SophieB
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Post by SophieB on Mar 15, 2020 19:35:01 GMT -5
I thought it was interesting that the unsung song Adam mentioned that he had been thinking about adding to the Velvet Tour was Pick U Up which won our Single Winner RCV poll for, you guessed it, which unsung song Adam would most likely add to the Velvet Tour :D Yep...of course he read it here.
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Post by bamafan on Mar 15, 2020 19:50:27 GMT -5
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Post by svca on Mar 15, 2020 19:51:44 GMT -5
I thought it was interesting that the unsung song Adam mentioned that he had been thinking about adding to the Velvet Tour was Pick U Up which won our Single Winner RCV poll for, you guessed it, which unsung song Adam would most likely add to the Velvet Tour :D Yep...of course he read it here. Haha, that's what I was going to say! That was lovely of him to do that today...I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but everybody needs a pick-me-up right now. It's all a bit overwhelming and depressing.
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Post by bamafan on Mar 15, 2020 19:56:07 GMT -5
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Post by bamafan on Mar 15, 2020 20:12:13 GMT -5
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Post by pi on Mar 15, 2020 20:46:14 GMT -5
twitter.com/musicfeeds/status/1239361928880783360
MUSICFEEDSAdam Lambert On Soul Searching, Love, That Iconic ‘Fire Fight’ Set And How Queen Helped Him Lean Into A New SoundAdam Lambert’s fourth studio album doesn’t sound like anything he’s released before and yet it’s undeniably him. In a nutshell, Velvet is a retro-fusion record that pays homage to 1970s grooves. It’s wildly different from his early-career club beats and the modern pop vibes we heard on 2015’s The Original High. Instead, it taps into the music he listened to growing up and the vocal stylings we know he can nail after years of performing with Queen.
Describing a record as reminiscent of the ’70s may seem vague, but you can’t pigeonhole Velvet into just one genre from the iconic era. From funk and disco to soul and classic rock ‘n’ roll, Lambert has encapsulated an eclectic pool of sounds within the 13 tracks. He flexes his piercing falsetto alongside glam rock guitar solos on ‘Superpower’ and croons over slinky riffs courtesy of Nile Rodgers on ‘Roses’. Meanwhile, the thumping basslines on ‘Coming In Hot’ and ‘Loverboy’ could rival a Prince song. You can sample a taste of this sonic smorgasbord on the six-track EP VELVET: Side A that dropped last year, but you’ll have to wait until March 20 for the rest.
The record is made for the stage but it might be a hot minute until Aussies get to experience The Velvet Tour live. Lambert just wrapped up the Australian stint of the Rhapsody Tour with Queen, including the recreation of the iconic Live Aid set at the Fire Fight Australia concert. Now he’s taking The Velvet Tour on the road with a mini-residency in Las Vegas in April and European tour over August and September.
Outside of the studio, the long-time philanthropist and LGBTQ+ rights advocate launched a not-for-profit organisation Feel Something Foundation in late 2019. From challenging the phrase “coming out” to supporting queer creators through education and the arts, the Feel Something Foundation aims to address issues of homelessness, suicide and mental health in the LGBTQ+ community.
While he was in Sydney, we had a chat with Adam Lambert about redefining success and leaning into a new sound on Velvet.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWZ98VI9jYE&feature=emb_logo
Music Feeds: ‘Velvet’ is almost ready for the world. How are you feeling?
Adam Lambert: I’m just feeling grateful that it’s finally time to put it out. It’s finally here. It was a long time in the making.
MF: How long?
AL: Like four years! Granted, I was working very slowly and taking my time. I had some business obstacles. I changed labels and management and that kinda stuff slowed me down a little bit. And kinda just figuring out what I wanted to do. It’s not something that you know right away. Sometimes you have to find it while you’re working at it. With this one, that was the process. I was experimenting with different producers and slowly but surely a sound started to come together and an angle, a direction. As that started to come into fruition, I was like, “Ok, now I know what it is that I’m making.” Then it started to gain momentum.
MF: Did you enjoy taking that time to experiment rather than working towards a strict deadline?
AL: Yeah, I’ve always liked to be an artist who gets to reinvent themselves a little bit. I like changing it up. I don’t like repeating myself and I don’t like following what other people are doing necessarily. I like figuring out what works for me. With this project, more than ever, I feel like I’m more in the driver’s seat.
