Idol.' I didn't really think about that as objectively as I might have wanted to," he told the talk-show host.

Lambert added that he may have crossed a line or two during the performance, but admitted that he's still learning. "I think on 'Idol' I experimented with a lot of different styles and outfits and tempos and things like that," he said. "I went on tour over the summer and experimented with different types of performing there, and then I was in the studio making a record. For me this has all been one journey, and for me, I was like, 'I'm going to try and do something a little risqué now,' and it just, you know ... it was maybe a little too far."

Lambert said he didn't "intend to disrespect anyone" with the performance and that he has no hard feelings toward ABC, which canceled his "Good Morning America" appearance after the AMAs.

"Yes, I think ABC was a little bit mad at me. I don't blame them. I got carried away. It was stuff that I did not do in rehearsal, so they were probably a little bit taken aback. They gave me a great opportunity to close the AMAs, and I would never want to smack that gift horse in the mouth," he said. "I think they were taking a leap of faith having me do that, and it unfortunately didn't work out as we all thought it would."

Following the performance, the singer's mom supported him on "The Early Show," but Lambert said that his dad thought he should have apologized. "I was like, 'You know, Dad, I don't feel like I did anything wrong. It just wasn't maybe the right judgment call,' " he said. "It's a taste thing more than an obscenity thing. I think it's just a taste level."

Rihanna's 'Good Morning America' Interview

In this age of 24-hour media, it's crazy to imagine that Rihanna has managed to go so long without really sitting down for an interview about the night of February 8, when she was assaulted by then-boyfriend Chris Brown. Friday night (November 6), she'll appear on ABC's "20/20" for a full sit-down interview with Diane Sawyer. A portion of that interview debuted on "Good Morning America" this morning, and the singer spoke tearfully about the aftermath. "People put me on a very unrealistic pedestal," she said. "And all these expectations ... I'm not perfect."

She was talking about the questions that arose when she and Brown were spotted vacationing together only three weeks after the assault, but she could have easily been discussing the way her music is currently being consumed.



The uphill battle for Rihanna is avoiding the "victim" tag in her return to the music world. So far, the new singles, images and video that she has produced for her new album Rated R cast her as a strong, independent, almost otherwordly woman. "I pitch with a grenade/ Swing away if you're feeling brave/ There's so much power in my name," she sings on "Wait Your Turn (The Wait Is Ova)." While the music we've heard so far is a little more deliberate than her past singles (and not nearly as catchy as something like "Umbrella" or "Disturbia"), there's an underlying toughness in her lyrics, as though she's daring everybody to question her spirit.

We won't know if Rihanna's entire musical focus has shifted until we hear the rest of Rated R (which hits stores November 23), but one thing is for sure: The perception of her music will certainly shift, at least for the time being. Plenty of people are already wondering why there weren't more direct references to Brown in the single "Russian Roulette," but that seems like an unfair set of expectations. She has gone through a traumatic event in a very public forum, and it's almost certain that whatever she felt in the aftermath exists in the subtext of whatever she's going to put out.