Interview - Adam Lambert (American Idol Finalist)

By Lois Elswick
Published: August 30, 2009
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When Adam Lambert walks into a room, all heads turn. The air becomes volatile. Everyone seems to be wondering what “the next big thing” will do next. He is light on his feet, playful, and all smiles for the press, yet it does not seem scripted. Adam Lambert really is as nice and charismatic as he seems. Black hair perfectly coiffed, eyeliner in place, and the buzz is that he does his own makeup! When asked how he feels about people saying he has raised the bar for American Idol, he gratefully replies, “I appreciate that. I think the show was ready for a change before they met me. They were ready for something different this year. A lot of people have come through their doors that were pretty amazing that maybe didn’t fit with their season and I’m really thankful they decided to go with me and do something different. I’m very lucky, I think.”

His eyes are bright and each response is peppered with his undeniable charm and effervescence. When asked about the overwhelming amount of press and publicity he has garnered he says, “I didn’t think I was going to get that far. I go back and I think back to the first couple of weeks and I was nervous because I knew I was different- out of the box- and I didn’t know how America was going to respond to me. I was sure there were going to be people that enjoyed it but I didn’t know how it would do on a mass appeal scale and I was shocked every time I got through. And then I realized I had a following and so I got comfortable then I got uncomfortable once it got down to the end, the final three.”

Dispelling myths that the producers of American Idol are controlling, he states, “There was never any pressure from the producers. I think there’s this weird misconception that this show controls us to a point or puts pressure on us to make personal announcements, but I never experienced any pressure to be boxed in that way. I made the decisions myself. When those pictures came out on the internet early on, like right before the top thirteen, they said ‘how do you want to deal with it, we’ll support whatever you want to do’, there was no ‘you shouldn’t say this, don’t do this’. I think they probably enjoyed the controversy to be honest with you. I was excited because they left it up to me, they were like ‘it’s your life, your career, how do you want to handle it?’ And also with song selection, the only time I they ever gave me any input was if I picked a song that was too obscure, they would say just so you know this song is a little obscure, you can do it if you really want to, but this song is a little bit obscure. You want to do a song people know so you’ll appeal to more people that way, so it was always positive constructive criticism. It was an awesome experience and they just let me run with it. I remember when I did ring of fire, which was the first time I really went out of the box, I wore my most flamboyant-that’s not the most flamboyant thing I have ever worn- but on the show, thus far, it was more flamboyant than I had ever been and kind of a new weird trip hop Eastern arrangement and I felt like ok, here I go, this is risky, I know this is going to be weird for people and it got a very polarized reaction from the viewers and then the next week I purposely went ok, I am going to go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum and be almost a little traditional, just to keep people surprised, I wanted to catch people off guard, it was my strategy.”

We shared the sentiment that Gene Simmons’ comment that Adam ruined his career by coming out of the closet was inappropriate and in Adam’s own words, “It hurt my feelings a little bit and to be honest I think it was hypocritical and ignorant.” The sting in the air is palpable, but it was a question I thought deserved a response. Adam, never one to let anyone rain on his parade, rolled with the punches and actually smiled about the whole situation.

With a gleam in his eye that only an aspiring artist can have, Adam began telling me what was on his ipod nowadays. “Some more obscure stuff, the new IMX record, I love IMX from the UK…have you heard it? Unbelievable! They have a couple albums and they are all gorgeous, they are kind of dark emo electro dance. I love a lot of UK artists, they’re a little bit more creative, I like Little Boots, Muse’s new single is really good. Peaches’ new album is really cool. I love Lady Gaga. I think she’s really smart. She is an entertainer who is intelligent and wants to push buttons, so I’m inspired by that.”

When I inquired whether he wants to play big venues when he does his own tour, he didn’t beat around the bush. “If I had it my way, I would do scattered gigs in exclusive locations. I want to have an intimate thing too because I would love to connect with the audience a little bit more. But I want to do a big over the top production, I want dancers, I want lights and costumes and all that and if you are in a really small venue, it can kind of suffocate that vision. The album is coming out in November and it’s going to be amazing.”