Speaker 1: The New York Post here is kind of famous for
Speaker 1: their crazy headlines and your posts. And they found a
Speaker 1: murder victim in a strip club and the headline was
Speaker 1: headless girl in a topless club. And that was the
Speaker 1: headline on the front page of the newspaper. All sold out.
Speaker 1: They've never sold it. Thank god you're listening. They said
Speaker 1: it wouldn't last, and here it is on this podcast.
Speaker 1: We're talking to my friend Adam Lambert. And at the
Speaker 1: end of these thirty minutes, he'll be your friend too.
Speaker 1: Just the nicest guy, and he already has this rich
Speaker 1: history even after only fourteen years since American Idol when
Speaker 1: he first hit the scene. Let's talk about being on
Speaker 1: the road with Queen filling the shoes of Freddie Mercury.
Speaker 1: Is that what he's doing or is he doing his
Speaker 1: own thing. Let's talk about his new album. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about anxiety, Let's talk about how he looks, his glam
Speaker 1: everything about him is so interesting. Well, you'd be the
Speaker 1: judge of that. Here we go, Oh, hi, is it
Speaker 1: time to roll the fourth podcast? They said we would
Speaker 1: never make it this far, and I'm thanking the God
Speaker 1: above that we did. Because Adam Lambert's here. Hi Adam, Hi,
Speaker 1: thank you for being.
Speaker 2: Here, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Look here you are in New York City. I know
Speaker 1: you've got a lot going on. You're talking about the
Speaker 1: new album called High Drama. You've got beauty products that
Speaker 1: you're pushing.
Speaker 2: I am, I'm like a jack of all trades right now.
Speaker 1: Let's do this. Let's play a game. Let's play the game.
Speaker 1: Name everything you're doing? This not music related?
Speaker 2: Oh lord? Okay, nail polish, but orly we did a collaboration.
Speaker 2: I've been doing some voiceover work stuff like for some
Speaker 2: cartoons you have to be revealed later. Okay, all right,
Speaker 2: what else am I doing that's not music? And it
Speaker 2: all kind of comes back to music, actually, So I
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't think there's anything else to report.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was what ten, eleven, how many years
Speaker 1: ago when you were on idol, when we first were
Speaker 1: introduced you, fourteen years ago.
Speaker 2: Okay, isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1: So fourteen years ago you're like, Okay, I don't know
Speaker 1: what the f we're doing here, but let's get up
Speaker 1: the next stage. And you totally won our hearts and
Speaker 1: you won us over. But back in the day, did
Speaker 1: you ever think that one day you'd be in New
Speaker 1: York talking about this line of fingernail polish.
Speaker 2: This sounds silly, but it's such a fantasy of mine,
Speaker 2: you know, Ever since I literally when I was like
Speaker 2: probably like a freshman in high school, I remember watching
Speaker 2: TV and seeing Dave Navarro talking about wearing nail polish,
Speaker 2: and it was it was like he was putting on
Speaker 2: this like gun metal color and he just looked so cool.
Speaker 2: And I remember being like, Oh, I want to wear
Speaker 2: nail polish. And I went to a hot topic at
Speaker 2: the mall. H I found some nail polish and I
Speaker 2: put it on. It's just I've always loved it. And
Speaker 2: so the fact that I got to develop these colors
Speaker 2: and name them, that's so fun.
Speaker 1: Well, then the next time we read them all you stopped,
Speaker 1: obviously by piercing Pagoda, because you've got lots of piercings,
Speaker 1: going yeah, if you do, you have any down below? No.
Speaker 2: No, I had my nipple pierce once though, but only one.
Speaker 2: You made it sound like that was thing in the past.
Speaker 2: It was terrible. It got I was on tour. This
Speaker 2: is so gross.
Speaker 1: It got infected, right, which is not fun. So you
Speaker 1: were like spotting your blouse on swell more or less.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when you're sweating and stuff, like on
Speaker 2: stage and working and you you know, it gets in
Speaker 2: there and it literally swelled to the size of a
Speaker 2: golf ball. It was terrifying. Okay, and we had to
Speaker 2: have a doctor. This is so gross. You don't want
Speaker 2: this on your podcast?
