The Trespassing of Adam
Many, if not all, songs on Adam's second album have strong emotional load and carry significant messages, but he chose "Trespassing" as the title track. Is its message the most important to him, or is it the one he is most eager to communicate? Why does he feel like a trespasser? What is he going to do about it, or has he already done something about it?
Searching for the answers, I threw myself down the rabbit hole of Adam's interviews he did in 2012.
Q: Tell us a bit about the album title and how you came up with it. Do you feel like a trespasser?
AL: Yeah, the album title is Trespassing, it's the title track because, to me, the song "Trespassing," is like a mission statement. I felt like the lyrics of the song summed up what I'm about as an artist and as a person. I do feel like a trespasser, but not in a literal sense, because I don't think I've broken into any property recently. On a more figurative level, I feel like I'm very different than the normal dude. I'm pretty eccentric, and as far as the music industry is concerned, I feel like a bit of an outsider. There are times when I feel like I'm breaking new ground by breaking in. Hopefully this album lets people kind of see that rebel.
[/center]
blog.music.aol.com/2012/05/22/adam-lambert-sessions/ In his interview for the Rolling Stone magazine, Adam said:
”I still feel like I’m not welcome,” Lambert adds. ” I went to the Grammys this year and felt really weird, like an outsider. Pop music feels like high school again - like, there’s the really cool kids, and I’m not one of those.”
Here is another excerpt from the same interview, explaining the feeling more elaborately:
The funny thing, though, is that despite all his success - the Idol triumph; the fact that Justin Timberlake once compared him to Freddie Mercury and then Queen actually hired him to fill in for Mercury at several shows; the “low-five-figures” rent he can afford; the gleaming BMW 650i coupe parked in his garage - Lambert still feels like an impostor. “It’s still kind of nuts to me that I’m standing here,” he says.
That feeling animates Trespassing, Lambert’s new album. “It’s the Idol stigma,” he says. “On red carpets at awards shows, other musicians are either really open to embracing and being friendly and being associated with me, or they just don’t want to.” The feeling is also a function of his 2009 debut, For Your Entertainment, which didn’t ignite the way it could have. And, of course, it’s partially about Lambert’s sexuality. “A lot of times it’s in my own head, but it feels like a political move to be friends with someone like me,” he says. Elton John invited him to an Oscar party in February, and he’s chummy with Katy Perry, but he says he has no real famous friends: “Everyone I’m friends with now, I knew before.”
The title track of his album, "Trespassing", shows one way in which Adam handles those feelings. His message is very loud and very clear:
" No Trespassers? Yeah, my ass!
Wait ‘til ya get a load of me! Come On!"
It sounds pretty belligerent and challenging. What is he going to do? How does one fight these kind of fights? Are those just empty words?
Subsequent events to the album release provided more than enough evidence that those are not just empty words. He did the smartest thing he could do - he made the best possible album, topping the Billboard chart and becoming the first openly gay musician to do so, and fronted Queen for six mind-blowing concerts to rave reviews, just to name his two greatest achievements. Not only that, he looks stunning, more beautiful and handsome than ever, the best version of himself; his love life is blossoming, the pictures of him and his love looking like a Rockwell painting.
Why is this relevant? Nothing pisses more and shuts the mouths better of those who made Adam feel like a trespasser than his success, his happiness, his beauty. He chose his weapons very carefully and intelligently. They bring him nothing but prosperity and at the same time are a stinging message to the holders of the No Trespassing sign. He shines. His voice, his music and his hard work are his sword.
"I don’t need no sympathy
I won’t cry and whine
Life’s my light and liberty
and I shine when I wanna shine"
Interestingly enough, the Adam who walked into the studio to work with Pharrell was not a fierce one; it was a shy, slightly apprehensive one. (
theneptunes.org/adam-lambert-talks-pharrell-trespassing-june-2nd/). It gives an organic, unpremeditated feel to the song. Adam understood its full weight only after it had been finished:
“Trespassing” is one of the tracks that I co-wrote with Pharrell Williams, and after we finished it I realized it was basically a mission statement for what I’m about right now, as an artist, a musician and a person. It’s about breaking down barriers and rebelliously marching forward.
He even stated that his favourite lyrics from the record are the ones from this song (together with lyrics from "Underneath"):
“Trespassing” has a lot of lyrics like, “Make their faces crack / There’s no turning back.” I think that’s part of that mission statement; I’m here to open your mind and open your eyes.
