When Adam Lambert finished as runner-up on American Idol in 2009, he emerged as one of the competition’s most unforgettable contestants: a gay glam-rock singer (he came out to Rolling Stone two weeks after the Idol finale) with a powerhouse voice and a theatrical streak that defied the show’s usual pop-star blueprint.
Today, 44, Lambert has built a varied career, releasing multiple solo albums, spending more than a decade fronting Queen alongside Brian May and Roger Taylor, and returning to his musical theater roots in productions including Cabaret and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Now he’s entering another new chapter with Adam, his most personal album yet and the first released entirely independently on his own label. Shaped by a move to New York, the end of a long-term relationship and an industrial rock influence, the album finds Lambert taking stock of where he’s been and where he’s headed next.
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter from London, where he was wrapping up a promotional mini-tour, Lambert looks back on the career that almost took him to Broadway instead of American Idol, earning the trust of Queen’s fiercely protective fan base, writing his own musical and why, after 17 years in the spotlight, he’s still discovering new facets of himself.
Let’s talk about your journey, because it started in 2009 on the world’s biggest stage, you could say — American Idol. Is this where you expected to be 17 years later?
I don’t know what I expected, to be honest with you. When I auditioned for the show, my hope was, “Hey, I’d love a chance to make a really cool album, and then hopefully some more after that.” So my expectations were actually sort of practical. I had started to fantasize about what it would be like to be in the recording industry and make original music, but I hadn’t really done a lot of it. I kept saying to anybody who would listen, “I just really want a chance to work with some of my favorite producers,” because I was convinced that if I was able to work with some of them, something would come of it. And that’s what Idol gave me.
I got to the very end of the competition. I got signed to RCA. I got to work with Max Martin and Shellback, among other amazing producers, and I got to make my first album, which was assisted by some of the best in the business. So I got my wish. Then we got to the next album, and it was kind of like, “OK, we’re doing it again. Now what?” And I’ve kept going. I continue to put out måusic, and it’s been an interesting adventure. Some of it has been full of victories and joy. Some of it has been tricky, frustrating — a bit of an obstacle course in the business that is music.
You were very unique, both in your glam-rock presentation, which wasn’t popular at the time, and in that you were out [as gay], more or less, from the beginning. How did that bump up against what the industry expected of you?
As I got to the end of the show, there was all this hype. I don’t think the industry knew what they expected of me. Some people in the industry saw something exciting happening — “This is something different. This is something we haven’t really seen a lot of lately.” Obviously they hadn’t really launched an Idol who was open about their sexuality, or even an Idol who was that left of center in general. It was kind of a cookie-cutter formula at that point. So from my impressions, the industry was guessing at the same time I was guessing. We were all just trying to figure it out. But everyone recognized that there was a lot of interest, which was great — that’s half the battle, getting people’s attention.
There was a lot of guesswork that came with that: “Well, we don’t know if this is going to work. Let’s try this. Let’s try that.” Looking at where I’m at today, I’m just grateful that I continue to have the opportunity to make music and have people listening to it. It’s kind of shocking to me that it’s still working out.
I went to see The Phantom of the Opera last night at the Pantages. I can’t get enough of that show — it never gets old to me. It’s just so over the top and great.
Ten-year-old me was quite obsessed with it as well.
You started in musical theater, right?
I did.
Were you up to Broadway level at that point?
More or less. Right before American Idol, I had done about six months on the road with the first national tour of Wicked. Then I was in the L.A. company of Wicked for about two years before auditioning for Idol. So I hadn’t actually been, quote-unquote, on Broadway officially, but I was working for a Broadway company, but I was at that level. By the time I auditioned for Idol, I was at this crossroads where I was heavily considering making the move from L.A. to New York, knowing there’d be a lot more opportunity there for theater. But I kept putting it off. Financially it was daunting, and I had a lot of friends and family [in L.A.], and I was waiting for the moment that made sense.
It’s funny — now Idol doesn’t have the impact it did back then. Back then, all eyes were on it, and it really could launch something major.
It’s definitely changed. Streaming has changed those TV shows in the same way it’s changed music. You don’t have the captive audience you used to have.
What’s interesting to me is that you very quickly achieved huge success in musicals, but that wasn’t your passion — you were looking for something else. It’s the opposite of what happened to Nicole Scherzinger, who felt hemmed in by the pop machinery and had this rebirth as a star on Broadway and the West End in Sunset Boulevard. I know you were in Cabaret.
