www.etonline.com/music/163610_adam_lambert_reveals_coachella_gone_goth_hype_williams_directed_ghost_town_video/EXCLUSIVE: Adam Lambert Reveals 'Coachella Gone Goth,' Hype Williams-Directed 'Ghost Town' Video
by Sophie Schillaci 4:30 PM PDT, April 28, 2015
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvyc905nReY&feature=youtu.beCongratulations, Glamberts -- we made it! Adam Lambert's "Ghost Town" music video is finally here, and it was well worth the wait.
Yes, we've seen the tweets and trust us, we are just as excited to be revealing the Hype Williams-directed video as you are to finally be watching it! Without further ado, see "Ghost Town" in the player below.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix8ocFEMa1oNow let's dig in to the making of the video with the man of the hour, himself -- Mr. Lambert.
"I really wanted to first communicate the lyrics directly to the viewer, but then I also wanted to kind of highlight a scene of people," he says. "A lot of the people that we hired for the video are friends of mine. It was really fun on set. It was kind of a party, which made it a very relaxed shoot -- I've never shot a video like that before, that felt like a house party."
In addition to casting his own friends in the video, Lambert also called on his personal team of glam pros and dance supervisor to bring the vision to life. "I like to work with people that are friends of mine," he says. "I feel like you get better work done that way, and so that's what we did."
The 33-year-old was ultimately creating a group that "represent real parts of my life, 'cause I wanted it to feel like a piece of me."
But it was Williams, whom Lambert had not worked with before, who came up with the initial video treatment. But after seeing Jack White's Williams-directed "Freedom at 21" video in 2012, Lambert knew that he just had to work with the iconic director.
"I got in touch with him after I saw that and said to him, 'We gotta work together some day -- the next time I have a single ready.' So I made good on my promise and when it came time to shoot this video, I called Hype," Lambert recalls. "We started talking about ideas and I sent him a bunch of photos that really inspired me, the fashion that I really wanted to bring to the video and the look of it, so it really was a collaboration."
Lambert jokes that the video vibe is somewhere along the lines of "Coachella gone goth," but -- much like The Original High as a whole -- he wanted to embrace a universal appeal.
"I wanted to bring in some cool people so that everyone could feel like they were a part of this thing," he says. "No matter who you were, no matter how old or your race or your sexual orientation or anything, I want it to feel very melting pot."
And yes, the song and video are both very different from Madonna's similarly-titled "Ghosttown," off her recently released Rebel Heart album.
"How crazy!" Lambert says, revealing that he was "shocked" to come across Madge's song late last year. "This was done, it was mixed, we had already decided that it was the first single and then December rolled around and I opened up my laptop and looked on iTunes and there was another 'Ghosttown,'" he says. "It was funny to me because I'm a huge Madonna fan and have been following her career ever since I was a kid and maybe there's something in the universe going on, I don't know. Maybe our writers all drank the same Kool-Aid. I don't know what it was, but it was amazing."
Lambert says he never considered changing the lead single for The Original High. "Our songs are so different, and this kind of thing happens all the time. I'm not worried," he explains. "This one just felt like the right introduction and the right re-introduction of me out into the world. It's been a minute since I've been out with a pop song and I dunno, I just wanted to get people's attention."
Mission: accomplished.
And with that, we now conclude Tuesday's Adam Lambert Takeover on ET. Which was your favorite part of our interview? And more importantly - what do you think of "Ghost Town," the video?!
