Talking Heads: Adam Lambert and Sarin Moddlewww.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10840264[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/galechester/talking-heads-adam-lambert [/soundcloud]
I love this interview because Sarin just let's Adam talk it out - the only problem is that it is so short. I think NOT having it filmed ads to the feeling of being a "fly on the wall", a real conversation ... perhaps as close as we have gotten
underneath.
: All of us, gay, straight or whatever, like to objectify our pop stars. We like somebody we can, kind of, objectify. For a gay man, they want this hot, little girl that they can look at like their little doll. If I was like Abercrombie & Fitch model doing music, I probably would have a different fan base with the boys, because I’d be objectified as this man meat thing. I’m not really that guy. So, it’s a different appeal.
Sarin: But you might not cross over so well to all of the 40 year old moms who are absolutely in love with you
Adam: That is true.
Sarin: There’s this ambiguous sort of attraction, like for myself, I don’t think I want to sleep with you, (tell me if this is too much information), but there’s a really strong identification and connection… I think if you looked different physically and you fit into the stereotype of a much smaller, thinner, fairish type boy, maybe that wouldn’t exist.
Adam: Yeah, yeah… Or if I was at the other end of the spectrum and I was like a big, beefy, Chelsea body builder type boy, that would be a different experience as well. Men especially are so visual, they are so visual, it’s all about the look. I don’t know. I don’t get it. I’ll never figure it out. It’s very interesting. I’m making generalizations of what I see are the super fans that I interact with, and I know there are more casual fans that I might not see at certain events, so…
Sarin: Do you ever feel objectified or fetishized by your fans?
Adam: Yeah, I’ve seen some fan fiction, that’s a strange experience. I’ve stopped. I became aware of it early, saw a couple of things, and I was like OK, that’s enough, I don't need to see that, it’s a little too weird… One that I read was actually kind of hot… [laughs]
Sarin: Reading about yourself?
Adam: It was the situation they put me with somebody else, I was like, uuuuh, I’m getting’ all steamy… and hot…
Sarin: The new album and the new single as well, Trespassing, I assume that is not an accidental metaphor for how you understand your own position in the world…
Adam: When I got in the studio with Pharrell, I was super nervous and intimidated. We started talking about life and he was asking me some questions and I was telling him that I felt like an outsider, that I didn’t feel like I was a part of the music community and I wanted to be and I felt like I just wanted to bust in there and do my thing in kind of a rebellious, aggressive way. In life in general, my history has always felt a little bit like that, I’ve always felt a little bit like on the outskirts of something. I’m always craving a sense of community. We talked about that and he found the way in which he identified with me as being somebody that’s being different and having to kind of prove themselves and we wrote Trespassing together. Sonically he was very much interested in putting me in this early 80s Queen vibe, he was like, that’s where you need to be and it’s going to be great, so… And it worked out really well. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album, for sure. What I love about it is that it’s not trendy, it’s not what you’ve heard on the radio lately and it’s not following a formula and there’s something really refreshing about that. And totally terrifying to the record company. It’s a great song, regardless if it’s commercially successful or not, artistically it really makes a big impact.
Sarin: I’ve been thinking lately a lot about how kids when they’re really young don’t censor themselves until people start reacting in a certain way and then they sort of realize that there are boundaries they’re not supposed to cross. Do you remember the first time you realized either musically or as a person that you were crossing some sort of invisible line in the sand?
Adam: Right after Idol, when I did the tour, we had a big tour with all the idols. It was a big stadium tour around the States and I was doing a David Bowie medley at the end of my set, I did a song by Muse, I did Mad World, I did Led Zeppelin WLL, and by the end of the set, with the Bowie stuff, I was doing Let’s Dance and Fame, with kind of sexy stuff that he did and I was getting into it, I was dancing around a lot, kind of gyrating and being kind of nasty - and there were women throwing bras, sex toys, and I was like: ‘What the hell is going on…’. That’s where all of a sudden I went: 'Oh, this is what I am to my fans', interesting, I didn’t really see that coming. I never realized I was going to be this objectified … It was like Tom Jones or something, it was weird, with all the bras… Even before my first album was finished, that’s what I thought I was supposed to be to them.
