6.4.21 Adam on 'Today" This Morning

BILLBOARD

Adam Lambert on Crafting a 'Queer for Queer' Lineup for OUTLOUD: Raising Voices

Every Pride season, millions of LGBTQ fans flock to festivals — in-person or virtually — to see some of their favorite artists show support for the LGBTQ community. Adam Lambert is proud to be one of them, and now he wants to make sure that more queer artists get the recognition that they deserve.

So, when Lambert was asked to curate the headlining show for the OUTLOUD: Raising Voices' collaboration with Pride Live's Stonewall Day and Lambert's Feel Something Foundation, the star gladly accepted the challenge. The show, taking place at the end of the in-person and virtual Pride celebration this weekend (June 4-6), will see Lambert headlining, while also presenting a specially-selected group of LGBTQ artists, including Kim Petras, Vincint, Parson James, Sam Sparro and many more, to help kick off Pride season.

Lambert tells Billboard he wanted to represent the LGBTQ community to the best of his ability, which meant making sure that his lineup was made up entirely of queer artists. "I just think it's time, you know?" he tells Billboard. "We love our allies, 100 percent, and I love the artists that support our community. But I think it's good to say, 'Ok, it's 2021, the mainstream music industry now has more queer artists than ever, so it's time for us to do it on our own.'"

When it came time for Lambert to choose which artists he wanted to join him during his section of the show, the star says that he thought back to a roundtable he did with a group of LGBTQ artists for his Feel Something Foundation back in 2020. "One of the things I kept saying then was, 'Well, this is not the last of this — I want to be able to build a sense of community in the music industry,'" he recalls. "That was part of my mindset in putting together this bill, was saying, 'Let's follow through with that.'"

Billboard spoke with Lambert ahead of the show about curating a "queer for queer" lineup, returning to an in-person Pride show after a year of lockdown, and what's giving him hope for the future.

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You'll be performing at one of the first in-person Pride events in L.A. since 2019 — how are you feeling about finally getting back on stage for the event?

I haven't done an official Pride performance in Los Angeles in so long, so this is a real treat. I'm always on tour with Queen during the summer, so this is really exciting. I was aware of Stonewall Day as an amazing event over the past couple of years based out of New York. We chatted about maybe me taking a bigger role and curating a set for them. So we started work on that, and then OUTLOUD, which is a separate concert series for Pride, they joined forces with Stonewall Day, so we've all pooled our resources. Now, we have this giant stadium space that we're going to perform at, and we're just making it this big celebration.

It feels like we've been stuck inside forever — what does it mean that one of your first live performances in a while is a Pride event?

I'm thrilled, and I think that's one of the takeaways that this event will give people: it's a chance to focus on the sense of community. And the sense of community right now is more important than ever — we've all been so isolated and detached from one another. So even though we've tried to be socially distanced, of course, you're going to get to see people in a space! As performers, we're going to get to look out in the audience and interact with real, live people, not a camera for a virtual show. And then for the people that can't make it, we still have a virtual element — it's going to be live-streamed on Twitch, which I love. Anybody who wants to watch it, can watch it.

And the lineup is so fun. My part of the night is Sunday night, I'm curating the last segment of the day, and it's so exciting because I've invited artists that I admire, many of whom are friends of mine or people that I've met.

Well, let's talk about the lineup! You've got people like Kim Petras, Sam Sparro, Parson James, Vincint, and so many others — how did you go about selecting the artists that were going to participate in your curated portion of the event?

Well, one of the things I wanted to ensure was that there was a variety of genres represented, and a variety of identities represented. I want everyone that watches this, either in-person or at home, to find some sort of representation for themselves within the set. We're trying to be mindful of intersectionality, so we have queer people of color joining us, we have members of the trans community, and we have plenty of speakers peppered through the evening as well to raise awareness for the issues that Pride Live and Stonewall Day and the Feel Something Foundation are promoting, I'm just so excited, because I really do feel like we've covered our bases, and represented the whole community. And yes, we also have all of these different types of music there, too. As a music lover, we have country, we have pop, we have soul, we have rock, we have dance; it just really runs the gamut, and I think everyone will enjoy it. Plus, I'm excited to sing with Kim Petras for the first time, so that's gonna be super fun.

