Adam Lambert arrives at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday in Los Angeles. (Matt Sayles/Associated Press) Adam Lambert is a year into the wild ride that began when he emerged out of the pack on American Idol last January.

The guy who parlayed a runner-up finish into an album deal and a reputation for creating controversy was in Toronto on Monday to promote his album, For Your Entertainment.

In an interview with CBC's Q cultural affairs show, Lambert said he is heeding some advice from Madonna about fame.

"She said, 'You really have to keep your eye on the prize and put your blinders up,'" Lambert said. "Don't get sidetracked by what the press is saying about you and what message boards are saying about you and this and that.... Have a goal, have a focus and just stay tuned in on that."

Lambert and Madonna share a guitar teacher and he wangled an introduction to her shortly after he came out as gay on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Lambert has no regrets about anything he's done in the last year — certainly not about his aggressively sexual image.

Not even about his controversial American Music Awards performance, which offended many viewers with its simulation of oral sex.

'Just going with it'

"I own what I did. I take responsibility for it. When I've made last-minute impulsive choices in the past I've had good experiences and I was just going with it," Lambert said. "It was a polarizing performance, which is kind of what I did on Idol."

Lambert's father was a Grateful Dead fan and former college DJ with a huge record collection, while his mother loved Al Green and other soul artists. He loves the music of the '70s and says he wants to project that same "sense of freedom of expression and diversity" in his own music. When he thinks about his goals, it's mostly about "keeping the party going."

He freely admits the pace of the last year has left him little time to think about creative direction.

"On the good end of it, the momentum didn't die. I got off the show, immediately started writing and working with producers, did the tour, continued recording during that, and then two months after the tour put the album out," he says of For Your Entertainment.

"There was really no chance for me to think too hard. It was kind of like just go, take action."

He wanted the same kind of variety on the album that he expressed on Idol, moving from ballad to rock to dance pop.

"I try to stay true to all the things that I like about music as a listener. I wanted to nod to all the classic rock stuff that I did on Idol and not disappoint those fans, but I wanted to somehow fuse it and blend it into contemporary dance pop which is the stuff I actually listen to more of," Lambert said.

He is embracing his new life with gusto, thinking about promoting the album, making music videos and perhaps trying his hand at singing some Freddie Mercury, as Justin Timberlake recently suggested to him. "There are projects I want to work on," he said. "But ultimately just going for the ride and being in the moment is the most important thing."

Lambert spent three months in Toronto a few years ago, in a production of Wicked. This time around, he's promoting the album and appearing on MuchMusic.