Adam Lambert Criticizes the Singing in “Les Miserables,” Russell Crowe Agrees

Adam Lambert, who rose to international fame while on American Idol and is now known as one of the most talented and versatile singers of our times, has landed himself in somewhat hot waters with movie buffs after criticizing the singing in “Les Miserables” on Twitter.

A few hours ago, Adam took to Twitter to share a few impressions about the film that’s got everybody talking and is considered one of the strongest Oscar contenders this year.

Some of the things he said weren’t particularly welcome with fans who had already made up their mind that “Les Mis” was positively flawless, particularly his remarks about how hiring professional singers or pre-recording the songs in the studio would have improved the experience.

“Les Mis: Visually impressive w great Emotional performances. But the score suffered massively with great actors PRETENDING to be singers. ....it's an opera. Hollywoods movie musicals treat the singing as the last priority. (Dreamgirls was good),” Adam wrote.

“And I do think it was cool they were singing live- but with that cast, they should have studio recorded and sweetened the vocals. I felt like I should ignore the vocals and focus on the emotional subtext- but the singing was so distracting at times it pulled me out,” he added.

All the singing in “Les Miserables” was recorded live, so as to have the actors pour their heart and soul into the performance, as opposed to having a cleaner, sanitized version of the song play while they mimed.

“The industry will say ‘these actors were so brave to attempt singing this score live’ but why not cast actors who could actually sound good? Those raw and real moments when characters broke down or were expressing the ugliness of the human condition were superb. However...” Adam wrote.

“My personal opinion: there were times when the vocals weren't able to convey the power, beauty and grace that the score ALSO calls for,” he added.

He urged his fans and followers to see the film for Anne Hathaway’s superb performance and, after his comments went viral, returned for another round of explanations: he had expected the film to have perfect music, just like in the original Broadway recording.

Russell Crowe, who also stars in the film, responded with, “I don't disagree with Adam, sure it could have been sweetened, [director] Hooper wanted it raw and real, that's how it is.”