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 |  Subject: Ride A Rocket With Adam!  16.07.09 17:14 | |
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- From the moment he sang for “American Idol” voters in February, Adam Lambert became the subject of more pop-culture buzz than any contestant in the show's history. But it wasn't until “Idol” ended in May that the Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone cover boy got to experience the Adam Lambert Effect for himself.
And frankly, it kind of freaked him out.
“I didn't get out in the real world all that much during my stay on 'Idol,'the 27-year-old singer said from Portland, Ore., where the “American Idols Live” tour kicked off earlier this month. The tour comes to the San Diego Sports Arena on Saturday.
“After the show ended, we went to New York for this major press tour, and it was really intense. We did a ton of interviews in three days. We did all these appearances and autograph signings. It was exciting, and it was amazing to feel all the support in New York, but I wasn't really ready for it. It was overwhelming.”
For Lambert, the Fame Train jolted out of the station as soon as he stepped on the “Idol” stage.
For his first performance in the February semifinals round, the Mt. Carmel High graduate unleashed a turbocharged romp through “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.” With its flashy blend of stratospheric vocals, glitter-rock theatrics and playful showmanship, Lambert's confident (and cheeky) spin on the Rolling Stones' classic summed up the singer in one statement-making package.
That song helped turn a struggling musical-theater gypsy and aspiring rock singer into one of “Idol's” Top 13 finalists. The performances that followed – the alarmingly slinky “Ring of Fire,” the fiercely liberating “Black or White,” the achingly wistful “If I Can't Have You” – established Lambert as the most adventurous “Idol” ever.
And even though Lambert eventually finished second to Kris Allen, the show put him on a path to success that has been surprisingly short, relatively smooth and totally surreal.
“It can charge you up and make you feel like a million dollars, and at the same time it can make you feel like you got run over by a train,” Lambert said of the post-“Idol” crush. “There is so much energy coming at you all the time. In New York, I wanted to just give everybody as much of me as I could because everyone was so supportive and showing so much love.”
Before auditioning for “Idol,” Lambert was working as a chorus member in the Los Angeles production of “Wicked.” His pre-“Wicked” resumé included a stint on a cruise ship, a European tour of “Hair” and a riotous good time with “The Zodiac Show,” a late-night musical revue based on signs of the zodiac.
Lambert paid his dues, but sometimes his parents had to help him pay the rent. Then came “Idol,” and a flood of professional affirmation that has included cover stories in Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone, four songs on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, a management contract with 19 Entertainment and a recording contract with RCA records.
It is all Lambert ever wanted and more than he could have imagined. And when it threatens to become too much, Lambert takes a mental trip off the “Idol” fast track to this time last year, when he was unsatisfied and bored and afraid he wasn't going anywhere.
“Whenever I get overwhelmed or a little bit cranky, I tend to go, 'You know what? Look how lucky you are. You got what you wanted. This is amazing,' ” Lambert said, getting so fired up he almost dropped the phone. “I have to remind myself from time to time. And when I do remind myself, I'm thrilled.”
For awhile there, some of the Lambert mania had less to do with his vocal prowess and creative daring than with the question of his sexual orientation.
When photos of Lambert kissing another man surfaced on the Internet, everyone from The New York Times to Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly wondered if Lambert would be the first openly gay “Idol” front-runner. The Times seemed very excited by the prospect; O'Reilly was not.
Since all “Idol” finalists are kept in media lockdown while they are on the show, Lambert couldn't address the question or the people who were loudly wondering why he wasn't addressing the question. But when he finally did it, he did it big – in a Rolling Stone cover story with photos by celebrity photog Matthew Rolston, clothes by Versace and Dior, and dishy quotes by Lambert himself.
“I don't think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I'm gay,” Lambert told the magazine. And he's glad he did.
“It's a great feeling,” Lambert said with sunny enthusiasm. “I didn't want to spend the next couple years of my career looking over my shoulder and worrying.
“If it hadn't been so wildly talked about, I probably would have not addressed it. Because to me, it doesn't really matter. But when I realized that it mattered so much to so many people, I just figured, 'You know what, it's time to set the record straight so we can stop talking about it.' ”
With that out of the way, he can save his breath for singing. And in the next few months, Lambert will be doing a lot of singing.
The “American Idol” tour will find him belting out a set that includes Led Zeppelin's “Whole Lotta Love” and a David Bowie medley through September. At the same time, he will be writing and recording songs for his solo album, which will pair him with such high-profile producers as RedOne (Lady GaGa), Greg Wells (Pink, Rufus Wainwright), OneRepublic singer Ryan Tedder (Chris Cornell, Natasha Bedingfield) and Linda Perry (Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale).
It's a lot for one newly minted star to handle. Which at this point in Lambert's life makes it just about right.
“It's a good and a bad thing,” Lambert said. “There is no time to really think, and I would like a little more time to think. But I'm so much in my head anyway, maybe just taking action is the best thing for me.”
Karla Peterson
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