I had an amazing time doing Cabaret. The thing I loved most was that it was a full-circle moment, coming back to my roots, going back to theater people. Theater people make a lot of sense to me — I feel very at home in that community. One of the things that had initially drawn me away from theater was that I felt it was limiting in the types of parts, and the number of parts, that I found compelling. One element was my sexuality; another was that I liked the more alternative stuff. I wanted to explore themes and musical styles that weren’t really common in theater.
But in the 20 years since I stepped away, there’s been a lot of new material, a lot of new exploration. There’s been a whole awakening on Broadway of diversity and different walks of life, and there’s just a lot more to offer an actor now. So coming back to theater, it was like, “Oh, it’s a different world now — there’s so much more of an open playing field.” And even with the Emcee, who’s always been an alternative, strange little character, it felt even more the case that you can make it into whatever you want.
You should hook up with [Sunset director] Jamie Lloyd. He’s really talented.
He’s brilliant. I’ve spoken with him before.
You have? I think you two could do something amazing together.
My big question is that I just don’t know what the show would be. It’s definitely been a conversation I’ve had with a couple of people, but I can’t quite seem to find a show that would make sense. Maybe it just hasn’t been written yet. And I personally am writing a musical — I’ve been writing one since the pandemic. It’s on the back burner, but it’s something I’m working toward. So we’ll see.
In terms of Queen, how did that change your life? Suddenly you’re playing stadiums.
I think the more interesting question would be, how did it not change my life? It was such a massive career get. Not only did it give me a lot of credibility within the industry, it kind of proved a point. It was a home that was a real good fit for me — their catalog really suits my strengths as a performer. I learned a lot from Brian May and Roger Taylor. They’re incredible. We spent over 10 years touring, so it really became a big extended family. And getting to honor Freddie Mercury — somebody I really look up to as a performer, as a writer and, from what we know about him, as a human being — I loved the opportunity to celebrate him.
Were the fans resistant to you at first?
There were some fans in the beginning that were resistant, which is natural, and I kind of expected that. Look, this is hallowed ground — you can’t replace the guy. There were going to be people who were protective and territorial. But in a way, it fueled me to work harder. It gave me the hill to climb. Luckily, I had Brian and Roger being very supportive, saying to me from day one, “You don’t need to mimic what Freddie did on the recording. You can find your own way.” That was all I needed to hear.
Early on, I took a lot of liberties. What’s interesting is that over the years, I took fewer liberties and stuck more to the melody. In the beginning, I felt like I had a lot to prove. As I got more confident and comfortable in my role with them, it allowed me to trust what was written a little more and find more subtle ways of making it my own.
Your voice has always been undeniable — I remember the first time I heard you sing on American Idol. Technically, how many octaves can you sing?
It’s so funny — people ask me this, and I don’t really know. I think it’s four, five? I was technically trained, but I stopped taking lessons many years ago. I go by ear now. I do some warm-ups, and I do think that taking opera for a year as a teenager was a really good foundation. When it comes to vocal technique, I have good instincts, but I’m not really a nerd about it.
Your new album Adam has a new sound. I was thinking of Nine Inch Nails while listening to it.
That was definitely one of our reference points, for sure. That sort of electronic rock thing is very interesting to me.
I understand it’s partly inspired by a breakup, or something personal. Do you want to talk about that?
There’s a song on the album that was inspired by a breakup. “Am I Okay” was written a week after a five-year relationship ended, so it was very, very raw, very fresh. But even broader than that, moving to New York was all wrapped up in this big life change. One chapter in L.A. was closing, the New York chapter was beginning, and it all lined up with this breakup. So it’s really about reestablishing my individuality, my identity, my wants and needs, my hopes and fears, and recontextualizing them in a whole new environment at this new point in my life.
I wanted the album to live in a darker world than some of my previous work. We’re living through political and social unrest, anxiety, fear and uncertainty, and I wanted that to be the undercurrent. Sometimes we don’t realize how much the world around us seeps into our personal lives.
Are you happier now? Has the pain subsided?
That’s the beautiful thing about making music. It becomes a type of therapy. You put all your thoughts and fears into a song, and it turns them into something positive. I’ve always been a communicator, so songwriting is my way of making sense of my experiences and sharing them with anyone who wants to listen.
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