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Adam Lambert talks music, fame and pride

The former San Diego singer and 'American Idol' alum discusses his new album, touring with Queen and being older and wiser at 33.

By George Varga6 a.m.June 21, 2015



media.utsandiego.com/img/photos/2015/06/19/Lambert_r620x349.jpg?75d51d0aea2efce5189afce216053cbc530c46a8



Goodbye, glam-rock, guyliner, vocal pyrotechnics and glittery, over-the-top theatrics. Hello, musical maturity and comparative understatement.



That may not have been Adam Lambert’s creative mantra, at least not in those exact words, when he was making his new album, “The Original High.” But the 11-song release, which came out Tuesday, is easily the most assured, sophisticated and carefully calibrated work so far by this Indiana-born, San Diego-bred vocal powerhouse. Or, as he declares in one of his new songs: "I'm a grown-ass man."



Lambert, 33, reinforces his artistic reinvention with his impeccably crafted, less-is-more new songs and his straightforward album cover — a no-frills, black-and-white head shot, with stubble in place of makeup, and not a hint of glitter to be seen.



“I think I had gone down the road of doing campier, theatrical kinds of ridiculous, thematic pop on my past couple of albums,” he said by phone from London, where he was on a promotional tour for “The Original High.” It’s his third solo album of new songs since rising to stardom, after his second-place finish on the 2009 edition of TV’s “American Idol.”



“I wanted to steer it back into ‘realness,’ reality, authenticity and things that were universal concepts everybody could relate to,” he continued. “I just wanted to connect with the listeners in a real way.”



But didn’t his two previous albums reflect Lambert’s musical reality at the time?



“They were a conscious choice to go into that theatrical reality,” he replied.



Lambert hasn’t abandoned his well-honed pop instincts or his penchant for dance-friendly beats. Nor has he suddenly adopted a stripped-down, solo acoustic approach, especially not with “The Original High” having being executive produced by Max Martin, whose most recent credits include bigger-than-life hit records by Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Maroon 5.



‘Less is more’



But Lambert, who has no plans to tour this year, is singing with greater attention to nuance and dynamic shading. He’s also leaving more space in his singing, rather than simply belting his vocals out. The impressive results suggest he has grown to realize the notes he leaves out are equally important to the ones he sings.



“That’s a great observation,” Lambert said. “I don’t feel like I’m consciously holding back, but I feel like I’m not trying to show off. I’m trying to simply convey the emotion, in a much less overworked way. And I’ve had success with this in the past; it’s not like I’ve never done a subtle song.



“But, as a whole album, ‘The Original High’ is more grounded. I’ve kind of grown up a bit and realize how powerful it can be when less is more, and that — exactly as you said — sometimes simplicity has more power.”



Asked what he looked for in his collaborators, Lambert replied: "Somebody who will bring ideas to the table, lots of them, and who is open to ideas that aren’t their own. And talent doesn’t hurt."



Lambert's previous album, 2012’s “Trespassing,” teamed him with Pharrell Williams, of "Happy" and "Blurred Lines" fame. Clearly, Williams' approach to producing and recording differs considerably from that of “The Original High” co-producers Martin and Shellback. Lambert spoke highly of all three.



"Working with Pharrell was amazing," he said." I mean, he’s a genius. He’s so smart and I’m a big fan of his work, and have been for so long. Pharrell definitely has his style. It’s his world and vibe, and I was thrilled to step into it.



"With ‘The Original High,’ in contrast, Max and Shellback took a long time with me to figure out what my sound would be and to tailor it to me, so I would have a sonic identity. It’s just two different ways of working. I really enjoyed making both albums. With ‘The Original High,’ I knew the basic, stylistic things I wanted to start with. But it really comes into focus as you’re in the studio, creating music. After you have a handful of songs, you see where the through-line is and then you can fill in the gaps. As you get to the end, you say: 'Oh, I think this song needs to (have more of) this style, or mood, or color."



He has also benefited from his time with Brian May and Roger Taylor of the pioneering English rock band Queen. He performed the band’s epic 1977 song, “We Are the Champions,” on “American Idol” with the two suitably impressed Queen alums. (Lambert had auditioned for the show by singing another Queen classic, 1976’s near-operatic “Bohemian Rhapsody”).



May and Taylor subsequently invited Lambert — a longtime admirer of Queen singer Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991 — to perform with them in 2012 and each year since then. Their joint tours of Europe, North America, Asia and South America were billed as Queen + Adam Lambert. May guests on “Lucy,” a standout song on Lambert’s new album.



The singer chuckled when asked what he learned, not just from performing with Queen, but from chatting with Taylor and May on the band’s tour bus.



‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’



“Obviously, I picked up a lot from them on stage,” he replied. “Their music is unbelievable, and it’s not easy to sing these songs. I’ve learned a ton on a technical level. And, personally, the fabulous thing is — because they are Queen and are rock royalty — they take a jet, not a bus! So that was exciting.



“I think I picked up their sense of the big picture. They’ve been in the business a long time and have lived full lives, so I realized not to sweat the small stuff as much as I did in the past. They see the big picture and take pride in their work. The other thing I’ve picked up from them is that it’s not just the work and career; you also have to pay attention to your life and to your heart.”



Lambert was not yet 10 when he gave his heart to music.



He made his stage debut at San Diego’s Lyceum Theater in a 1991 Metropolitan Educational Theater production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” In 2000, soon after graduating from Mt. Carmel High School, he earned a rave review from San Diego Union-Tribune theater critic Pam Kragen for his Moonlight Amphitheatre performance as Doody in “Grease.”



“You’ve done your research, sir!” Lambert said. “Yea, San Diego!”



His musical epiphany, however, did not come in “Grease” or “Charlie Brown.”



“I think I was about 12 or 13, and had been working with Metropolitan for a while and loving it,” he recalled. “We were doing ‘Fiddler on Roof,’ I think it was at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, and I was the Russian soldier (Fyedka) that does the big vocal feature (‘To Life’). I sat on this table and held this note as long as I possibly could — this big, powerful tenor note.



“I could do it longer, and on key, than any other kid, and I got all this approval. Everybody applauded and I felt good that I made people enjoy the moment. It’s the clearest memory for me to look back on. It was such a learning moment that made me think I did something special.”



Was Lambert inspired that other San Diego-bred music talents had achieved stardom, from Tom Waits and Jewel to blink-182 and P.O.D.?



“When I was in high school, I found out blink-182 was from our area,” he replied. “That was exciting and definitely created a buzz around them at school — that they were from our ‘hood. But I didn’t really have aspirations to go into the music world until later.”



Lambert moved to Los Angeles when he was 18. A subsequent stint as an understudy in a Broadway touring production of “Wicked” soured him on musical theater (“It wasn’t doing for me what I thought it would”). He formed a band and sang anywhere he could.



He laughed when asked to recall his worst day-job in L.A. and if it inspired him to write a song about it.



"I worked retail jobs, thankless retail jobs, early on in my twenties."



He laughed again. "I never wrote a song about it; it wasn’t one of my favorite times in my life. Folding jeans was not a highlight!"



Then, thanks to “American Idol” in 2009, came stardom, his first solo album and tour, Queen and much more. The road to stardom has been fulfilling and challenging, as Lambert readily acknowledges now.



"Oh, man, there are so many things I didn’t realize before getting into it," he said.



"As music fans, it’s really easy to think something goes one way, and then you find out it goes the other way. You find out that what’s most surprising is how much business is part of the music business. There are a lot of politics and financial things involved. It’s more complicated than anyone realizes and I’m still learning my way through this. Luckily, I’ve learned a lot and that you have to have right team around you, and I feel I do now."



