The Heat interview
Adam Lambert

“I want to tear South African stages apart with no restrictions”

Sexy singer Adam Lambert chats to Heat’s Sonja Raath exclusively about his upcoming trip to our shores…

Most local Glamberts would sell a kidney to see their idol live, but luckily they don’t have to - Adam Lambert will be in SA, performing in Cape Town on 13 November. Having broken his American Idols runner-up stigma, the Grammy-nominated star is proving that even though he didn’t win the crown, he’s highly capable of making a name for himself without any help. As one of the most successful contestants to come out of Idols, and in light of his SA tour, we decided to sit down with Adam and chat about everything that makes him the fabulous superstar we know and love today… Here’s a hint: he’s as humble and down to earth as you think he is, if not more!

We’re stoked that you’ll be in SA next month. What are you looking forward to experiencing most in South Africa?
I’ve heard the nightlife in South Africa is pretty wild. I can’t wait to hit the town and experience the culture.

You’re guaranteed to have a good time here! Tell us a bit more about what your fans can expect with regard to your performance…
Well, you’re already a fan then you’ll hear all the songs you love. I want to tear the stage apart with no restrictions. I’ve got a whole new set-list and it’ll be a completely different vibe. A lot of the audience will be really surprised by what I’ll deliver. I can’t wait!

Neither can we! What song are you looking forward to performing for us?
Pretty much all of them… but the one that stands out the most is “Trespassing.” I really resonate with the lyrics and the bass has such attitude. It’s my favorite song to perform these days because of what it means. It’s also the title track off my new album.

It’s one of our faves too. Our local artist, Toya Delazy, will be opening for you in SA. Have you had a listen to any of her music  yet?
Yes, I actually saw one her music videos last night. It was adorable and she’s super-talented. I’m stoked she’ll be opening for me.

“Trespassing” has made waves worldwide and especially here in SA. A lot of our readers want to know: are you working on another album?
[Laughs] No, not yet. But I hope to have the opportunity to make another one soon. Hold thumbs.

Thumbs held! We watched you on American Idol and now look at you. What was your biggest turning point?
Well, it pretty much came in chapters. There were so many different highlights after the show, but I could never have imagined how fast things were going to accelerate, especially with the whole American Music Awards controversy [when Adam kissed a man on stage] and the explosion of my first single, For Your Entertainment. I was also nominated for a Grammy and got to perform with Queen, so the job comes with a lot of cool perks and I’m very lucky. That’s not to say it doesn’t take a lot of work, but it all paid off in the end.

Yes, seeing you perform with Queen was incredible. What about Freddie Mercury makes him one of your biggest influences?
The first time I heard Freddie, I was floored. He’s so intense and flawless, with a dynamic stage presence. But I don’t consider myself to be on par with him. He’s a legend and an icon. I’m really honored to be able to sing his music and perform with the rest of the band. It’s my tribute to him, really.

That’s awesome. Like Freddie, you’ve always been open about being fay, even throughout American Idol…
I figured it wasn’t an option to keep anything a secret. I’ve lived openly and comfortably my whole life. If I were to hide something like that, it would have stayed hidden. And it’s just not my style. I’m a very open book. But also, I understand the reluctance  for people in the public to come out of the closet because all of a sudden that’s what it’s all about - and it can easily overshadow whatever else you’re in the public eye for.

Having said that, does it ever irk you that you’re still sometimes introduced as the “new-out” or “first gay runner-up on American Idol,” instead of “Grammy-nominated” or “Billboard chart-topping” Adam Lambert?
Yes, I have my frustrations about that. I guess it us a topical and interesting thing and it’s inevitable that the media cling to it because of that. It’s a part of me that’s definitely a focus point. But hey, you can’t reinvent the wheel so there’s no point worrying about it too much.

We couldn’t agree more. You’re world-renowned; was it hard adjusting to the fame and onslaught of fans, or did you get into it easily?
Well, it certainly had its hard parts. But I’m an extremely friendly guy: I’m easy to deal with and my fans know that. They do fuss over me and it can be really overwhelming at times because I’m like ‘Wow, I’m just a normal guy who wants to do his own thing.’ I’m still not used to the strangeness of it all yet.

You must have had a few bizarre fan encounters…
There hasn’t been a weird one, but I get a lot of crazy presents from my fans. I’m always blown away by them and the fact that they’re so incredibly creative. My fans are truly amazing!

