For years, it seemed Adam Lambert had fallen short of his superstar potential.
Never before, and never again, had there been the level of hype surrounding an "American Idol" contestant as there was during the 2009 season. He gained a passionate fan base, later dubbed "Glamberts," with his dynamic, Freddie Mercury-style vocals and dramatic stage presence.
The former musical actor appeared on the cover of 2009's top-selling issue of Rolling Stone, in which he officially announced that he is gay. And even though Lambert lost that season to Kris Allen, an impressive list of artists lined up to contribute to Lambert's debut album, including Lady Gaga and P!nk.
But the album's success was overshadowed by Lambert's controversial performance on the American Music Awards that November, where he kissed his male bassist and engaged in sexually provocative gestures. When Lambert released a follow-up album, "Trespassing," in 2012, he didn't even tour the country.
Now Lambert, 34, is back on the road, touring his own music in the States for the first time in six years. He was the top grossing "Idol" alum of 2015, according to Forbes, earning an estimated $10 million last year from his tour with Queen and his album "The Original High."
Ahead of a return to the Riverside Theater Tuesday, he spoke with the Journal Sentinel about his career trajectory. Below is an edited, condensed transcript of that conversation.
Q.There was so much hype leading up to that first album and the AMAs controversy happened. Do you feel that had any sort of ripple effects?
A. When I came out of "Idol," the only thing the media wanted to talk about was my sexuality. And in some ways that was really great and I was really proud to be a representative and make no apologies for it. But it became such a focus it pointed me in that direction as far as what I wanted to do on stage.
At the time I really wanted to make a strong, rebellious statement. I didn't realize it was going to offend people the way it did unfortunately. I was just expressing a vibe. But I learned a lot about how you have to be a little more objective maybe as an artist. I learned what it's like to make a statement that's not necessarily going to be the most popular.
And it was interesting because I learned a lot about the media and where we were at as a society at the time. And there was an amazing conversation started about double standards which I thought was very interesting.
Q.How do you feel about society's response to openly gay performers or gay themes in music in 2016?
A. What I've found that is interesting is the majority of people I've encountered really don't care. The people that care the most about it are the media. And in some ways it can be a very good thing because it is helping us progress and it can help us break down stereotypes and it can help break homophobia by talking about it and really exploring it. But in some ways it perpetuates the separateness of it. By talking about it all the time, and pointing it out and slanting articles about it all the time, you're keeping people separated.
The thing I'm trying to do with my music is its not gay, its not straight, its not black or white, its not man or woman, its sort of just human.
Q.Do you ever feel, as some of your fans do, you're not as successful as you deserve to be?
A. This isn't the Olympics, this is music. It's not about getting a medal, it's about moving people, it's about connecting with people. It's easy to get wrapped up in the business. It's not really why I got into it in the first place, so I like to keep my eye not on the prize, but on the experience of getting to create music. I'm very lucky.