Six years after "Idol" propelled him to the limelight, Lambert is older, wiser and more comfortable with who and what he is. He underscores his growth on “There I Said It,” a stirring ballad from his new album that finds him proudly referring to himself in its lyrics as “a grown-ass man.”



“I guess that line makes people giggle,” he acknowledged. “But my saying ‘I’m a grown-ass man’ is a way of saying I’m grown. It’s definitely a little silly, but that song is kind of a defiant anthem about not making apologies for who you are. It’s about standing up and not hiding in the shadows, and being exactly who you are. I’m really happy with that song. It’s the moment on the album that lets me make a statement, and it’s a full-on ballad.”



Was he hiding in the shadows before he achieved fame — and before he very publicly came out as being gay in a 2009 Rolling Stone interview?



“Early on I had my own struggles with who I was and my identity in the music industry,” Lambert said. “And, before that, with auditioning for parts, there was a certain amount of conformity that had to happen. I’d be thinking: ‘Ooh, I have to be this way, or this person won’t like me and I won’t get the job.’ Now, I feel like I’m in a place — and with this song — that I won’t compromise.”



Link: www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jun/21/adam-lambert-interview/?#article-copy


 

[cassie]

torontoist.com/2015/06/the-anatomy-of-the-mmvas/


The first thing we see is his hair—a thick, flowing wave on top, but buzzed at the sides, slowly disintegrating into a tasteful stubble beard as it makes its way past his ears. By the time his twinkly eyes and shiny teeth have emerged from the car and onto the red carpet of the Much Music Video Awards, the fans already know it’s Adam Lambert. Only one man could be that perfect.



He shakes hands with red-carpet host Devon Soltendieck and makes a beeline to his fans—signing five seconds’ worth of autographs, exactly the amount you should sign if you’re on live TV. He tears himself away from the adoring multitude for a chat with Soltendieck.



“Are you prepared for a ’90s quiz?” asks Soltendieck.



“I can try to be, yeah!”



“All right! Quiz question number one: what does JTT stand for?”



“Jonathan Taylor Thomas.”



“You got it!” says Soltendieck. Lambert emits a short laugh that spotlights the upper row of his pearly whites.



“Second question—a little bit more difficult now!” says Soltendieck. “Name all five Spice Girls!”



“Ooh… by name or type of spice?” He names Scary, Sporty, Baby, and Ginger, but struggles to remember Posh. When the host names Victoria Beckham, he laughs and grins again.



“And…the final question…you’re gonna have to run with me on this one…”



“All right, I’m ready.”



Soltendieck pauses. “Do your best Carlton dance for us. Do you know it?”



“Oh yeah.” And as the music plays, Adam Lambert swerves his hips and flails his arms better than any man since Alfonso Ribeiro. “Yours is a lot better than mine!” says Soltendieck.



Has there ever been a more perfect man? This is what your humble correspondent asks himself as he watches the pre-show from the MMVA press room, somewhere behind the enormous pileup of geometric neon at 299 Queen Street West. Your humble correspondent will participate in a series of press conferences with this year’s stars, and maybe—just maybe—have an opportunity to study this remarkable specimen up close.

.....

There is no such ambivalence from Adam Lambert. Cell-phone cameras are a-blazin’ as the evening’s most immaculately groomed man enters, fresh off his world tour filling in for Freddie Mercury with the reunited Queen. “I wanted to make sure that we kind of had a nice balance between paying respect to the original recordings and the intention of the songs in the first place, and then at the same time making sure that I was putting myself into the music, and not just copying Freddie.”



He is asked about his well-received role on Glee. “I immediately jumped at it, because it’s a show that echoes a lot of the same ideas that I echo in my philosophies, in my music, in things that I speak to my fans about. It’s a great show. I love the principles that they push forward, and I like the character, because he wasn’t really that different from me.”



He flashes his perfect smile. “The very first day I was terrified, I gotta tell you. Because they called me and asked me to do it, I said, ‘Of course!’ and I’m showing up to set going, ‘Wait a minute…what if I suck? I didn’t audition! What if I get up on set and all of a sudden they’re like, ‘Uhhh, hmmm, how do we tell you this? You’re horrible.’” He chuckles. “So I was a little nervous the first day, but luckily everything worked out.”



He flashes his blinding smile and heads to the exit, while the reporters crowd around him for selfies. He shakes their hands and laughs at their jokes and mugs for their photos. He is aggressively perfect.

[cassie]

Startsida » Svensk media » Adam Lambert Interview in Di Weekend

Adam Lambert Interview in Di Weekend

"I don't have to show everything I can do"

Posted on 30/06/2015 in Svensk media, Translations // 0 Comments





”I don’t have to show everything I can do”



Jan Gradvall interviews Adam Lambert for Di Weekend 2015-06-26



Adam Lambert’s jet engine voice has made him an American Idol star and the singer of Queen after Freddie Mercury. But it takes powerful hit songs to become an international mega star – and he has now gotten help from Swedish professionals with that part. Di Weekend’s Jan Gradvall met the American artist on one of his many visits to Stockholm.



ADAM LAMBERT

Age: 33

Lives: Los Angeles

Background: Runner up on American Idol 2009. The show is canceled next year, after its 15th season. The biggest stars to emerge from the show are Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and Adam Lambert.

Now: New solo album The Original High, recorded in Los Angeles and Stockholm. Tours with Queen as the replacement for Freddie Mercury.



ADAM LAMBERT GETS SWEDISH ASSISTANCE TOWARDS THE TOP.



What is the worth of a voice? That is an abstract question, but in the case of Adam Lambert there is an exact answer: 48 million dollars.

Before a tour four years ago, his voice was insured for an amount that shocked the music world. At the same time, there are many who argue that his vocal cords really hold the same value as Leo Messi’s feet.

Adam Lambert, born 1982 in San Diego, has a voice with a greater force and perhaps a wider range than any other person in popular music today.

Meat Loaf, himself known for his lung capacity, ranks him in the same league as Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin, based on “that jet pack quality to their voice that just takes off”.

Brian May in Queen has said that he realized the jet plane engine that was hidden in Adam Lambert’s lungs when he in 2009 was a participant on American Idol and sang the infamously demanding Queen classic Bohemian Rhapsody during his audition.

The eighth season of American Idol then ended with the two finalists, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen, singing We Are The Champions together with Queen.



The runner up became the winner.



It was Kris Allen who won the final of American Idol, but it was the runner up, Adam Lambert, who became the real winner.

When Freddie Mercury died in 1991, Queen replaced him with Paul Rodgers from Free and Bad Company during their reunion tours in the 00’s. But after Adam Lambert’s performance during American Idol it was thank you and goodbye to Paul after five years with Queen.

Since then Adam Lambert holds that job. After touring Europe during the spring, the band continues the tour in South America this fall.

Three weeks after the finale of American Idol 2009, Adam Lambert became the first, and is still the only one of the show’s participants, who has ended up on the cover of the prestigious rock magazine Rolling Stone. The cover headline was “Wild Idol”, with Adam in a provocative pose. In the same Rolling Stone interview he publicly talked about being gay for the first time.



Aiming for an international breakthrough.



As a solo artist Adam Lambert has become a big star in the US. His first album For Your Entertainment from 2009 reached number three on the Billboard chart, Trespassing from 2012 became number one.

But he has not had the really big hit songs to make him a star internationally. That is something which is supposed to change this summer.

On his new album, The Original High, which was released last week, Adam Lambert is backed by the, statistically seen, two most successful songwriters and producers in the world: the Swedes Martin “Max Martin” Sandberg and Johan “Shellback” Schuster.



“His voice capacity is unbelievable”, says Shellback.

The Original High was recorded in the two cities that at the moment lead the development when it comes to pop music: Los Angeles and Stockholm. Adam Lambert spent two months in the cramped Wolf Cousin-studio at Roslagsgatan in Stockholm.