They can’t stop talking about your Pretty Little Liars debut on Twitter. Did you anticipate that playing a “Glampire” would get such a massive response?
I didn’t know what to expect, actually. I’m overwhelmed by the response. It was really cool and the actors and actresses are stunning. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous they were in real life - as you see them on the screen is exactly as they are. It was a great experience and something completely different. It also gave me the opportunity to get my new music out there and I’m blown away that people enjoyed it so much.

Well, we can’t wait see the episode when it debuts in SA. Do you plan on doing more acting gigs?
Well, if the opportunity comes a’knocking, I wouldn’t say no. I’m at a place in my career where I’m open to anything. Music is my first priority and always will be, but I’d love to do more and acting would be a great place to start.

We’ll be on the lookout! We’ve always wanted to know: how do you get your eyeliner to look so flawless?
[Laughs] Well I just put it on and smudge it and there you go.

Did your make-up artist Raja (Sutan Amrull), give you a few pointers?
Yeah, she did. Raja was responsible for making me look like me every night when I first the scene and I love her for that. We’re super close ad I’m so proud of her that she won the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Not only is she the prettiest queen, but she’s also the most creative and resourceful.

We couldn’t agree more! So, will she be accompanying you on tour?
She probably won’t be on as a make-up artist because I’m kind of going down a different route. We talked about her helping with the art direction for my world tour but unfortunately she won’t be coming with me on my mini-tour to SA.

Boo. We were hoping to see her. And your love life: are you still dating Sauli Koskinen?
Yes, ma’am I am.

How has he adjusted to your fame and the fact that you’ve become quite the sex symbol?
[Laughs] Well, that you’ll have to ask him.

Ha ha. We will. How do you deal with all the rumors linking you to other men?
It creeps me out because they always show me having relations with someone I never had - and never would have - relations with. I find it funny that the fans get wrapped up in those myths, but if they want to, they can go on fantasizing about it.

*Adam’s hit new album, “Trespassing”, is available nationwide! Get it now!

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New Zealand Woman’s Day magazine interview with Adam Lambert:

Celebrity News
Adam Lambert: The Beauty & The Geek!

The singing idol talks music, marriage, and fame

     Adam Lambert is flicking through a copy of New Zealand’s favorite magazine in a suite of Auckland’s Langham hotel.
“Just catching up on my Woman’s Day,” he narrates in a sing-song voice. “Ooh, yeah, you gotta have some Kate in there,” he laughs, pointing at the Duchess of Cambridge. “Oh, Rachel Hunter, yeah! Is she the Kiwi? Right on!”
     The flamboyant “Whataya Want From Me” singer, who launched his career as an American Idol runner-up back in 2009, is in NZ for a flying visit. No live shows this time - just promo. He is, he jokes, “promosexual,” as he chats about his new EP “Trespassing,” from the album of the same title released earlier this year.

NZ Attractions:
     Still, Adam, 30, is happy to be back in NZ for the first time since 2010. “I love it here - the people are sweet and the weather is good,” he says. Sporting a new “xy” silver hairstyle, the singer is currently dating Scandinavian Big Brother winner Sauli Koskinen, 27. “He’s Finnish. We met in Finland and he’s fabulous,” says the self-professed romantic, who likes taking last-minute trips to exotic “lie in a hammock with a cocktail” -type places like Tahiti and celeb mecca Cabo San Lucas.
     But their work schedule and different continents prevent the couple from regular together time. “When I’m working, I’m working and when he’s working, he’s working,” Adam says. As for marriage? “I’m not considering it right now, but I want the right to consider it and I want my friends to be able to.”
     The song “Outlaws Of Love” - made in collaboration with BC Jean, the woman behind Beyonce’s “If I Were A Boy” - is his comment on gay marriage. “I feel like I’m an outlaw,” he says. “That the law isn’t accepting the same hopes and dreams that the couple next to me can have simply because of who I’m choosing to love. It feels like an injustice - like I’m a fugitive running from the law, not being able to live out in the open.”
     “It’s exciting writing a song about it. I feel like it’s open-ended enough to be about a lot of different types of injustices - star-crossed lovers, forbidden love, it could mean something different to different people.”
     Despite only being in the public eye for three years, Adam is, incredibly, the first openly gay mainstream artist to have a number-one album in the US. “I didn’t realize that it hadn’t been done already,” he says. “Freddie Mercury, he was sort of out but not really. Elton John did, but that was before he came out. I think it’s a sign that times are changing. A sign that it doesn’t really matter to people.”