I think for me, the really interesting part of it is, typically, there's like a giant pop star that you put as the headliner, and that's the way you do it — I'm really excited for our event because it is definitely queer for queer. We've raised up artists who are out and proud and visible, and people that are living the life. I think everyone's represented, I think we have a really diverse bill. It's an event that's put on by queer people, for queer people, starring queer people.


More...https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/9581942/adam-lambert-interview-outloud-raising-voices/

Adam Lambert is more excited than ever to get back in front of an audience.

After a year of virtual performances, the singer is set to take the stage on Sunday as he headlines the final day of Pride Live's annual Stonewall Day event, OUTLOUD: Raising Voices concert, in honor of the first weekend of Pride month.

The three-day event, which will benefit various LGBTQ+ charities, kicks off Friday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and marks the first in-person Pride event in the city since the pandemic.

In addition to Lambert, the show will also feature headliners Sofi Tukker (Friday) and Hayley Kiyoko (Saturday), as well as performances from Daya, Saro, Mykki Blanco, Malia Civetz and Shea Diamond, among others.

"I'm really excited," Lambert, 39, tells PEOPLE. "In the name of Pride and in the name of my Feel Something Foundation, we put together an amazing lineup and can get people out to a live event, which is so exciting to happen now in 2021."

"I feel really excited to get in front of a live audience," he adds. "I did a virtual concert around my birthday, and that was a lot of fun too, but it's just not the same. Having a live audience, it's like you tap into a collective energy and it's an experience... there's just nothing like it."

Though each day has a different lineup, Lambert's set is perhaps the most unique in that it was entirely curated by the singer himself on behalf of his foundation, which supports LGTBQ+ human rights.

His show will feature a "very diverse group" of performers, including Kim Petras, Vincint, Sam Sparrow, Chely Wright, Zhavia Ward, Angel Bonilla and Wrabel. There will also be pre-recorded performances from Conchita and Yungblud.

"I've never actually curated a set before for a festival like this so it's been a really interesting experience," he explains. "I worked with my team and we just made a list, and hashed it out. We said, 'Who would we think would be a good addition to the list, as a well-rounded set?'"

Many of the performers Lambert selected are people he says he crossed paths with during his career, but also people that he "really admires as vocalists."

"I was so excited that I had an opportunity to highlight and support other queer artists," he says. "We have a variety of different genres and identities being represented. I think everyone that comes or watches it on Twitch will find something that resonates with them, and that's really important."

Along with highlighting other artists, Lambert says he's excited to celebrate how far the LGBTQ+ community has come in the music industry.

"The mainstream music scene has opened up and expanded so much for us," he says. "It was [initially] a tricky situation because so many people in the business just weren't sure if it was commercially viable to be out and proud."

"Now we know that there's an audience for it, and it's an audience beyond the queer audience. It's a mainstream mixed audience," he says. "There are plenty of straight fans of gay artists, so it's not just about superseding your own community. Now it's about reaching out past it."

Ultimately, Lambert believes the concert will provide fans with a memorable experience, especially after a challenging year.

"It's going to be a great celebration," he explains. "I hope it just gives people a sense of joy and will be an opportunity to bring people together after the weird year that we've had."

"And I hope that it makes people feel proud of who they are," he adds. "Community is more important right now than it ever has been, considering all the challenges that are going on in the world, so I think it'll be a nice sense of community and a celebration of who we are and where we're at, but also a reminder of what still needs to be done."

OUTLOUD: Raising Voices will be held on June 4-6, beginning at 4:00 p.m. PT. Tickets can be purchased here, and the show will also be streaming exclusively for free on Twitch.