In total 19 (!) Swedish songwriters have been involved in making the album. It creates the image of a formula one car that in the pit, met by a crowd of mechanics and experts who do everything to make the engine running perfectly.



Bittersweet and toned down.



‘The formula one car is on this day parked at the end of Kungsgatan, at the Oscar’s Theatre. The record company has played the new album to fans who were specially invited, so called Glamberts, who also get to take selfies with their idol and role model.

These are not teen fans but men and women of all ages. All of them with stories of what Adam Lambert has meant to them.

Afterwards Adam Lambert sinks down in a chair. He sips water from a two litre water bottle that he carries around the whole time.



“I get easily dehydrated when I fly”,

he says with a low key, deep talking voice that only hints of the jet plane engine hidden therein.



The new album feels a bit more bittersweet and toned down than your earlier albums.



“That is probably because I get to live out the more glam and theatrical sides of my personality with Queen. With them, I have been able to go all in. I wanted the album to reflect another side of my personality.”

What have you learned from Max Martin and Shellback?



“They reminded me about what it is not only to be a singer but also to be a listener. To think of what a song feels like to a listener the first time and also what it feels like the fiftieth time. Then you realize that ‘less is more’ is a good rule. I don’t have to show everything I can do all the time, I can hold back.”

There is a big difference between singing on stage and singing in a studio.



“Very true. On my earlier albums I have approached the recording process the same way as I do when I take the stage. I thought that I should do a live performance in the studio. I come from a background on the stage so that is what I know. But now I found myself far from home, in a safe and calm atmosphere, and I could be more grounded and let out my more melancholic side.”

In several of your lyrics you refer to Hollywood – the old Hollywood, a glamorous but at the same time dark world.



“I have lived in Los Angeles the last 14 years. The old and the new Hollywood, it’s the same illusion. People have a perception of what Hollywood is, but in reality there’s so much sadness. Now I’m feeling fine but I have been through dark times. I have friends who have come to the city with great hopes and momentum but then just crashed into a wall. There is a lot of that. Identity crises. People who dream of success but who don’t succeed.”

What is “the original high” that you sing about on the title track?



”There are many things that can make us feel high. What I think about is going back to what created the thirst. It can be life itself. It can be love or sex or the high from performing the first time.”

Bringing back the infatuation



Adam Lambert takes a big sip of water.



“Or as in my case, touring with Queen. My job is to bring out old memories in the audience. Remind them of why they fell in love with Queen in the first place. So that’s another aspect of the original high. To remind them of the fantastic music that Freddie created.”

You sing a duet with Freddie Mercury on the video screens?



“Not exactly a duet, but there are moments when we sing together.”

In the song Lucy you sing about a youth gang that is called The Diamond Dogs. That is a quite obvious reference to David Bowie.



“Bowie is amazing. I grew up with my parents’ record collection. I remember when my dad pulled out the cover to Diamond Dogs the first time. To me, Bowie has almost been a bigger style icon than a musical influence. What he created was the first and only of its sort. So many have borrowed from him.”

Bowie also blurred the lines in every way. Between rock and disco, between straight and gay.



“I love the entire glam rock era. All the lines were blurred. My mother’s records was also important to me. She had a lot Al Green and such. Bob Marley. The music I grew up with was my parents’ seventies music.”

What do your parents work with?



“My dad, (Eber Lambert, Norwegian origin) works in mobile communication. When I grew up he worked in a Swedish company, Ericsson. Mom (Leila Lambert) was a dental hygienist.”

You have worked with several charities and do among other things support public schools.



“It’s a project called Donors Choose which started 15 years ago. Through them you can donate money online to very specific projects and even to specific teachers. I went to a public school in San Diego and I know how much extra resources mean.”

What did you like best in school?



“I liked English and history, I had difficulties with maths and science. But what meant most to me was what in the US is called extracurricular activities, subjects that are outside the ordinary curriculum. It can be artistic subjects like theatre or choir. For me, that was crucial during my childhood. It is an alarming development that it is resources like that that are cut when schools have to save money.”

It’s the same development here in Sweden, unfortunately.



“That is so incredibly stupid.”

When did you begin to sing?



“I started doing different musical theatre productions when I was about nine. I loved it.”

Did you take vocal lessons?



“Yes, I started doing that when I was about 13 years old.”

In what way? Singing scales?



“Yes, all of that. But I had a fantastic vocal coach who taught me not only techniques but singing overall. She became like a mentor to me, and introduced me to all the classics: movies, musicals, recordings.

She taught me about the great singers, the great composers. In a way, it is like I got my education from a previous generation.”

Even without knowing that, that shows in your artistry.



“That is probably true. I carry things with me from the old golden era of entertainment that she taught me.”

So you sat and watched videos during your vocal lessons?



“Yes. She also taught me about gay history, all the iconic stuff.”

You mean like Judy Garland?



“Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand. I got that entire education from her. I hadn’t even come out of the closet at that time. I told my parents first when I was 18. But my vocal teacher knew without even asking. She knew.”

“I have also continued sharing the knowledge she gave me. I have gay friends who think everything began with Beyoncé. I mean, hello. So I teach them, ‘this is Bob Fosse, this you have to know’.”

There are actually details in the production that feel a little bit Bob Fosse. Finger snapping. Whistles.



“Definitely. The things that are a bit dramatized. Very Fosse.”

Do you go to see musicals nowadays?



“No, I grew a little tired of that. A lot of what is put up on Broadway now is mostly done for tourists. There is too little risk taking. I remember when I was a kid and saw Tommy by The Who on stage in San Diego. That was incredibly cool. It had nerve. Those are the kind of stage experiences I search for.”

Another charity project that you support is The Trevor Project which helps LGBT youth.



“Trevor Project is amazing. They work with suicide prevention. Anyone can anonymously call a free number at any time to get help and counseling.”

Are there many that seek you up and tell you personal stuff?



“I had no idea how it would affect people when I came out after American Idol. I get a lot of letters, fans that tell me that I made them see things in a new way.”

American Idol reaches all of the US, far out from the big cities. How did the broad America react to you coming out?



“There have been some bumps in the road, but it makes me happy to see how fast people’s attitudes are changing. The next generation doesn’t care any longer. For them it’s already the past, they’re just shrugging it off. And that’s exactly what I want to achieve.”





Original article: Jan Gradvall

www.di.se/di/artiklar/2015/6/26/adam-lambert-far-svensk-draghjalp-2/



Photo: Jonathan Bylars

[cassie]

metrosource.com.s123317.gridserver.com/2015/07/09/adam-lambert-there-i-said-it/



Entertainment >> Feature

Adam Lambert: There I Said It

Adam Lambert has spent his career proving himself as an entertainer—to viewers of American Idol, to fans of Queen, even to the gay community. But with his latest album, he’s trying to prove: He knows who he is.

By Paul Hagen







As fans embrace his third studio album, The Original High, Adam Lambert speaks to Metrosource about the evolution of his style, the challenge of following in a rock legend’s footsteps and the latest addition to his body art.



METROSOURCE: The Original High feels very varied — from the vocals to the beats to the instrumentation. What are you hoping fans take away from it?

ADAM LAMBERT: Coming off a show like Idol with the first album, trying to live up to everybody’s expectations. This album, it was the other way around. I felt like, “OK. I’ve established who I am; I have a great fan base; I’ve done this before. Now what do I want to do for me?” I wanted it to sound like music that I listen to in my real life, that I hear when I go out with my friends.



I mentioned to a fellow editor that my favorite track,“There I Said It,”reminded me of early-Mariah power ballads, but he didn’t hear the similarity. Are there any artists whom you tried to emulate in creating the album?

