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 |  Subject: Adam Lambert shares style, savvy 'For Your Entertainment'  18.11.09 3:18 | |
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- LOS ANGELES — At the after-party for the premiere of doomsday movie 2012, celebrity gazers toggled between actor John Cusack and the tall guy in the fingerless leather gloves and metal-studded black jacket. Even in the dimly lighted Conga Room, few failed to recognize Adam Lambert, American Idol's boldest alum and runner-up to Season 8 champ Kris Allen.
As cameras flashed, Lambert flashed a seductive smile. He's been ready for this close-up since grade school.
Three days later, in the Sunset Strip offices of 19 Entertainment management company, Lambert appears slightly less showy in requisite black jeans and boots, a Queen T under a plaid shirt, dark nail polish, guyliner and stud earrings. He sports several large rings and a vivid Eye of Horus tattoo on his inner right wrist.
An animated bundle of confidence, humility and whimsy, Lambert chats excitedly about debut album For Your Entertainment, due Monday, and explains his apparent ease with instant celebrity.
IDOL CHATTER: Kris Allen, Carrie Underwood and company
"Being in L.A. around young Hollywood for the past eight years desensitized me to the whole machine," says the singer. "If this were brand new, I'd be overwhelmed. At 27, I've already done a lot of self-searching to learn who I am. Had this happened five years ago, I might not have handled it well. I didn't have a strong sense of self.
"The timing worked out. I was getting bored with my life. Like, is this it? I was hungry for more. I got my wish!"
Last spring, the intrepid contestant won over viewers with his siren wail, flamboyant streak and dramatic versions of tunes from Tears for Fears' Mad World to Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire.
He approached Entertainment with similar flair, choosing collaborators who suited his adventurous tastes: Lady Gaga, Pink, Muse's Mathew Bellamy, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo.
"RCA and 19 were supportive from the get-go and let me steer the ship," he says. "I've seen Idols make albums that didn't resemble what they did on the show at all. I didn't want to make that mistake. It was important that we incorporate glam rock and a lot of '70s stuff, but I wanted to mix in contemporary pop-electronica elements, too."
That '70s connection
Why is Lambert fixated on a decade that precedes his birth?
"People had a good time in the '70s," he says. "They were dancing and partying and loving on each other. There was a positive energy, and the music reflected that. And from a technical standpoint, I'm one of those singers. I know my voice is a throwback."
Whether Lambert connects with today's pop and rock fans remains to be seen. "Glambert," as Perez Hilton dubbed him, fills celebrity blogs and magazines and has sold 997,000 tracks since his Idol rise, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But neither Entertainment's title track nor bonus Time for Miracles, also on the 2012 soundtrack, is burning up the charts, and the album arrives on a day that also unleashes releases by Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Susan Boyle and Shakira.
Lambert, who will perform on the American Music Awards show Sunday (8 p.m. ET/PT, ABC), may have an edge. In the current landscape, he fills a void with "glam rock, the whole Depeche Mode/Ziggy Stardust kind of vibe," says OneRepublic singer/songwriter Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote and produced the album's Sleepwalker. "If he plays his cards right, he could be the male Lady Gaga. But it doesn't mean anything if he doesn't have hits. With the Idol machine, once the artists get off tour, they have two months to put together a debut. It's such a time crunch. But Adam has a vision, and he handpicked every song. He does have hits."
And charisma to burn.
"For lack of a better term, he has the X factor," Tedder says. "I think Adam is a star."
Revealing his gay status, as he did to Rolling Stone in June, may have reduced his star potential, Lambert realizes. He's unfazed.
"People who can't appreciate an entertainer because of his sexual preference are ignorant, so I don't care," he says.
Fear of a backlash isn't why he delayed the disclosure. When photos of Lambert in drag surfaced early in the Idol contest, "I decided to own that," he says. "That's me. I'm not ashamed. But I didn't want to label myself yet. I didn't want to feed the fire and have it become so sensationalized. I wanted the focus on my entertainment value, not my personal life. It was scary. I had never been on national TV."
Lambert says he was unprepared for public scrutiny and constant speculation. Nor was he eager to be a role model.
"I don't want to be a gay poster child, but I am by default, because there aren't that many," he says. "Like it or not, it's projected on me. I'm not saying, 'Do what I do.' I say, 'Do what you do.' "
Despite growing up with liberal parents in San Diego, he wasn't always dauntless in his identity.
"I never wore full-on eyeliner in high school, but I wanted to," he says. "I wanted to wear nail polish so bad, but I was afraid to. I was afraid to express myself for a while. I didn't feel attractive in high school. I had self-esteem issues into my early 20s. I was a little overweight, I had skin problems. As I learned to feel attractive from the inside out, my self-worth got better."
Producer/songwriter Greg Wells, who has worked with artists from Katy Perry and Pink to Deftones and Aerosmith, was impressed by Lambert's self-assurance, backed up by his keen songwriting sense.
"Adam definitely did not fall off the potato truck," says Wells, who produced and co-wrote several Entertainment tracks. "He's a breath of fresh air. There hasn't been anyone who's brought that '70s eccentric over-the-top operatic thing to a stage in a while. A lot of people on the charts are stylists but not great singers. He's lucky to be both."
"He's already become iconic to so many kids," Wells adds. "When I was in high school in the mid-'80s, I used to get beat up just because my best friend was obviously gay. Had there been someone like Adam on prime-time TV, it would have changed the playing field. To kids who feel they're different, straight or gay, it has to be so inspiring to see someone like Adam triumph in such a big and cool way. I'm rooting for him."
Lambert's theatrical tendencies sprang from, no surprise, theater. When soccer and Boy Scouts failed to inspire him, his mother placed him in a youth theater group.
"I was drawn to the costumes, lighting, singing, acting, playing dress-up," he says. "I had a lot of precocious energy. I wouldn't be the performer I am if I hadn't done theater."
Before competing on Idol, Lambert enjoyed success in L.A. productions of Wickedand The Ten Commandments, opposite Val Kilmer. He plans to pursue acting and musical theater, but relishes the opportunities for personal expression in music. A slew of producers and writers join Lambert on his debut, yet he says he directed all creative decisions and poured himself into the four songs he co-wrote.
'Walking your own walk'
"Even though it's called For Your Entertainment, there are tracks meant to inspire and heal," he says. "Even Strut, which is campy, is about owning your own beauty, walking your own walk. When you learn to let it all hang out, that's how you find love. Aftermath is similar: Don't be afraid of who you are or of what people say. Broken Open is a recurring theme in my life. I've known people who were cool socially, but when we got close, they'd fall apart. I'd think, am I a therapist? I guess I was offering some safety. The song says it's OK, break apart, be a wreck, I'll hold the pieces together."
While secure in his career vision and aims, Lambert says his recent split from interior designer Drake LaBry has left him uncertain of his romantic path.
"My life has changed so much, I'm not sure what my needs are anymore," he says. "At the moment, it's probably difficult to have a relationship. I'm going to be doing a lot of growing in the next couple years. I've only been in two relationships, and really, really in love just one time. That's one part of my life I'm learning about – my heart." http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2009-11-18-lambert18_CV_N.htm | |
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