[TrueFaith77]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

You would think by now that everyone knows the formula- you need to alter the arrangements drastically from the original version. Every time I hear these "old" songs being played in accordance with the original arrangements, no matter how well the performers sang, I know they are going to be savaged by the judges. If it was originally slow, you need to speed it up. If it was originally fast, you need to slow it down. And in every case, less is more- less instrumentation, less background singing. Adam Lambert knows how this is played. I don't think he is a particularly great singer- there are plenty of better singers on Broadway. He is not particularly good-looking (although many would disagree with me). But he is the ultimate contrarian- different for the sake of being different, and so far it's working! For his own sake, he'd better hope the other contestants do not figure out this strategy, even though one would have to be pretty obtuse not to figure it out.

After watching this show for 7 seasons(!), I'm still dumbfounded by how few of the contestants know how to play the game... or even try.