I don’t want to seem like I’m giving this whole diplomatic, P.C. answer here, but I think what’s so exciting about this album [is that] it’s me more than ever. In the past I was doing a little bit more of, like, trying on an outfit for the first time and [thinking], “Oooh! I could do this!” But this album felt a lot more like it was coming from the inside. … When it came to”There I Said It” — that was one of the later songs, because I realized, ”Hey, we’ve got all these cool rhythmic songs and really interesting beats and things but we need a traditional big song!”



Since you mentioned trying on clothes, you’re a famously fashion-forward fellow…

You can call it that if you like! Sometimes in the past, I would’ve considered it fashion-sideways.



[Laughs] Well, the world needs all sorts of directions…

And I would wear all of them!



What do you look for in an outfit you would wear for a red carpet versus something that you’d want to wear on stage or for a photo shoot?

I don’t think I really understood the difference for a while. It’s a learning experience, you know? When I grew up, every day was Halloween. In LA, in my twenties, I was sort of a club kid. I would go out in weird costumes and wear very weird, conceptual things that I liked — that I saw in a movie or a poster or an album from the ‘70s. I think I’ve kind of grown out of that a bit — not all the way but a bit — and I think now I have … a better sense of what is appropriate when.







Is that part of evolving your look — like the fact that you’re rocking a little less guyliner these days?

That’s definitely part of the style evolution. It’s funny because a fan asked the question recently, “Are you toning it down to be more commercial?” And I was like, “Ew! No!” If you look back on six years ago, were you dressing differently? I know I was. To be totally honest, I think part of it was definitely me being eccentric, creating, wanting to play dress-up, be different and express myself — wearing makeup and feathers and whatever. But also I look back to right after Idol and all that: I think that was a little bit of a defense mechanism, too. I might have been hiding behind it a little bit.



Dressing bravely to show the world you’re brave?

It’s like the kid that’s goth in high school, who’s actually a total butterfly at heart. But they feel weird and sensitive — so they wear all this black to school, you know?



Are you that guy, Adam? Are you the butterfly inside the goth?

I think I’m more sensitive than people might realize, yes.



Beyond fashion, what’s your aesthetic for choosing the things that surround you — how you decorate your home, for example?

Well, I bought a house this year, my first house — I feel like I’m growing up! It’s great. Having a house in LA is amazing because you’re, like, after-party-central [when] all the bars close at 2. … I’ve decided to name my design aesthetic — I decorated my own house; it was really fun — I call it “White Witch.” It’s kind of “nouveau goth.” Well, goth is actually not the right word. It’s more rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a little bit taxidermy, and there are decadent things like a fur rug, and the lamps in my living room are antlers, and there’s a lot of, like, metallic silver accents. It’s very monochromatic: light colors and earth tones, cool lighting fixtures, Edison bulbs. It’s not over the top, though; it’s actually surprisingly minimal.



For gay artists nowadays, it seems like there’s increasing attention paid to how specifically same-sex the lyrics are. Is that something you take into account when you’re crafting a song?

There are definitely two sides to it — especially when there’s a bunch of other people paying for your [art] to be made. For me, it’s always been a tricky line because you don’t want to alienate anybody — you want the music to appeal to as many people as possible. I kind of look at it like: People aren’t stupid, you know? People are smart — especially my gay fans — they’re smart! Everyone knows what my orientation is, and I’m sure they know what it is that the songs mean, … but at the same time, I want as many people to be able to relate to them as possible. So, I keep it sort of neutral so that everybody can feel it.



That makes sense.

You can’t really win in this conversation. People have opinions both ways, and I know in the past I’ve made choices that were the right choice and then I’ve made choices where, for example, the gay media have jumped down my throat and criticized me — which happened early on. I don’t know, man, I’m just trying to “do my thang”! [Laughs] Everybody knows that I’m gay. I’m 100 percent open about that — always have been, the minute I had a chance to talk about it. What else can I do?







Speaking of gayness, how do you think that performing with Queen has impacted you as an artist?

I think it reinvigorated my confidence. I was in a little bit of a rut before that happened — wondering what the next thing was going to be, feeling a little creatively blah. Then we discussed doing this performance at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Vegas, and it was a big hit. It felt really good — like everything gelled with the guys and me. … We got together and said, “You know, we should do a tour. We should do this for real.”



And what was it like preparing to hit the road with them?

Definitely a little intimidating because I knew there would be a lot of die-hard Queen fans that were going to be skeptical of me, you know: “the dude from American Idol” stepping in for Freddie [Mercury]. It’s sacred ground, … so it was also really important for me to make sure that I was paying my respects to Freddie and the band and singing the songs somewhat close to the original but still injecting my own spin on them. Finding that balance was important, but once we nailed that and figured out what the set list was, it was working! Even the skeptical people in the audience — that I might’ve seen with their arms folded — after the third or fourth song, they were jumping up and down and having a great time. Every night felt like a challenge: I had to prove myself. And it was good for me.



We asked readers if they had questions for you, and one asked if there were any specific words or images you were incorporating into your body art?

Well, I put a phrase from the album on my chest recently: “chasing the original high.” That’s right below my collarbone now.



Did that feel like a risk?

Regardless of how the album does, I really believe in the message of that song. It was the first song that was created for the album; it jump-started the whole thing. I remember when I recorded it, I felt like I finally found a way to sing a song about a feeling that I and a lot of my friends were going through: … People — in LA, New York, the “big city” — we move there with stars in our eyes, big hopes, dreams, ambitions. It takes a lot of energy to keep after those dreams, and a lot of people don’t get what they set out for. What happens when you realize it’s not happening? You hit this wall. It can feel like heartbreak. It can feel like disappointment. It can feel like a fork in the road. And what we end up doing — a lot of us — is we start chasing our tails and looking backwards and being like, “Let me just try to do this again,” and we don’t move forward.



It seems like fans are always hungry to know about your personal life. How much of that are you interested in sharing? Where do you draw the line?

It’s hard because you give an inch, and it’s not really the fans that take a mile. It’s more like the media can take a mile, and then things get all screwed up if you’re not careful. It’s a tricky thing to navigate, and I don’t know if I’ve figured it out yet. I’m single, and I mingle. [Laughs] And I think I’m back at a point now in my life where I would love to be in love. I would love to have a relationship again but with who? I don’t know! I’m dating my album right now!







Thanks to behind the scenes music shows like Empire and Nashville, audiences have a greater understanding that songs on a given album can come from a number of sources. What do you prefer: Writing by yourself? Co-writing? Taking existing songs and tweaking them?

I love a co-write. I love being in a room with a couple of people and teaming up! I feel like, for me personally, that’s the most productive — brainstorming together with a couple of great people; I feel like my best stuff has come from that.



Would you say that most of the material on Original High comes from that sort of process?

Yeah, it’s very team-oriented. I mean, sometimes I go through life making notes. I take my little notebook or my iPhone, and I write down little words or phrases, and I’ll come into the room with nuggets.



Going back all the way to Idol, one of your trademarks has been knowing how to use stage fireworks to showcase a song. Do you have a sense of how you want to visually present this album — on stage or in videos?

I’ve been thinking about it because it’s gonna come up on me here any minute. … I definitely want to go down a different path than what I’ve done in the past; I hate repeating myself. I think the album sounds so different from what I’ve done, that it needs to look different as well. I want to go more minimal. Basically, I want to go more art installation-esque — a little bit more modern, a little bit more graphic. There will obviously always be little elements of theater in everything I do — it’s just who I am — but in a less presentational way.



So you’re not gonna have emojis flying outta your head?

I have a feeling there’s not gonna be rhinestones. There’ll be no glitter. … It’s gonna be something different for me, and I’m really excited about that.







