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Post by pi on Jul 19, 2024 17:32:14 GMT -5
PAPER Adam Lambert Invites You to the AftersAdam Lambert has never been this gay. On his new EP AFTERS, out today, the 42-year-old pop star sings about slipping into his lover on “Lube,” gogo-ing and taking it home like a homo on “Wet Dream,” and biting on body parts like an animal on “Neck.” For Lambert, the electro-pop project is more hedonistic and rowdy than ever before.
“This is for me,” he tells PAPER. “It’s my truth, it’s my sound, it’s my lifestyle.” Real ones remember the singer’s revolutionary run on American Idol in 2009 and how he shook the culture by being unabashedly himself. We could recall the Bill O’Reilly smear campaign during Lambert’s run on Idol, or of course, the infamous AMA’s performance that got him banned and almost sued by ABC. The glam rocker was a true trailblazer when it comes to gay male representation in pop culture, and the new music is giving us a taste of that energy tenfold.
Inspired by new love and hosting after parties at his house in LA, the EP is a heatmap of Lambert’s current emotions and desires, a club-ready 150 BPM banger of a project. “I feel like I've been around long enough and I've worked hard enough where I have every right to write about [this kind of stuff].” It’s Adam at his best and most authentic self.
Below, we sit down with Lambert to discuss American Idol lore, JOMO (the “joy of missing out”), and being kicked out of Lady Gaga’s birthday party.
How are you? Where are you right now?
I’m good. I’m at home in LA in the office. I try to keep it glamorous. It’s the only room I’ve permitted myself to put anything with myself on the wall. When people do that in their house, I'm always like, that's narcissistic. But in the office, I'm like, I can put the accomplishments on the wall.
And you’ve had some accomplishments. In doing research for this interview, I saw that Trespassing (2012) was the first album by an openly gay artist to debut at No. 1.
And when it happened, I was like, “No way.” I thought it was wrong. I didn’t get it, but then everybody told me it was true, and I was kind of gagged. It’s weird that it took that long, you know?
I guess Elton John just never...
He had No. 1 records when he was still in the closet, I guess. And George Michael and all these people. But then I guess after they came out, they didn't score number one, which is so weird.
The technicalities of it all.
Yeah, there’s a little fine print on the thing. But yeah, I think it kind of signaled where we were at and that things were quickly shifting. Because it was like, finally, that wasn't something that would sort of bar you.
Trespassing came out in 2012, and gay marriage was legalized in 2015.
Yeah, that was such a time of quick evolution and change. The conversation was definitely gaining a lot of momentum. A lot changed in only a couple years.
So I was obsessed with American Idol growing up, and I latched onto David Archuleta in Season 7 because he was also a closeted, suppressed little gay boy. Then you came along in Season 8, and you were so exuberant and free. And I think that scared me. I remember not being too into you.
[Laughs] I love that. I shook you a little bit to your core. He makes me nervous!
But this new EP kind of taps into that aura of everything that was surrounding you in that moment. The taboo, the sexuality, the media attention. Did you make that connection?
You know, I've been around long enough in the industry where there are these full circle things that happen. And yeah, I do feel like there's this full circle thing back to that first single in some ways, which was “For Your Entertainment.” I'm an Aquarius. I've always been a bit of a contrarian. I've always been somebody who likes to take the opposite stance. I like to push the boundaries. I'm a bit rebellious in my spirit. I think that's naturally who I am. Before I was on American Idol, I was doing theater as a way to pay the bills. But I was definitely out a lot in the nightlife here in LA, and I was dressing up. I was being very free. I was going to Burning Man. I was living this sort of creative freedom lifestyle, and I naturally wanted to bring that into my music.
So I remember when we did that first video for that song, I was like, "This is what I want. This is the first single, because it's pop and it's a little dark, it's a little sexy." To me, that was my fantasy. That was the kind of pop star I've always wanted to be. And so yes, with this [new] stuff, I feel like so much has changed in terms of how an audience gets music. We have a lot more of a direct line to our listeners as music artists. Whereas back in 2009, 2010, radio was the gatekeeper. Radio was in charge of everything. And there were so many people, especially in the middle of the country, that had all sorts of obstacles to morality and representation. There was so much that I didn't realize that I was going to encounter, and it quickly became apparent that there was not going to be a simple journey of just expressing myself how I felt I wanted to.