What I learned maybe sort of the hard way is that the general public did not see me that way, only my core fans from Idol saw me that way. And when I did the AMAs, I thought I was giving them what they were asking for, I got really raunchy… I got media storm about it, I had people complaining, and the network had to censor me and all this stuff happened… Not that I regret doing it and not that it was necessarily a misrepresentation of myself, because it was me up there, but I think I got carried away with what I thought they wanted instead of sticking to what I needed to do.
Being a performer, it’s always a balance between these two things… You are an entertainer, so you have to entertain the people, consider them, but as an artist you also have to follow your instincts and your own angle on things. So, it was a definitely interesting, polarizing moment. It also opened my eyes really wide to the double standards that exist in the music industry, especially in the States… All of a sudden, I was, Oh, right, because I am a gay dude and I can’t do any of that stuff right now. I mean I can, but it ain’t gonna work. It’s not going to fly for general public. It was a learning experience.
Sarin: What do you see as being a thing that makes you somehow threatening to people? Is it cross gender coding, is it male sexuality …?
Adam: I don’t know, I think it’s a lot of different things. From sexual identity standpoint, I embrace certain androgynous fashion sense, which to me is interesting, but to some people, they just really can’t wrap their heads around it, it’s so weird to them. It’s funny to me because if you look at the history of rock n' roll and pop music, we’ve had plenty of artists that have been kind of all over the place… Bowie, Michael Jackson and Prince and Boy George… all these artists, but this was also in the 70s and the 80s . Things are different now. That isn’t a popular, trendy, fashion statement to make anymore, it’s kind of a throwback thing. Maybe that’s part of it, it’s just not new, or happening much anymore.
Music has become almost democratic, by the people-for the people situation. Whereas back then, the record companies held the puppet strings and were in charge of presenting certain artists to the public. So things have shifted in that regard, too. It’s harder to come by taste-makers, people that are really pushing the boundaries in music, because the record labels are really concerned right now about the commerce of it. It’s tough.
Sarin: And yet your record label gave you a shitload of trust when you came out of Idol. I don’t know anybody else that managed to ‘get away’ with all the stuff that you did. Were you surprised by it?
Adam: I noticed I was getting a lot of support, that felt good, that felt really good, but , you know, hindsight is much clearer than being in the moment, I don’t know what the fuck was going on… The thing you forget really easily is that I was on a show, I was doing a song every week, and that is how other people knew me, they knew me by singing other people’s songs. That was pretty much it. Little bits of videos here and there, me smiling, being a nice guy. That’s what they knew. The minute you expand that, and all of a sudden I’m trying to really express original artistic ideas and fashion and doing interviews and talking… It opened up the whole other thing and what I didn’t connect was point A to point B for these people. I think the AMA thing was a bit of a shock, maybe , if, like, to ease in into something like that … Some people felt it was like a one two switch kind of … I didn’t really even think about it that way. They hadn’t seen the progression. A lot of these people that watched it on TV weren’t on the tour seeing dildos thrown in my face…
I don’t know if women find me threatening. I don’t think they do. Maybe that’s to my advantage. I think maybe some men find me threatening. I think maybe certain straight men are uncomfortable with some of the things that I embrace, the androgyny, how upfront I am about things… and I think some gay man just not… I don’t know, maybe some of them do love it. Maybe some of them think: ‘Oh, he’s trying too hard’ or ‘He looks crazy, I don’t like the way he looks, because he looks like fag’ … I feel like a lot of the gay community is very black and white. They want the roles very clear cut. This is my experience in LA and LA is a big gay scene… it feels like you’re either a top or a bottom… and your identity needs to associate with that sexual position, literally… People like to get boxed in and defined by their sex role or their gender they identify with more … And I identify with both genders. Visually, fashion wise, I love that mix, I love looking pretty, I like that vibe, but I’m also a dude in many regards… I don't know...I’m still trying to figure out my identity, too. I just wish there was a little more of a celebration in the community of people that didn’t feel the need to adopt one or the other. It feels a bit black and white. But that’s also the city I’m in. New York is an example of a city where I feel there’s a little bit more of a gray area, Toronto feels like it’s more of a gray area… Certain cities are a little different. Being an American is a totally different thing…
Sarin: If the world would truly embrace the Adam Lambert ethos, what would that world look like for you?