Speaking of Idol, do you have any reaction to the announcement that next season will be its last? Are you interested in participating in whatever the big goodbye is going to be?

I think it’s been an amazing show. Obviously I’m really thankful to for what it’s done for me, and I think that they got it right: I think the timing is right to say their farewells. All good things come to an end. … I’ve visited the show every year since I’ve been off of it; so it’s always like a tradition that like we’ll do a little homecoming.



How do you think this day and age — when you have direct access to the fans through social media — differs from the relationship you had to your music idols growing up?

That’s a good question. … The direct access thing really changes the whole dynamic; I think it has positives and negatives. … It definitely gives the fans a lot more power, which I think is really crazy and really good. You can directly link with what your fan-base expects of you: what they like, what they don’t like. Being a good entertainer, you’ve gotta give the people what they want. But at the same time, as an artist, you have to follow your instincts and your integrity, and when you’re constantly looking at what everybody thinks, some of that can get kind of foggy. It’s tricky!



When you look forward, what do you see for yourself — both in terms of perpetuating your music career and other possibilities like acting? Do you have a priority list?

I don’t really know if there’s a priority list; I think over the past couple of years I’ve noticed that things just kind of come in chapters and I take ‘em as they come. Obviously right now I have a lot of high hopes for this album, and I’d like to put together a tour on the tail of it, and if it goes really well, then I’d probably like to do a little bit more. Obviously the Queen thing has been kind of side-by-side project, and maybe that will continue. And, yes, I would love to do some film and TV stuff if possible. Actually [my main goal is to] keep working! To me, one of the things I realized last year — before everything started kind of drumming up again (both with the Queen stuff and this album) — is as long as I can pay the rent and get do what I love to do, I’m fine! It’s like I started trying to realize what it was that I actually wanted to be happy — and that’s enough.



Awesome!

As long as I don’t starve! Although I might look cute if I starve a little bit…



Please, girl! You are fabulous and handsome, you don’t need to worry about that. Not at all!

I want that sample size!

[cassie]

STunning, artistic photos!


www.schonmagazine.com/adam-lambert/

[cassie]

www.reviewjournal.com/neon/sounds/adam-lambert-talks-about-filming-video-vegas-and-more


web1_1003803327-nv_lvrj_lambert.jpg

Adam Lambert will perform Friday at The Foundry at the SLS Las Vegas. Scott Audette/Reuters



image

Preview



Who: Adam Lambert



When: 7:30 p.m. Friday



Where: The Foundry at SLS Vegas, 2535 Las Vegas Blvd. South



Tickets: $35 (702-761-7617)



By DAVE HERRERA

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Adam Lambert is every bit as easygoing and engaging in real life as his appearances and interviews suggest he’d be.



We recently caught up with him in advance of his Friday show at The Foundry at the SLS Las Vegas and asked Lambert about the video for “Another Lonely Night,” his most recent link to Las Vegas (his American debut standing in for Freddie Mercury as the frontman of Queen happened here at the MGM Grand Garden during the 2013 iHeartRadio Music Festival), which he shot here last fall.



We previously chatted with the clip’s director, Luke Gilford, who gave us his insight, and this time got to hear Lambert’s perspective.



Lambert also discussed his upcoming role in the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” remake being produced by Fox. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the full feature profile and also see some excerpts from our recent conversation below.



On shooting the video for “Another Lonely Night” in Las Vegas:



We brainstormed about, like, what can we do with this song to sort of emphasize that feeling of solitude and loneliness, but at the same time, sort of this, like, contradictory sense of presentation and showmanship and love for entertaining. You know, performers, we’re a weird breed of people. We’re complicated, full of contradictions, and I think the video sort of … I don’t know how Luke did it, but I think he did it. He did a great job. And it was exciting to do a nostalgic kind of vibe for a video. You know, I’ve done a lot of videos that are more contemporary. So it was cool to sort of, like, kind of go sort of Elvis, “Leaving Las Vegas,” um, and kind of go there.



On how the video seemed like the antithesis of the typical videos shot in Las Vegas and how it was refreshing that another side of the city was depicted:



Thank you. I was really proud of the video. It was different for me. I also really liked telling more than my own story. That was something that I really wanted to do. I was like, you know, I’m singing. It’s my voice, but let’s show some other examples of this story, of this feeling, and I’m really glad that we did that. We had some incredible talent that we pulled.



Indeed, folks like Gigi Gorgeous. Lambert on how Gigi was cast for the video:



I’ve met GiGi before. I think she ended up at an after-party at my place one night, and I just found her to be so refreshing and so honest about who and what she is. You know, this girl is really impressive and really exciting and stunning. So I was like let’s do something together, and I’m glad we did.



On David Bowie and how he once called him “the bravest artist of the century,” and his expressed admiration for how Bowie handled gender roles and the influence he had:



I definitely think that he was ahead of his time. You know, that’s why it was interesting to see so many artists respond to his death, so many young, contemporary artists beyond that generation. I just think that he wasn’t always doing what was popular, and that takes a lot of guts and a lot of bravery. To me, that’s what he kind of represents, a brave artist that was willing to go against the grain. And I think that inspired a lot of artists to come, but also inspired a lot of regular people, people that might have felt like outsiders. I think he was sort of the icon of the outsider for very many people.



On his first exposure to Bowie and when he first became a fan:



I became more of a fan a little bit later. I definitely was aware of him. My father was a big Bowie fan. I remember him playing the “Diamond Dogs” album for my brother and I. When that “Future Legends” song, the first song on the album was on, it was very scary. My brother would go run and hide, and I thought that was the coolest thing. I thought it was so cool that my father had something that would spook my little brother. And at that point, I was obsessed with Halloween, which actually hasn’t changed. It just felt … it felt … I had fallen in love with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and this, to me, was sort of the twisted cousin to that, you know.



On being involved with Fox’s “Rocky Horror Picture Show” remake:



I’m very excited. I actually recorded the vocals a couple of weeks ago. It was very exciting. It was in Malibu, overlooking the water at Lou Adler’s studio, and Lou Adler was like the original producer of the film. So it’s cool that he’s still involved in this project. I think that will help it maintain a lot of its integrity. And his son, Cisco Adler, produced the music. I’ve been aware of Cisco. He’s been in the scene awhile now, so it was exciting to work with somebody that has family ties to the project and is also a contemporary music producer. He did a lot of cool things with it. I really enjoyed it. They definitely refreshed the sound of everything, but not in a way that takes it too far away from the original, which I think is the perfect balance.



On his personal style, how he developed it, how he first fell in love with music and what music shaped him:



You know when I was a kid, I was kind of an eccentric, hyperactive, creative kid, and my parents figured that the best outlet for me would be, like, a theater group, and that’s what started my love affair of performing, and we were doing musicals. I was listening to soundtracks of musicals and really diving into that whole world and studying. I was such a student of it. You know, I learned every soundtrack recording and score and then started taking voice lessons and really improved my voice.



And when I got into high school, I was doing stuff in high school, as well — choir, jazz band, singing, musical theater — and I knew right away when it came time to graduate what I was going to do next was go into the arts. And so that’s what I did, and, looking back, I probably could’ve moved to New York. It probably would’ve had more to offer me at the time than L.A. did, but for whatever reason, I stayed in L.A. I liked California. I was drawn to it, and I did a lot of theater in L.A., which is kind of an oxymoron; there’s not a lot of theater in L.A., but I did as much as I could. I did a lot of it.



And then I finally got a gig on a Broadway national tour of a musical at about 25, and you know, this was the highest level that I had achieved in the business. I was understudying a lead role. I was in the ensemble. I was thrilled. I was like, ‘I’ve made it. Now maybe I can move to New York, now that I have this credit, and I can continue working and be on Broadway,’ which was my 8-year-old dream for myself.