Luckily, I had a great publicist when I came out of Idol, and he was really interested in just going for it and that matched how I felt. There were a lot of amazing opportunities to talk about things and to boldly wave a flag, you know, because it felt like it needed to be done. And I was excited to do it. But it was not always easy, and there was definitely pushback. There was definitely fear. Even the people within the industry that were excited for me and supporting me, they didn't really know what it was that we were dealing with. Whether they were queer or they were allies, people were kind of like, "I guess we should give it a shot, but we don't really know what's going to happen. We don't know how this is going to work." So lots of trepidation, and then money's involved, so people start getting nervous. It was a very interesting experience. I learned a lot, and there were a lot of victories within that, but then there were also a lot of setbacks. So it was an experience that was very up and down.
I was watching old interviews of you from that time, and everyone was so old school but you were so ahead and so free. It’s almost like you outgrew American Idol before you even got on it.
It was weird. It was this catch 22 sort of experience. On one hand, because I had been on a show that was so popular and there were 30 million people watching it weekly, I had this shortcut to a mainstream platform. But because that was the audience we had built, because it was a TV audience, when I came out and wanted to do the pop star thing a lot of those die hard American Idol Midwesterners didn't know what they were signing up for. That was what happened with that first single.
I'm so grateful, because right around that same time, we had someone like [Lady] Gaga, who was so cool and so brilliant, and she was able to be a really vocal ally. But it was a lot easier for her because she was a cis woman. I was always so grateful that there was somebody else in the scene that was going for it. I mean, she was going to rallies for gay marriage, and she had a platform and a lot more freedom within the mainstream. You didn't have TV shows getting nervous and not wanting to book her because of it. She was this bridge. As a gay community, we've had a history of pop stars that were female that were able to be that bridge for us, but not the males, really. At that point, I hadn't really seen it. I remember growing up in the '90s and seeing George Michael basically canceled for what happened to him. He was still able to make music, and he was still sort of loved in the UK, but in the US, it was like he got chopped at the knee for what happened. And that's the generation I was coming out of.
So I was really into being bold about it, but I felt like what would then happen was, as far as the art I was making, the music and the videos and all that, I felt like, because there was money from a major label behind it, they got very involved in the creative and were trying to keep it on this certain path that they felt would allow it to be successful. So it was challenging, because it was a lot of compromise. A lot more than I really wanted. But at the end of the day, the thing that kept me playing the game and playing along and willing to compromise was that I was like, "Well, I don't see another way to stay in the game right now." It was this obstacle course I was on. And at the end of the day, the most important thing for me is to have a career. I wanted success, you know? I was like, "f this is the best it can be right now for me, if it can just be me talking about it in interviews, then that's enough for right now." At least something's happening. At least I'm representing the community somehow.
Obama had just been inaugurated when your season started.
Yeah, there was so much change happening.
But what strikes me is that everyone on Fox News was going in on you, all the parents were so angry, but when you were asked about it, you were just like, "Yeah, whatever!" So blase and open about it. Some true trailblazer shit.
Thanks for saying it. There have been moments over the past decade where I've been like, "I hope it was worth it," because it was for me. I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride when it comes to looking back and realizing how different it was. Being a part of that wave was very cool. And what makes it so exciting is to see the change now. To see this revolution of gender, and all the identities in the LGBTQ community are now getting some shine. That is really exciting, because I think that first wave helped blow that door open.
That first album cover will always be iconic. I think I wanna be that for Halloween this year.