(
popdust.com/2012/04/19/adam-lambert-trespassing-interview/ )
Reading this makes me regret terribly that "Trespassing" has not been chosen as one of the singles ( with the hopeful
yet attached to it:). As all mission statements, it is supposed to be screamed from the top of one's lungs and Adam's lungs 'scream' it beautifully. It should be out in the open, for all the world to see and to make what they can out of it. What the relative openness or closedness of their minds allows them to.
It is undeniably a powerful song, almost crude in its message and agitprop art-like feel to it. Is that all there is to it? No, but you have to look deeper, the subtlety of the meaning hidden under the staccato of his voice and the deafening beat. Although Adam challenges with this song and shows his rebellious, fierce side, there are lyrics in it which show how non-aggressive he really is:
"I ain’t got BS in my bag
that’s the one thing you can believe
my heart is gold, my body is glass
come on baby, can’t you see?"
Honest and open to a fault ( no BS in his bag), he still reaches out first, holds out his friendly hand and invites them to see, to look better, because he hides nothing: his body is glass. If they want, they can see his essence, his soul, his golden heart right through it, past his sexuality, past the AI stigma... I am not sure they are worthy of the invitation, but Adam obviously is, which makes him a much better person. It shows that he is a believer in change and, more importantly, a believer in people.
Adam thrives on high quality human relations. "Trespassing" was born out of the philosophical conversations with Pharrell Williams (
theneptunes.org/adam-lambert-talks-pharrell-trespassing-june-2nd/). It seems like he understood Adam's emotions on the subject. Here is what Williams said in Rolling Stone:
”This guy sang his heart out and expressed himself, and still he felt he wasn’t garnering the respect he deserved. And he felt his sexual orientation was always at the helm of any conversation about him.”
The intelectual connection between the two artists 'kicked off' the song, according to Adam's words:
" We talked about the music industry and life and identity, and one of the main things we talked about, which kind of kicked off the song "Trespassing," was different types of discrimination, and fitting into the world and finding your own path. I think that's what "Trespassing" is really about. It's about saying "I know I may not be welcome here, I know I'm different and I know you're saying 'keep out,' but I'm not going to let that stop me. I'm going to do what my heart is telling me to do and do it proudly."
(
blog.music.aol.com/2012/05/22/adam-lambert-sessions/ )
Just like Pharrell, there are two other musicians who could offer their perspective and advice: Brian May and Roger Taylor. Seeing that a group of Queen fans feels like they are trespassing on Queen property, it is safe to presume that. This is what they said in an interview:
“Respect is a funny thing,” Brian told Culture magazine. “If you look for it, you’ll forever be disappointed. It’s true [we’ve had little]. But we get everything, from complete, overwhelming love to total, outright derision. I don’t take any of it on board, really. It would ruin you if you believed it. You’d go nuts. I care what people say, but both extremes are dangerous.”
Roger explained: “Oh God, we’ve always got stick for everything. People say, ‘You’re mistreating the legacy’, and I think, well, thanks for your concern, but it’s my f**king legacy.”
www.musicrooms.net/rock/27060-roger-taylor-queen-music-is-intelligent.htmlI believe Adam could have identified with some of these words, (
If anyone ever tells you “no”, tell them: “Fuck you” ), had they been addressed to him. I do not know what Brian and Roger told Adam, but I know what they did - they gave the world six amazing shows, opening many eyes and minds, changing the lives, writing the history. Together with Adam, they boldly and unhesitantly trespassed, they created.
It was the time of stress and the time of exaltation. Asked which mantra he would be more likely to repeat in times of stress – What Would Jesus Do? or What Would Freddie Mercury Do? –
Adam does not hesitate: "Freddie Mercury, definitely. He'd put on a really great costume and just laugh it off."www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jun/04/adam-lambert-american-idol-interviewIt is not easy to accept the injustice of the reality that Adam feels like an impostor or a trespasser sometimes. But then again, those strong feelings which that fact awakens in him are the fuel for his work, both on the album and on himself. Every track is soaked in either Adam's happiness or sadness. If either of them were removed, Trespassing would only be half as good, half as real. His dark and his light side make him the man and the artist he is. If for a second I wanted to scream "Nobody puts baby in the corner", the silliness of it stopped me in my tracks. For even those who choose to ignore Adam, provide him with relevance by doing so. Their silence speaks louder than my words. It makes Adam sing. Maybe we should thank them? Because, he ain't staying at home and the places he got to roll seem very, very promising.
"I ain’t staying at home
I got places to roll
I ain’t staying at home, no no no"