And very quickly, I realized after being on the road with the show for six months, it just didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t satisfying me creatively. It wasn’t matching what my actual interests were as a creative person. I realized that I had been listening to … up until that point, I had been listening to a lot of ’70s rock, and I had started a band, and then I went and did this and went, ‘I want to be in my band.’



So I quit and I came home and started working on music full time. Then I ran out of money, and I was like, well, I don’t want to get a job in retail again. I’ve done that way too many times, and so I got cast in the Los Angeles production of ‘Wicked,’ the musical. So this was an eight-show-a-week, professional production in L.A., paying very well, enough to make a living off of, unlike most theater in Los Angeles.



And so I did that for two years, and while I was doing that, I worked on my music. Then I auditioned for “Idol,” and they were like, “You’ve got to quit that show,” because you can’t be in a professional anything. So I quit and then “Idol” happened. It was a gamble, because they made me quit before I even got in front of Simon, Paula and Randy and Kara. So it was definitely a gamble. I thought, well, this could be a shot and if I don’t take it, I’m going to kick myself later. And I’m glad it worked out. It’s definitely an example of you’ve got to take the risk in order to get the reward.



And, you know, up until that point, you know, look, I had a background in theater, I took voice lessons — one time as a teenager, I took opera for a little while — but I was obsessed with pop music when I was a teenager as well. That was the late ’90s, so it was like the, you know, all the Christina and Britney and Nsync and even the hip-hop that was coming up at that time, Missy Elliot and Madonna and all these pop people and dance music and things like that. So I’ve always loved that style of music. And then in my 20s in L.A., I fall in love with all this nostalgic rock ‘n’ roll.



It was interesting for me to be on Idol, because they were trying to figure out who I was, and I was like, “Well, I like all this stuff.” You know, why do I need to be defined by a genre. I don’t really get that. You know, it’s a TV show. I was like, “I can sing the rock music, and you don’t really have a rocker, so I’ll go sing rock music.” And so yeah, so I did that, and towards the end of it, I realized, well, now I have a shot at being on the radio and having a contemporary music career, and I want to make the kind of music that I like to listen to, and I still love rock ‘n’ roll, so how do I kind of put those both together. And so, that’s sort of what my first album was, was this modernized glam thing.



On the ’70s rock that inspired him:



Well, obviously Queen. Queen was huge for me. You know, I just became really enthralled with the whole glam rock thing. What I loved about it was it was music that was rock, but it was also pop, obviously, at the time, and it was also … the fashion of it was something that was really … especially at that time, it was, like, 22, 23, I had just come back from doing a show in Europe, where I was in Germany for six months. And everybody in Germany is very progressive and liberal. I was dressing like a crazy club kid.



And I got home and I was like, well, how do I combine all these things that I love, and that’s one of the reasons why that glam rock movement of the ’70s spoke to me. I was like, “Ah, God, I wish we had that now. That’s so in line with everything that I love and am and see myself as.” And it just, I don’t know, it spoke to me.



So Queen, Bowie, Slade, Velvet Underground, T-Rex, I mean you name it, I was very infatuated with that. And then bigger artists that came out of that, you know people like Prince and Michael Jackson and George Michael, you know, artists that were still very fashionable and fabulous but were putting out a different kind of music.



Read more from Dave Herrera at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at [e-mail] and follow @rjmusicdh on Twitter.

[cassie]

Adam Lambert Milan Show - Review by Onstageweb

Alcatraz, Milan, May 4th 2016.



He didn’t miss a note. He didn’t let his audience breathe, not even for a second. Adam Lambert performed yesterday [article is dated May 5] at Alcatraz in Milan, delivering a concert that’s been spectacular for scenes an choreographies as well as for the vocal performance. The 34 years old artist offered himself to his fans audience for almost a two hours show, spreading from hits out of his first album to the more recent songs out of his last studio project, The Original high (which also names the live tour).



A sold out Alcatraz was expected for this first and only date in Italy, but the crowd of big events was missing [The venue capacity was 3K and he sold 2.3K tickets]. Not so bad, anyway, seen that Adam’s fan could set the place on fire to greet their idol at best with choirs and applauses all the concert long.

Song after song, temperature grew hotter and hotter, thanks also to killer looks and provoking dance moves of the sexy songwriter and his dancers.



Lambert - who we’ll see live again with Queen in Piazzola Sul Brenta (Padua) next June 25 - proved having a not at all common talent. Adam is a true phenomenon: handsome, sensual, with an incredibly powerful yet refined voice. Yesterday the american artist - known to most for his participation on the talent show American Idol - conquered the audience with a setlist full of powerful and catchy tracks. At Alcatraz the audience danced with hands up to the sky until exhaustion: from the start to the end, the artist didn’t miss a note, being so incredibly versatile and tuned to not seem human sometimes. Listening to him singing every genre: pop (For Your Entertainment), R’N’B (Underground), disco (Shady), rock (Lucy) and funky (Fever), you realize this world music rising star is gifted with extraordinary abilities. Give Adam Lambert whatever song and he’ll transform it in a sound and magic words’ masterpiece.



If you want to have real fun and spend a beautiful night with music, colors and crazy rhythms, Adam Lambert is your man. The energy inside his show (‘cause his actually are explosive shows) is uncontainable. There have been hits such as Ghost Town (in a really biting version), the intimate Tears For fears’ hit Mad World (in an acoustic rendition), the sparkling Welcome To The Show, the overwhelming Runnin’: a setlist with some twenty hottest songs with refined sounds and deep meanings, mostly celebrating true love, against any kind o intolerance and violence “Music is the glue, music is passion, power, truth. Music is love! It doesn’t matter if you are male, female, straight, gay, bi, trans… The important is loving with the heart, because we all have a heart”, stated Adam Lambert on Alcatraz Milan’s stage, before hinting a bit of Madonna’s Music and starting Whataya Want From Me and Another Lonely Night.



And, after introducing his band, who delighted everybody - mostly with electric guitar and drums solos - Adam Lambert waved the crowd goodbye improvising a funny italian which made him even nicer and sweeter to the little girls [and boys, note of translator] in love who were close to the stage. “Grazie Milano! Vi Amo” [Thank you Milan! I love you!] the US songwriter and actor shouted with enthusiasm, but there’s still time for another song: the legendary Another One bites The Dust - Queen’s masterpiece from 1980 - closed a very fun, electrifying and party-like show in which Adam Lambert’s voice made the real difference.



Original source, if you can please give hits:http://www.onstageweb.com/recensione-concerto/adam-lambert-milano-4-maggio-2016-recensione/

[cassie]

www.reviewjournal.com/neon/sounds/adam-lambert-talks-about-filming-video-vegas-and-more

By DAVE HERRERA

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Adam Lambert is every bit as easygoing and engaging in real life as his appearances and interviews suggest he’d be.



We recently caught up with him in advance of his Friday show at The Foundry at the SLS Las Vegas and asked Lambert about the video for “Another Lonely Night,” his most recent link to Las Vegas (his American debut standing in for Freddie Mercury as the frontman of Queen happened here at the MGM Grand Garden during the 2013 iHeartRadio Music Festival), which he shot here last fall.



We previously chatted with the clip’s director, Luke Gilford, who gave us his insight, and this time got to hear Lambert’s perspective.



Lambert also discussed his upcoming role in the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” remake being produced by Fox. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the full feature profile and also see some excerpts from our recent conversation below.