It was crazy because the head of the label at the time, who was actually really supportive and lovely, called me when I chose that as the cover, and he's like, "Are you sure?" And I was like, "What?" He was like, "Well, I have to put this on the shelves at Target, you know? I don't know if this is gonna connect with the public." That was his sort of soft way of being like, "Is it too gay?" And I was just like, "I like it. I think I look fierce. I like the photo. I feel glam." I remember the thing that helped a lot of straight men in trying to justify what I was doing, was like, "Well, what about Bowie?" You know, all the older men from that generation had to find somebody to reference in order for them to feel comfy with it. That’s what was so cool about classic rock is that it was like there were all these artists from that era that did the androgynous thing, that sort of did the ambiguity. So I was like, "Well, they did it. And you think that they're a god, so why can't I do it?"
Let’s talk about Afters. This is your first sort of comeback into this electro club sound. What led you to this music moment?
Yes, it's probably the closest thing to what I did in 2015 with The Original High and “Ghost Town.” The thing is, before I did the classic rock thing on Idol, the music that I really listened to was dance music. I love electronic music. I love production. I love stuff that makes me move. I’ve just been listening to more and more of it. I think I wanted to make the kind of music that sounds like my life. I'm in a relationship, and I'm happy and it's passionate. We socialize a lot together here in LA, and we're out in the nightlife a lot. I wanted to make a soundtrack for that. We have a lot of after parties at the house. We've become kind of infamous for that. As I was getting more and more songs together, I was like, "I think I have an EP here. I think I want to put a few out." And I was like, "How do I encompass the name? Afters, that's it." You go to a club and there are certain rules you have to follow, but then when you get to the after party, there are no rules. You know, that's where the real freedom is.
You talked about that catch 22, and I always associate your fans with being old ladies. Like, you have a lot of old lady fans.
They’re old ladies! They are. I mean, I think it's the Idol audience. They got excited that there was somebody repping for that era. I did a lot from the '70s and '80s when I was on the show, and I think they were excited because it reminded them probably when they were younger. And so I captured that imagination and nostalgia for them, I think. Then you add the Queen experience to that, and it's like, I have connected with an older audience. I definitely have, and they've been so supportive and so sweet and coming to shows for the last 15 years and wearing merch. I definitely think for some of them, this [new music] isn't quite their lane or their cup of tea. I'm hopeful that because they've been so loyal thus far, that they'll understand that this is really a project that's for me. Like, this is for me. It's my truth, it's my sound, it's my lifestyle, if you will. And I feel like I've been around long enough and I've worked hard enough where I have every right to write about that. Do you know what I mean? I think the "reinvention" word is really cool. As a creative person, doing the same thing over and over again gets really boring. I wanted to try something different.
More.. www.papermag.com/adam-lambert-afters
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Post by pi on Jul 19, 2024 17:48:59 GMT -5
Los Angeles Magazine
Adam Lambert Celebrates ‘Afters’ EP With Queer Flea Market in L.A.
The superstar's sex-positive new release is out today and his Feel Something Foundation is sharing the excitement by giving back to the LGBTQ+ community
Adam Lambert is having a sultry summer, and it's about to get hotter this weekend. The Los Angeles magazine June cover subject has slowly rolled out the tracks from Afters (his bodacious, beat-driven new EP) the past several weeks and today the full release is available on streaming platforms for fans to devour.
As he told us in June, Lambert's new music is freer and more liberated than ever before, written and recorded with the queer community and steamy club environments in mind. With song titles like “Wet Dream," "Lube" and "Cvnty," the six-track release marks a bold new era for the singer, which he described to us as "a little horny.”
During the interview, Lambert also elaborated that "probably about 80% of my friends are queer and we go through the same types of experiences. I'm writing stuff for people that feels very free, that feels liberated in owning sexuality or gender identity. That's what the songs are about... not being afraid to go into that subject matter."
More.. lamag.com/music/adam-lambert-afters-ep-with-queer-flea-market-los-angeles
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Post by pi on Jul 19, 2024 17:56:09 GMT -5
Translated from Portuguese
Adam Lambert: How New EP “AFTERS” and an Innovative Queer Fair in Los Angeles Are Transforming LGBTQIA+ Culture
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