Horror Story:
So what’s next for Adam? Hopefully a new album soon, he says. But with Halloween just around the corner, he’s relishing a good horror-theamed knees-up. “I go as a glampire [glamorous vampire]. I just get some new fangs and some blood.” He says he still feels way more comfortable as a glampire than a pop star. “Don’t get me wrong, I like dressing up,” he says, munching on a Pineapple Lump, “but sometimes it feels a bit like high school. I don’t feel like I’m at the popular kids’ table, nor do I want to be!” “I’m still kind of like the drama geek. I think I’ll always be that way.”

- Senior Writer, Carmen Lichi

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“The biggest misconception about being famous is that it’s all glamor and you get everything you want and everybody opens the door for you. It’s work. It looks glamorous from the outside looking in, but it can actually make you kind of anxious and it can be a little overwhelming. And it can be kind of like ‘whoa’. You don’t have a lot of control over your environment. One of the things that I’ve heard before is kind of this sentiment people will say like ‘well you asked for it’. And I guess in a way, I did. But I don’t think anybody realizes what they’re asking for when they do something to become famous. The fame is really more of a side effect of what I’m doing.” -Adam Lambert

“Broken English is kind of a sexy song about communication. And there’s so many different ways to communicate. You can communicate with words, and then sometimes it’s not about the words at all, it’s about, maybe, body language. I think there can be some challenges that come with not being able to communicate verbally. And then there’s also a lot of beauty in that disconnect. And that’s what Broken English is about.” -Adam Lambert

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED! Article belongs to Rolling Stone and you can purchase the magazine at any bookstore and supermarket, etc.

ADAM LAMBERT - Rolling Stone article - May 24th issue:

Adam Lambert’s Emotional Rescue

The ‘Idol’ star cleans up his act, scores a boyfriend and aims for the charts

By Jonah Weiner

     Adam Lambert’s Hollywood home sits atop a long driveway so steep that you could mistake it for a concrete wall. When Lambert began renting the midcentury modern with stunning city views, he thought the driveway was a pain. “To get up, you’ve got to overshoot it, turn around, come back and then turn in really fast at, like, a 90-degree angle, or else you scrape the whole bottom of your car,” he says. But after photographers caught wind of the American Idol star’s address, Lambert came to appreciate the driveway: “They’re not coming up that thing!”

     Lambert in his kitchen, making a pot of Throat Coat tea. His jet-black bangs, tipped with blond, soar high above his forehead. His eyes are ringed with black makeup. There’s a dirty wok on the brushed-metal stove - Lambert and his boyfriend, a Finnish reality-TV star named Sauli Koskinen, have been “getting pretty domestic” lately. They’ve decorated the living room in haute-goth style: skulls in bell jars, a steer skull painted black and white on one wall. A security monitor displays video feeds from a half-dozen camera mounted around the house. “My mom insisted I put them in,” Lambert says. She was like, ‘Did you hear what happened to Lindsay Lohan? Robbers stole her jewelry!’ I was like, ‘Mom, it’s Lindsay Lohan. She probably stole something from them first.’”

     Lambert, 30, moved from his native San Diego to L.A. a decade ago. He dropped out of college after five weeks and spent the next few years singing on cruise ships and in a production of Wicked before deciding to audition for Idol in 2009. Lambert was a phenomenon out of the box: His siren-wail high notes won standing ovations from Simon Cowell, while his ambiguous sexuality prompted titillated chatter. Lambert had lived uncloseted since just after high school, but he didn’t come out publicly - in Rolling Stone - until after the Idol finale, because he didn’t want to distract from his singing. “He’s a real artist, very comfortable doing difficult stuff,” says Chic mastermind Nile Rodgers, who collaborated with Lambert on a new song. “He reminded me of when I was working with David Bowie - it was so natural, this laser-focused jam.”