On shooting the video for “Another Lonely Night” in Las Vegas:



We brainstormed about, like, what can we do with this song to sort of emphasize that feeling of solitude and loneliness, but at the same time, sort of this, like, contradictory sense of presentation and showmanship and love for entertaining. You know, performers, we’re a weird breed of people. We’re complicated, full of contradictions, and I think the video sort of … I don’t know how Luke did it, but I think he did it. He did a great job. And it was exciting to do a nostalgic kind of vibe for a video. You know, I’ve done a lot of videos that are more contemporary. So it was cool to sort of, like, kind of go sort of Elvis, “Leaving Las Vegas,” um, and kind of go there.



On how the video seemed like the antithesis of the typical videos shot in Las Vegas and how it was refreshing that another side of the city was depicted:



Thank you. I was really proud of the video. It was different for me. I also really liked telling more than my own story. That was something that I really wanted to do. I was like, you know, I’m singing. It’s my voice, but let’s show some other examples of this story, of this feeling, and I’m really glad that we did that. We had some incredible talent that we pulled.



Indeed, folks like Gigi Gorgeous. Lambert on how Gigi was cast for the video:



I’ve met GiGi before. I think she ended up at an after-party at my place one night, and I just found her to be so refreshing and so honest about who and what she is. You know, this girl is really impressive and really exciting and stunning. So I was like let’s do something together, and I’m glad we did.



On David Bowie and how he once called him “the bravest artist of the century,” and his expressed admiration for how Bowie handled gender roles and the influence he had:



I definitely think that he was ahead of his time. You know, that’s why it was interesting to see so many artists respond to his death, so many young, contemporary artists beyond that generation. I just think that he wasn’t always doing what was popular, and that takes a lot of guts and a lot of bravery. To me, that’s what he kind of represents, a brave artist that was willing to go against the grain. And I think that inspired a lot of artists to come, but also inspired a lot of regular people, people that might have felt like outsiders. I think he was sort of the icon of the outsider for very many people.



On his first exposure to Bowie and when he first became a fan:



I became more of a fan a little bit later. I definitely was aware of him. My father was a big Bowie fan. I remember him playing the “Diamond Dogs” album for my brother and I. When that “Future Legends” song, the first song on the album was on, it was very scary. My brother would go run and hide, and I thought that was the coolest thing. I thought it was so cool that my father had something that would spook my little brother. And at that point, I was obsessed with Halloween, which actually hasn’t changed. It just felt … it felt … I had fallen in love with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and this, to me, was sort of the twisted cousin to that, you know.



On being involved with Fox’s “Rocky Horror Picture Show” remake:



I’m very excited. I actually recorded the vocals a couple of weeks ago. It was very exciting. It was in Malibu, overlooking the water at Lou Adler’s studio, and Lou Adler was like the original producer of the film. So it’s cool that he’s still involved in this project. I think that will help it maintain a lot of its integrity. And his son, Cisco Adler, produced the music. I’ve been aware of Cisco. He’s been in the scene awhile now, so it was exciting to work with somebody that has family ties to the project and is also a contemporary music producer. He did a lot of cool things with it. I really enjoyed it. They definitely refreshed the sound of everything, but not in a way that takes it too far away from the original, which I think is the perfect balance.



On his personal style, how he developed it, how he first fell in love with music and what music shaped him:



You know when I was a kid, I was kind of an eccentric, hyperactive, creative kid, and my parents figured that the best outlet for me would be, like, a theater group, and that’s what started my love affair of performing, and we were doing musicals. I was listening to soundtracks of musicals and really diving into that whole world and studying. I was such a student of it. You know, I learned every soundtrack recording and score and then started taking voice lessons and really improved my voice.



And when I got into high school, I was doing stuff in high school, as well — choir, jazz band, singing, musical theater — and I knew right away when it came time to graduate what I was going to do next was go into the arts. And so that’s what I did, and, looking back, I probably could’ve moved to New York. It probably would’ve had more to offer me at the time than L.A. did, but for whatever reason, I stayed in L.A. I liked California. I was drawn to it, and I did a lot of theater in L.A., which is kind of an oxymoron; there’s not a lot of theater in L.A., but I did as much as I could. I did a lot of it.



And then I finally got a gig on a Broadway national tour of a musical at about 25, and you know, this was the highest level that I had achieved in the business. I was understudying a lead role. I was in the ensemble. I was thrilled. I was like, ‘I’ve made it. Now maybe I can move to New York, now that I have this credit, and I can continue working and be on Broadway,’ which was my 8-year-old dream for myself.



And very quickly, I realized after being on the road with the show for six months, it just didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t satisfying me creatively. It wasn’t matching what my actual interests were as a creative person. I realized that I had been listening to … up until that point, I had been listening to a lot of ’70s rock, and I had started a band, and then I went and did this and went, ‘I want to be in my band.’



So I quit and I came home and started working on music full time. Then I ran out of money, and I was like, well, I don’t want to get a job in retail again. I’ve done that way too many times, and so I got cast in the Los Angeles production of ‘Wicked,’ the musical. So this was an eight-show-a-week, professional production in L.A., paying very well, enough to make a living off of, unlike most theater in Los Angeles.



And so I did that for two years, and while I was doing that, I worked on my music. Then I auditioned for “Idol,” and they were like, “You’ve got to quit that show,” because you can’t be in a professional anything. So I quit and then “Idol” happened. It was a gamble, because they made me quit before I even got in front of Simon, Paula and Randy and Kara. So it was definitely a gamble. I thought, well, this could be a shot and if I don’t take it, I’m going to kick myself later. And I’m glad it worked out. It’s definitely an example of you’ve got to take the risk in order to get the reward.



And, you know, up until that point, you know, look, I had a background in theater, I took voice lessons — one time as a teenager, I took opera for a little while — but I was obsessed with pop music when I was a teenager as well. That was the late ’90s, so it was like the, you know, all the Christina and Britney and Nsync and even the hip-hop that was coming up at that time, Missy Elliot and Madonna and all these pop people and dance music and things like that. So I’ve always loved that style of music. And then in my 20s in L.A., I fall in love with all this nostalgic rock ‘n’ roll.



It was interesting for me to be on Idol, because they were trying to figure out who I was, and I was like, “Well, I like all this stuff.” You know, why do I need to be defined by a genre. I don’t really get that. You know, it’s a TV show. I was like, “I can sing the rock music, and you don’t really have a rocker, so I’ll go sing rock music.” And so yeah, so I did that, and towards the end of it, I realized, well, now I have a shot at being on the radio and having a contemporary music career, and I want to make the kind of music that I like to listen to, and I still love rock ‘n’ roll, so how do I kind of put those both together. And so, that’s sort of what my first album was, was this modernized glam thing.



On the ’70s rock that inspired him:



Well, obviously Queen. Queen was huge for me. You know, I just became really enthralled with the whole glam rock thing. What I loved about it was it was music that was rock, but it was also pop, obviously, at the time, and it was also … the fashion of it was something that was really … especially at that time, it was, like, 22, 23, I had just come back from doing a show in Europe, where I was in Germany for six months. And everybody in Germany is very progressive and liberal. I was dressing like a crazy club kid.



And I got home and I was like, well, how do I combine all these things that I love, and that’s one of the reasons why that glam rock movement of the ’70s spoke to me. I was like, “Ah, God, I wish we had that now. That’s so in line with everything that I love and am and see myself as.” And it just, I don’t know, it spoke to me.



So Queen, Bowie, Slade, Velvet Underground, T-Rex, I mean you name it, I was very infatuated with that. And then bigger artists that came out of that, you know people like Prince and Michael Jackson and George Michael, you know, artists that were still very fashionable and fabulous but were putting out a different kind of music.

[cassie]

www.reviewjournal.com/neon/sounds/it-s-easy-see-how-adam-lambert-became-true-american-idol


By DAVE HERRERA

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

“Adam Lambert, 32, Superstar, Hollywood, CA.”



When Adam Lambert appeared last year as a guest judge on “American Idol,” returning to the show that catapulted him to fame, that was the biographical information that appeared on the screen.