That was part of all of the changes I had to make in order to be able to make what I wanted to make. Because I got to a point after my last album, and I’ve been proud of everything I’ve ever put out, I mean it’s all work I stand behind, but I was getting a little fried on the business. The commercial stuff, the numbers, the streams, the money. It all just started to overpower what it was that I really like about making music in the first place.
So I think in that process of changing my business set up, I was also soul searching a bit for a way to check back in with myself. What do I love about this business? What do I love about music? It’s performing for people and creating. That’s what I love. The other stuff is just like part of the equation. It’s not why I do it. It took me a second to figure it out but I really insulated my process this time and I think my album is a result of that. It’s just me following my instinct and tuning out all of the noise.
MF: I read that you wanted to go in a completely different direction on this album. What did that involve for you?
AL: Part of me getting so disillusioned with the business was getting a little sick of top 40 for a minute. A lot of what I was listening to sounded the same and just kind of homogenised. So I just stop listening to all that stuff. I stopped playing into that race. I kinda tapped back into the kind of music that I listened to growing up. The classic stuff that my parents played in the 70s and 80s. I also started digging through playlists and more obscure music from contemporary acts that are also clearly influenced by retro stuff.
MF: Who were some of those modern influences?
AL: Like Tame Impala. There’s a group called Leisure from New Zealand that I really like. There’s a band called Sports in the US that I really like. I listened to a lot of old Prince music, Sly Stone, some Bowie. The ‘Young Americans’ record by Bowie I really, really like. A lot of it is even one hit wonders or artists who aren’t necessarily very well-known but there’s a song I really like.
I just started finding all of these examples and that’s what I would go into the studio with. I would talk about wanting to create something timeless and retro-fusion and I would play some examples. Mostly everything had a great bassline and you can hear that on Velvet.
MF: Oh, yeah! Like on ‘Loverboy’? That bassline is so funky.
AL: Yeah! I’ve always listened and love that kind of music. I just really had to lean into it.
MF: The record is undeniably influenced by the 1970s. Did you have that vision in mind when you first approached ‘Velvet’?
AL: It wasn’t that clear to me when I first started and then it slowly started getting clearer and clearer. There were a couple of songs that might’ve sounded differently in the demo but then I steered it towards the direction of the album sonically. As far as subject matter goes, I wasn’t super conscious that this album has to be about this but undeniably it comes down to relationships. That’s the timeless, universal concept and love. To me, ‘Velvet’ is an album that explores all different aspects of love. It’s like loving yourself, it’s self-love and empowerment. Some of it’s about longing for love that’s been lost. Some of it’s quick and easy fast love. It’s all about that connection stuff. I think that’s what makes me tick. I’m always looking for inspiration in another person.
MF: That’s what makes everybody tick, right? That’s what makes it so relatable. It may not be your story but you can see yourself in that universal concept.
AL: Yeah, I think so! At the end of the day, we all have those feelings and with a song like ‘Roses’, it’s like Valentine’s Day gone wrong. You’re with somebody and you’re wanting them to be intimate with you and be a great lover. And it’s like they send you flowers and that’s their excuse to being intimate and it’s like that’s not enough!”. No matter how big the bunch is, if it doesn’t feel like something it doesn’t feel like something.
MF: You worked with Nile Rodgers on ‘Roses’. What was that like?
AL: We wrote that one with Fred Ball and Kes (Kross) and Daniel (Wilson). We were finishing it and the vocals turned out nice, nice melody, cool concept but it was missing something. I started talking to the producer and was like “How about a bit of a groove?” and he was like “What about like a Nile Rodgers guitar?” and I was like “You know I know him?”. So I hit him up and he was down to do it.
I’ve worked with him before so it was nice to have another collaboration. I first met him when I was working on my second album Trespassing and he did a guitar part on a song called ‘Shady’. Then I performed with him a couple of times with Chic and sang a Bowie song that he wrote. Then we wrote a song with Avicii together, so we’ve done a couple of collaborations.
More... musicfeeds.com.au/features/adam-lambert-interview/
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Post by pi on Mar 15, 2020 20:52:11 GMT -5
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Post by bamafan on Mar 15, 2020 21:21:27 GMT -5
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Post by MeggyMeg on Mar 15, 2020 21:36:37 GMT -5
MGM International is closing all properties in Vegas at least until May 1.
The party’s over, folks. No illusions.
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Post by pi on Mar 15, 2020 21:56:36 GMT -5
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