Adam Lambert AMA performance

Sunday night, I had the honor of live-blogging the 2009 American Music Awards. So at 8 p.m., my friend and I turned on the TV and waited for the Taylor Swift worship to begin.

During a pre-AMA dinner, we gave our predictions for the night's performances. For the most part, we were right.

Lady Gaga was divisively awesome, Jennifer Lopez was a train wreck and Whitney Houston was the comeback queen.

Nothing prepared us for Adam Lambert, however.

He performed a sex-infused version of his single, "For Your Entertainment." There was crotch nestling, humping, leashes and an on-stage makeout session.

Today, some people are saying it was enough to ruin the career of the "American Idol" runner-up.

I wouldn't say that. If his goal was to get people talking, he didn't fail. And Lambert's extremeness is at least memorable -- which I'd certainly prefer over the "meh" personality of last season's "Idol" winner, Kris Allen.

But I do think Lambert hurt himself by letting a focus on shock value supersede real talent.

Even though the singer had some experience prior to "Idol," he is for the most part inexperienced on the mainstream music scene. I think he resorted to a mindset that your ability to shock people mirrors your talent level.

If you missed the performance, you can watch it here.