Expressing regret that he wasn’t on hand for his original tryout, Harry Connick Jr. convinced Lambert to re-create his audition. The onscreen overlay didn’t appear dramatically different from how it read six years prior, when Lambert showed up in San Francisco and slayed everybody.



The age on the title card has changed, obviously, as Lambert was only 26 back then. But otherwise everything seems pretty much the same: same guy, same name, same hometown. If you pull up the clip on YouTube, however, you will notice one key difference: The word “superstar” has replaced the previous “stage actor” designation.



Considering how deftly Lambert leaped from a respectable theater career to being a bona fide star in what seemed like the blink of an eye, that couldn’t be more fitting or accurate, as that’s pretty much exactly what happened in real life.



Fact is, though, you didn’t have to be Simon Cowell to see that one coming. Back in 2009, from the very first notes when Lambert launched into an a capella version of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” it was apparent he was someone special, a performer poised to become the biggest pop star the program had produced since Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.



Just like when those two titanic talents set themselves apart with their stunning vocals, Lambert gave notice that he would set the world on fire, and that’s what he did in short order.



Looking back now, Lambert says that’s precisely what he aimed to do when he left the Los Angeles production of the musical “Wicked,” a role that paid quite well. One of the prerequisites for earning a place on “Idol” is that you can’t be attached to any such production.



“I auditioned for ‘Idol,’ and they were like, ‘You’ve got to quit that show,’ because you can’t be in a professional anything,” Lambert explains. “So I quit, and then ‘Idol’ happened. It was a gamble, because they made me quit before I even got in front of Simon, Paula and Randy and Kara. So it was definitely a gamble.”



Indeed. Before that opportunity arose, Lambert had worked tirelessly most of his adult life performing on stage.



To keep him occupied as a youngster, Lambert’s parents placed him in a theater group.



“That’s what started my love affair of performing, and we were doing musicals,” Lambert says. “I was listening to soundtracks of musicals and really diving into that whole world and studying. I was such a student of it. You know, I learned every soundtrack recording and score and then started taking voice lessons and really improved my voice.”



When it came time to choose one love over another, the decision wasn’t as agonizing as you’d think. He’d already determined that being a theatrical performer wasn’t completely scratching his itch.



“It wasn’t satisfying me creatively,” Lambert says. “It wasn’t matching what my actual interests were as a creative person. I realized that I had been listening to … up until that point, I had been listening to a lot of ’70s rock, and I had started a band, and then I went and did this and went, ‘I want to be in my band.’ ”



When “Idol” opened up, “I thought, well, this could be a shot and if I don’t take it, I’m going to kick myself later,” he says. “And I’m glad it worked out. It’s definitely an example of you’ve got to take the risk in order to get the reward.”



From the sound of it, he learned that lesson long before he was standing in that show’s glaring spotlight.



“What I realized was, if I wanted to be a singer and make that happen, I had to make it happen,” Lambert said in his 2011 “Behind the Music” episode, explaining an epiphany he had after attending Burning Man one year. “It wasn’t just going to happen to me, and I think that was the first time that I started realizing that I had control over my world.”



Lambert had started down the path to that realization years earlier while touring Europe as a cast member in “Hair.” Scenes in the show required nudity, and he was hesitant at first to expose himself to audiences. When he eventually did, it cultivated a newfound confidence that allowed Lambert to explore his sexuality and adventurous inclinations that he had repressed while growing up. Just like when he comfortably came out to his family a few years earlier, it filled him with a sense of freedom to be himself.



In Germany, where he and his cast members spent most of their time on that tour, Lambert found the cultural climate to be “progressive and liberal,” which encouraged him to express himself freely in his fashion and style, he says. That period proved to be very influential, as did his time a few years later performing with a cutting-edge theater group back home called the Zodiac Show; that’s when he really learned to start being more uninhibited.



In the pivotal years that preceded “Idol,” the Lambert that legions of fans love today really started to take shape. By then, he says, his powerful presence as a performer was being fed as much by his love of pop as it was by his growing fondness for the glamorous side of rock.



“You know, I just became really enthralled with the whole glam rock thing,” he recalls. “What I loved about it was it was music that was rock, but it was also pop, obviously, at the time, and it was also … the fashion of it was something that was really … especially at that time, it was, like, 22, 23, I had just come back from doing a show in Europe, where I was in Germany for six months. And everybody in Germany is very progressive and liberal. I was dressing like a crazy club kid.



“And I got home, and I was like, well, how do I combine all these things that I love. And that’s one of the reasons why that glam rock movement of the ’70s spoke to me. I was like, ‘Ah, God, I wish we had that now. That’s so in line with everything that I love and am and see myself as.’ And it just, I don’t know, it spoke to me. So Queen, Bowie, Slade, Velvet Underground, T-Rex, I mean you name it, I was very infatuated with that. And then bigger artists that came out of that, you know people like Prince and Michael Jackson and George Michael, you know, artists that were still very fashionable and fabulous but were putting out a different kind of music.”



Not surprisingly, all of those elements can be heard in the distinctive sound and style Lambert has cultivated, and that’s what sets him apart from all of the other singers that have come before him on “American Idol.” It’s also why he has had the staying power that so many of his peers from the program just didn’t have.



Looking back, it’s hard to believe that Lambert — who later ended up being enlisted to stand in for Freddie Mercury in Queen — was the runner-up on “Idol,” bested by another singer, Kris Allen, who had a good voice but wasn’t all that memorable otherwise. The most admirable part of Lambert’s “Idol” legacy is how he followed his own muse at a time when everybody else seemed to be moving the other direction — not unlike some of the artists who inspired him; one in particular comes to mind.



“I definitely think that he was ahead of his time,” Lambert says of David Bowie. “That’s why it was interesting to see so many artists respond to his death, so many young, contemporary artists beyond that generation. I just think that he wasn’t always doing what was popular, and that takes a lot of guts and a lot of bravery.



“To me, that’s what he kind of represents, a brave artist that was willing to go against the grain. And I think that inspired a lot of artists to come, but also inspired a lot of regular people, people that might have felt like outsiders. I think he was sort of the icon of the outsider for very many people.”



Sounds like the kind of stuff from which superstars are made.

[cassie]

This was posted earlier - article from Denver. It's a worthwhile read. www.kktv.com/content/news/The-Written-Ward---They-Will-Rock-You-428768793.html



Adam bit......



To sing those songs they need a talented man at the mic. That’s just what they have in Adam Lambert. Whether you like his own music or not, it’s hard to deny that the man can flat out sing. The Queen catalog requires a skilled a versatile vocalist. When you listen to this version of Queen live, and you know the music – you sometimes wonder if Lambert will be able to hit that huge high note that everyone knows is coming. The answer, over and over, is yes! He has the range and he has the charisma to pull off songs written by and written for the ultimate rock vocalist. He’s not Freddie Mercury, but he is brilliant in his own way.



Plus, there is an intangible he brings to Queen. I saw the band several times with Paul Rodgers and the shows were amazing! Rodgers is an incredible singer. So is Lambert in a different way. Rodgers is a contemporary of May and Taylor. Lambert came later. I was able to sit in the front row at a concert in a smaller in Las Vegas in July 2014. You can see a lot from that close. You can see pure joy on the faces of mature and experienced rock stars, watching and listening to a young man give their songs new life. There’s an energy that Lambert brings to the music and even to the band. It is compelling to watch and it is spectacular to hear. May and Taylor smile a lot during these concerts, both at and with Lambert. They seem to be having as much fun as all of us in the audience. Isn’t that how it should be?



Read more: adamtopia.com/thread/4267/16-adam-news-info-rehearsals?page=7#ixzz4kD6BE4FT