     Looking out past his pool, Lambert can gesture down at the city and point out various crappy apartments he has called home. 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.”
     ”This guy sang his heart out and expressed himself, and still he felt he wasn’t garnering the respect he deserved,” says Pharrell Williams, who worked on Trespassing. “And he felt his sexual orientation was always at the helm of any conversation about him.” With Trespassing, rather than shying away from the confrontation, he doubles down, as on “Outlaws Of Love,” a wounded ballad about gay persecution. “I wanted to be careful it wasn’t too much about the empowerment stuff,” he says. “With the title track it’s not like, ‘You can do it.’ It’s more like, ‘Fuck that shit.’
     ”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.”
     You can’t talk about Lambert without talking about the blow job. He inaugurated his post-Idol career with the most scandalous display of fake felatio in pop history. It was November 2009, and Lambert was performing at the American Music Awards. At one point, he grabbed a male backup dancer’s head and thrust it toward his crotch. “It just kind of happened,” Lambert says. He says it wasn’t intended as a statement, it was just rock & roll spontaneity. Ditto his decision to kiss his male keyboardist. “The network people got upset, because there were complaints from a parent religious group - like, 1,500 complaints out of however many millions watched the show,” Lambert says.
     The broadcast’s West Coast feed edited out the blow job and while it kept in the kiss, it switched to a faraway shot. Lambert says the controversy killed his single at radio. “My biggest confession afterward was, I felt like it was a double standard,” he says, “Female performers get away with anything they want, practically, and even straight male performers get away with a lot more than that.”
     Defiant as this sounds, there probably won’t be any fake-blow-job headlines in Lambert’s near future. Since turning 30, he’s mellowed a bunch. “I have a very gluttonous, hedonist personality,” he says. “I love the idea of a wild night out, and if there could be an orgy in the corner and a hookah over there - I love the idea of that. But I’m moving out of that phase of my life.”
     His romantic life has stabilized too. From 25 to 28, Lambert was single. “It was a brutal four-year period,” he says. “I was romantic, but life whittled that away. Gays don’t date. Most guys, you ask them out and they’re like, ‘What?’ I was hurt a lot.”
     Not that he didn’t have fun. “I had some great nights - and some great mornings.” He reveals that he had sex with a woman for the first time. So how did he like straight sex? “I’m open, but it’s personal, so I’m not going to go into that,” he says. “I’m just a person that likes to try everything, so I’ve tried everything.”
     At a Helsinki club in November 2010, while on tour in Europe, Lambert met Koskinen - a Finnish Big Brother winner with the carved cheekbones, chilly affect and overall undead hotness of a Blade villain. “I had a lollipop in my mouth, and he kind of smiled at me, so I took the lollipop out of my mouth and put it in his mouth,” Lambert says. “I was like, ‘He’s open-minded!’” A month later they rendezvoused in Paris and vacationed in Bora Bora.
      Last December, Lambert awoke with a brutal hangover in a Helsinki jail cell. “I still had on leather pants and high-heel platforms from the night before,” he recalls, chagrined. He was in town to celebrate Christmas with Koskinen’s family; at a club, he’d been drinking peppermint vodka and blacked out (Lambert suspects someone spiked his drink). He got into a drunken brawl with Koskinen that spilled onto the street. “We were on the floor wrestling,” Lambert says, relaying what the police told him. “There were no charges, thankfully.” Lambert describes the night as “a wake-up call” - he hasn’t been drunk since, and he and Koskinen have taken to juicing and jogging together.
     Lambert heads to a rehearsal studio, where he’s practicing with his band as they prepare to hit the road for a month. He steps to the microphone in a black T-shirt, fidgeting with his in-ear monitor, ironing out the kinks in the arrangement of “Outlaws Of Love.” “This feels too big, too loud,” he says. “Do the recorded backing vocals just come in at the end? Turn ‘em off.”
     He gives the song another go, then flops at the edge of the stage, running his hand through his hair. “I have to stop singing,” he says. “My ears are getting tired. I have a headache.” Lambert is happier promoting this album than he was with For Your Entertainment, the making of which was rushed and somewhat haphazard. “The last one, we were guessing,” he says at lunch. “There was no time to let it settle and live with the music. It was ‘Get it out there before people forget about you.’” For Trespassing, he took his sweet time exploring a fun, hybrid sound. “I’m not borrowing so much from classic rock this time - more from disco, funk, house. Dance-oriented stuff. I want to make something that’s new, that feels like it’s mixing a bunch of things together.” You can hear that on the Pharrell-produced title track, where a house-music thud, screeching guitar, funk bass line, and “we will rock you” hand claps war with one another for space.
     But he clearly isn’t overjoyed about the marathon of album-plugging, which starts the next day. Lambert used to sell makeup at Macy’s - “I learned a lot about being the professional ‘gay best friend;’” - and this aspect of the business reminds him of those days. “When I go to radio stations and meet fans, it’s retail in the most fucked-up way,” he says. “What I’m so grateful for this year is I didn’t have to do anything except work on the album.”
      As Lambert pulls on his leather jacket, an assistant tells him to “pack for a month,” and he groans theatrically. He hugs everyone and heads out to the parking lot. Koskinen’s at home, and they’re going to spend their last night together greatly, cooking and watching TV. “It’s cool.” Lambert says. “Making the album was the art part. Now comes the work part.”
     He climbs into his BMW and heads for the hills, where he will zigzag higher and higher up narrow streets, reach his house, and try his best not to scrape the car going up his driveway.
————————————————————————————————————————-
Adam Lambert
* * * * (4 Stars)
Trespassing RCA
All the disco sleaze and cheddar bombs you can eat
     So here’s the great pop album everybody was hoping Adam Lambert would make, ever since he ran wild on American Idol three years ago. It wasn’t just Glambert’s dynamite-with-a-laser-beam voice that got him into our national knickers: It was his warmth, humor, his burlesque bravado. His 2010 debut, For Your Entertainment, was a typical Idol quickie - decent, but it needed more personality. Trespassing delivers, with a mix of tinsel disco-club sleaze and leather-boy love ballads. While he excels in a radio cheddar bomb like “Naked Love,” he gets deeper in slow jams like “Underneath” and “Outlaws of Love.” But all over Trespassing, Glambert sings everything like Zeus in a thong.
Rob Sheffield

