Adam Lambert is by far one of the most successful American Idol alums alumni in the show's history.
Although he came in second to Kris Allen on Season 8, he still managed to snag a recording contract,
become Queen's new frontman, and eventually build up an estimated net worth of $30 million.
As American Idol creator Simon Fuller told Rolling Stone back in 2009,
Lambert's talent was undeniable from the start. Fuller said,
"He's like Marc Bolan meets Bowie, with a touch of Fred­die Mercury and the sexiness of Prince."
When Lambert joined Queen in 2011,
he received similar praise from lead guitarist Brian May who told Yahoo!,
"Adam has a real gift from God. That voice is a voice in a billion, and nobody has that range,
nobody that I've ever worked with."
"That's right. I'm that guy."
But even with those stunning industry reviews, not everyone has been so enamored with the
star. In 2011, Adam Levine shaded Lambert in a way that would have made Mariah Carey,
of the "I don't know her" diss, very proud. During The Voice semifinals, after
Nakia performed Lambert's hit single "Whataya Want From Me," the Maroon 5 frontman claimed,
"I'm actually not familiar with that song, but you just forced me to like it."
Further digging the alleged knife into the wound, Levine added,
"You probably sang it better than the person that sang it originally."
Yikes. While Lambert's fans were understandably outraged, the Idol alum alumnus took the comment
in stride, tweeting about Nakia's killer performance and quipping,
"I think Adam might know who I am after this next album. Get ready for me Levine…There
is NO reason to be angry. Thanks for being protective but it's all good."
As for Levine, he took to Twitter to say "Sorry Not Sorry," writing,
"I had honestly never heard that song before. I thought that Nakia
made me like a song that would have otherwise fallen flat. I'm NOT sorry."
Revisiting the shade on a 2017 episode of Watch What Happens Live,
Lambert told Andy Cohen that the comment was actually what he called
"high shade," inferring that of course Levine would know who he is, explaining,
"Our initials are the same. People call me Adam Levine all the time."
"I was like, 'How, Adam?!'"
But, this wasn't his only competitive-singing beef. Finale night is when producers pull out all
the stops on American Idol, and for Lambert, that meant performing with KISS. He told Rolling Stone,
"I was so excited. I was like, 'I'm going to glue rhinestones on my eyelids, b----!'"
The praise was mutual. Kiss bassist and singer Gene Simmons told Extra that Lambert was quote,
"fantastic," adding that he could tour with them anytime.
But that changed just a few weeks later following Lambert's public coming out
in his 2009 Rolling Stone cover story. Simmons told AOL Television,
"[Adam is] enormously talented, best talent American Idol has had, but I think he killed his
career because now conversation is not about his talent but about his sexual preference…He's done."
In 2017, Lambert was asked about Simmons' comments on Watch What Happens Live
and didn't have any problem shading the Kiss star, adding,
"He kind of reminds me of, like, Donald Trump's track record.
You know, it's like, one minute this, one minute that, like, contradicting."
"He's really friendly."
While Simmons' seemingly homophobic comment was obviously off the mark,
Lambert's star just continued to rise. In 2009, Idol Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken
didn't mince words about his Season 8 counterpart.
"You know, honestly, it's a very different show now. It's a very different experience."
Describing Lambert's finale performance, Aiken told a fan, via his website,
"I happened to turn it [on] during the minute that Adam Lambert was singing 'Ring of Fire' and,
at that moment, thought my ears would bleed…I wasn't really a fan
and found myself surprised whenever folks told me that they liked him."
Queerty called the Idol alum "bitter," and following a slew of negative feedback,
Aiken penned a second blog post in which he issued a non-apology, writing,
"I suppose I should clarify and even retract some of what I wrote…I
hope no one actually believed that blood truly poured forth from my ears when I heard him.
I obviously meant it as a colorful statement to imply that I did not enjoy what I heard."
Yeah. We got it the first time, Clay.
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