1/31/23 Adam News and Info

twitter.com/IrishTimesCultr/status/1620649680781856768


Adam Lambert: ‘Good music is good music, and people want to be entertained’

From his duties as vocalist with Queen to his new covers album, the singer is showcasing the power of his voice


Adam Lambert: 'I want to continue to create original music in the future, but I’m also an entertainer'

As far as timing goes, releasing an album precisely around the time that the world shuts down for a two-year-long pandemic isn’t ideal. Still, Adam Lambert is not hung up on the fact that Velvet, his last studio album, didn’t quite get the run-out that he expected.

“I mean, look,” the pop star says from his home in Los Angeles. “I really put a lot of time and effort in, and I loved it as an album. And yes, it was unfortunate that it was released the month that it was released, because it didn’t really… get off the ground,” he laughs. “We had a lot of plans to promote it and tour it and all of that, so unfortunately I had to mourn that. But I’m still proud of it as a piece of music.”

With Velvet behind him, Lambert is now on the promo trail for his first album of cover songs. High Drama features the Queen vocalist and former reality TV star’s take on a motley assortment of songs, ranging from 1980s power ballads and pop classics (Holding Out for a Hero, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me) to more offbeat contemporary pop songs (Billie Eilish’s Getting Older, Lana Del Rey’s West Coast.)

It’s fair to say that, at one point, Lambert would have baulked at the idea of a covers album, particularly given his background – although as his career progresses, it’s becoming easier to forget that he was runner-up on American Idol in 2009. I remind him that he once left his record label, RCA, when they wanted him to do a covers album around 2013.

“Well, yeah,” he admits. “I think that was a timing thing. I just didn’t feel at that moment in time that that’s what I wanted to be doing, and what I thought was the right thing to do. You know, coming off [American Idol], I felt really strongly about continuing down the road of being an artist and doing original music. And I felt maybe that I had something to prove – if not to the public, then definitely to myself. [But] I think I’ve done that now, and I’m in a different chapter, where I know what I can do. I want to continue to create original music in the future, but I’m also an entertainer.

“And doing tours with Queen – or maybe doing events or private gigs – I’ve found that sometimes, if everyone in the room knows a song, and they’ve known it since they were a kid, it just creates a really nice energy. So it’s nice to have songs like that in the arsenal.”



Adam Lambert, Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen perform at Buckingham Palace on June 4th, 2022 as part of the Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations.

Returning to his solo career between stints with Queen has never been a source of contention between him and his bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor, he says. Both he and the band feel it’s important to distinguish that it is a collaboration, however, rather than Lambert being part of the band. As such, they are billed as Queen + Adam Lambert.

“The ownership is different,” he says of the distinction. “I didn’t create these pieces of music, I wasn’t part of the recordings – so that’s an automatic boundary, I think. And I have the utmost respect for that boundary. Freddie Mercury was the most incredible vocalist and, along with Brian and Roger and John [Deacon], they created these iconic pieces of music. So I’ve always looked at it as a collaboration, because I’m up there performing the records that are already out, the songs that are already out, and I’m letting Brian and Roger lead the charge, as far as what the arrangements are and how we perform them.

“I have been able to get involved in the sort of stagecraft part of it, which has been really exciting, coming up with some ideas for production. But yeah, I think it’s a collaboration. I’m singing the songs as myself, and Brian and Roger have always been super-open and supportive of that.”

Having first crossed paths with Queen on American Idol, he recognises what a blessing the talent show has been in his life – and how important it was to make the most of the 15 minutes of fame that it initially afforded him.

“I had a great experience on that show,” he nods. “I had fun, and I was really enjoying myself. Yeah, maybe towards the finale I might have been a little stressed because the pressure was high – but I think it’s not very often, especially in today’s age, where you get to land on the map in such a definable, instant way that I had the opportunity to do.

“I was fortunate enough to have an incredible publicist at the time, who really harnessed the momentum that we had created on the show, and ran with it. And I do think, looking back, that that was a big reason why my career got off to the start that it did. I think I had a team of people that really understood the window that we had, and…” he says, giggling, “they went for it.”

With High Drama coming off the back of several successful solo albums and a period of fronting one of the biggest rock bands of all time, it’s understandable that Lambert is feeling confident. The firepower and versatility of his voice remains undeniable.

“Well, I think I’m a little less precious about trying to prove something,” he agrees. “Good music is good music, and people want to be entertained, and that to me is pretty much the most important part of this. And I guess there is a part of me that feels that if by listening to it, people are reminded of what I’m known for and what I’m capable of, then that’s lovely.”

It’s always important to challenge yourself, he says, which is why his next project will be a stage musical, with original music written by him.

“It’ll be coming out as a concept album of my own first, before it becomes a stage thing. So that was the other reason we thought, ‘Y’know what, let me put more music out there to entertain people while I’m working on this masterpiece,’ if I do say so myself,” he giggles. “I’m not giving the whole thing away yet, because I want it to be more fully formed – but I can tell you that it is based on a true story of somebody’s life, and it takes place in 1970s New York. And it’ll be fabulous: sex, drugs and rock‘n’roll.”




Before finding fame as a pop star, Lambert’s background was in musical theatre, so it’s not a huge stretch. It also laid the groundwork for a new potential offshoot of his creative career. He has a small role alongside the likes of Scoot McNairy, Emilia Jones and Geena Davis in the Sofia Coppola-produced film Fairyland, which recently premiered at Sundance.


More..  www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2023/02/01/adam-lambert-good-music-is-good-music-and-people-want-to-be-entertained/