Key Tracks: “Shady,” “Outlaws of Love”

“With Trespassing, what I wanted to come back to was what my real everyday life was. And I realized- well first of all I don’t wear the glitter and the rhinestones and the feathers when I’m just walking on the street, going out in my car and doing errands or catching some dinner and a movie with my boyfriend. I wanted it come from more of a real place and although my fashion and what I’m drawn to artistically and creatively is a little bit more left field, I wanted it to be more realistic. How do I really dress? How do I live my life?  So I pulled it back more into that. I love fashion. I love stuff that looks a little more lived in and distressed. I love a strong silhouette. I like angles. And with my art I like things, ya know, with the way I decorate or with the way the colors that I like, I like things that are little bit more earthy and a bit darker- I’m kind of drawn to that. So I think the fashion and the photography is gonna reflect that evolution.” - Adam Lambert

Adam Lambert and Sauli Koskinen at the 2012 New Now Next Awards :)

Adam Lambert and Sauli Koskinen at the New Now Next Awards! Adam performed the titled track “Trespassing” from his new album, out May 15th! 

Adam Lambert and Sauli Koskinen at the New Now Next Awards!

“I love Finland and you know if I hadn’t been to Finland, I wouldn’t have met my current partner, Sauli. And I have to say- I am so happy! I spent a lot of time looking for love and looking for that type of connection, and I couldn’t find it. And I tried to pursue lots of different people and I’ve been through my fair share of heartaches and rejections and being involved with somebody that didn’t really like you back the same way. That’s happened to me way too many times. So when I finally met Sauli, it was kind of a chance encounter and we REALLY clicked! He’s a great guy and his energy’s fantastic and we really get along really well. We have a lot in common. The language barrier was obviously something that was a little bit of a challenge, but that made it so exciting! You know? And exotic I think for both of us. So, I’m VERY happy! I feel like for the first time in my life I have this great balance between my personal life and my work. So I love that and it gives me a lot of strength.

No, he’s not shy. He’s really outgoing and really comfortable in his own skin. That’s one of the first things I really recognized about him that I thought was so great!

This is one of the first relationships that I’ve had that actually worked. I don’t think it matters where you’re from. I don’t think it’s about that. I think it’s like either you have a connection or you don’t and that connection and that energy that you have with somebody- it transcends language and age and other things. So I think that our relationship is definitely a testament to a very strong connection.” - Adam Lambert♥