Adam: Hopefully, like a lot of variety. My circle of friends, for example. I have a very diverse, broad, cross section of people, ages, genders, races… I like a mix, I think it’s much more interesting. But obviously there’s a tension that arises from that, so… It’s a small world, but why not.. . Colour it up, that’d be great , that would be really great. Diversity. And the coexistence of it all. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve got more straight guy friends and that’s a really cool connection. When it’s comfortable then it’s just cool and you’re friends with that person. When I was younger, growing up, I didn’t have any straight guy friends. And it was a very strange, distant, kind of intimidating, connection for me. The only people that I had in my life were my father and my brother. As I got more comfortable in my own skin, I started making those kinds of friendships. It was really interesting to me. I was like: 'Oh, cool, that’s not weird at all'.
Sarin: And who you choose to sleep with doesn’t necessarily affect who you’re friends with
Adam: No. When you’re young and you’re looking for your identity, especially if you’re alternative sexuality, it becomes your identity. And it’s hard to get over that. These patterns are built into the way we are, and I know for gay men and maybe gay women as well, there’s a certain amount of arrested development that happens, at least in my generation. I think that it is changing for these younger kids, but in my generation and the ones before me, it was very much: you’re closeted, you’re not having the same experiences as most adolescents are having, at least not in the open. And so you get into your twenties and you are on your own, you’re able to go to bars and other social events, where there’s gay people and you’re learning these things that most people learn at 14, and you’re learning it at 22, so there’s this backwards thing happening. I still feel like, at 30 years old, I still feel like I’m learning a lot about relationships that maybe my straight peers learned when they were 18. It's really interesting. It’s a challenge.
Sarin: Over the past couple years, there’s definitely been a concerted effort on your part to keep the focus on music , and the artistic content that you’re creating, … Outlaws Of Love is on this album, a very overt statement about equality. The one thing I want to end this on , there is a YouTube clip of you performing at the Marriage Equality Benefit in DC and speaking very eloquently on the subject. One of the, I think it’s the top rated comment underneath it, reads:
“ Thank you, Adam, for bringing awareness of the struggles of the gay community. I would never have been involved or supported any LGBT causes if it were not for Adam. I’m a better person because of Adam Lambert.” How does it feel to read that?
Adam: Awww. I have a brigade of fruit flies. The Glamberts are like the ultimate fruit fly.
Sarin: To know that you have the power to trigger somebody’s thought process…
Adam: That’s amazing, that’s a huge reward. That’s something that has been echoed throughout. I met a woman who handed me a letter and I read it on my tour bus, this was on my first tour. She said that she was a conservative Mormon and she had no acceptance for the gay life style, but she was a real fan of my work and it challenged her to learn about the gay life style and the community and she made friends with her hairdresser. Now they are buddies and it was a really nice thing to hear, that someone was willing to put their ignorance aside and educate themselves and get over their fear. That’s a huge reward.
The thing I’ve been learning to accept and open up about is, I have always wanted to be open about my sexuality and be an open book about it and the difficult thing that I had learned was that being a celebrity in doing so and dealing with media is a very tricky process. Because, at least in the States, the media, all they want to focus on is the sexuality. I can have an hour long interview and we cover everything and the headline is only about gay, it’s gay, gay, gay, everything is a gay slant. That’s why I started getting very frustrated. I want to talk about that stuff, but why does everything have to come back to that every time. That’s not how I live my life. It’s a tough thing to navigate because I think maybe even some in the gay community might look at some of my interviews and choices and material and say: ‘ OK. Why is he only talking about being gay? That’s annoying. We already know. We don’t need to hear anything else about it.’
And then the next guy, or girl, might look at the situation and say: ‘ He’s not doing enough. He is a gay guy, he needs to be waving the flag here, he’s got the opportunity.’
I can’t win. I think at the end of it, you just have to be who you are. But dealing with media is an interesting skill. Certain people in the media, like yourself, and you know where they’re coming from, it’s like you can have a more balanced conversation. Gay media tends to be really, really great. When I do gay publications, I feel like they get what I’m talking about. They don’t qualify it so much and they don’t blow it out of proportion and they don’t necessarily hype it up so much. It’s more like, you know this is gay guys like you, let’s talk about the real things. Whereas with some other media, it’s like they have to explain what gay is to people. People know what gay is, why do you have to define it over and over again for. I could go on and on and on…
:wub: 
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