Speaker 1: Yes I do.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, oh boy. The doctor had to come
Speaker 2: in and like drain it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you have never felt anything more painful in
Speaker 2: my life.
Speaker 1: Well, so, so therefore you didn't you didn't do more piercings. No, No,
Speaker 1: have you ever dated a guy that had like Prince
Speaker 1: Alberts and stuff like that? Is this getting too personal?
Speaker 2: No? I have not dated a guy that had a
Speaker 2: Prince Albert, but I've definitely experienced one.
Speaker 1: Okay, because I mean, because that shit can ship a tooth,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Exactly? Okay, well exactly. I was like, take it out.
Speaker 1: Let's get back to the music, shall me. I don't
Speaker 1: feel like you started with that. The reason why I
Speaker 1: love it when you visit us because when Adam Adam
Speaker 1: visits the station and the show, it usually means there's
Speaker 1: a promo ahead, and you're always glammed up. You've got
Speaker 1: the hair looking spiked and fun, You've got the makeup on,
Speaker 1: you've got the wardrobe. Of course, I.
Speaker 2: Feel like at this point if I didn't, it would
Speaker 2: be like weird because people like that's just what they
Speaker 2: know of me. And then I feel like if I
Speaker 2: came in like full, like you know, day off vibe,
Speaker 2: which is different. I mean I like to wear like
Speaker 2: sweatpants and a baseball hat when I'm walking around, right,
Speaker 2: I think I just think people would be disappointed in me.
Speaker 2: Do you still well? I know this is radio, so
Speaker 2: that's funny. But there are cameras, I swear, you know,
Speaker 2: we have proof he's looking great. But do you I
Speaker 2: and for lack of a better term, do you enjoy
Speaker 2: playing dress up?
Speaker 1: Do you enjoy it? I love it.
Speaker 2: I you know, there are days every once in a
Speaker 2: while if it's a busy schedule, I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 2: gotta do it. I gotta get ready. You know, it
Speaker 2: becomes a bit of a chore. But once I start,
Speaker 2: I get into it.
Speaker 1: I like it.
Speaker 2: It puts me in a mood, It makes me feel creative,
Speaker 2: it puts me in like it gives me confidence, makes
Speaker 2: me feel like, you know, I'm stepping into my uniform
Speaker 2: almost like this is my this is my world, this
Speaker 2: is my job.
Speaker 1: So you know, when you're when you're made up and
Speaker 1: looking really really really beautiful, you must that means there's
Speaker 1: something going on, an event, there's something outside. Typically yeah,
Speaker 1: so you're it's psyching you up for whatever event.
Speaker 2: Exactly be I mean, there's nothing like getting ready for
Speaker 2: even if it's not work, if it's like a night out,
Speaker 2: there's nothing like that, like getting ready for a night out.
Speaker 2: You have your music playing.
Speaker 1: I like that feeling. I want you to take all
Speaker 1: of us to a place that we will never know
Speaker 1: unless living it, like caiously through you. Let's say you're
Speaker 1: going to an award show, a big let's say it's
Speaker 1: a Grammy. Let's say it's a big award show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so start out with the people who come over,
Speaker 1: and they they they style you, they or they help
Speaker 1: you with your decisions. I'm sure, I'm sure no one
Speaker 1: helps man.
Speaker 2: I do it myself.
Speaker 1: You do all yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you.
Speaker 2: Don't have a stylist right now, I don't have makeup
Speaker 2: or hair.
Speaker 1: And you don't need one. I mean you you hit
Speaker 1: it out of the park every time.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've definitely used them in the past, but
Speaker 2: I currently know yeah, not recently.
Speaker 1: Okay. It's the day of the event, let's call it
Speaker 1: the Grammys, Okay, okay, and you're in home, you're at
Speaker 1: home or in your hotel room, and you're look in
Speaker 1: the mirror, you're putting it all on, you're getting that
Speaker 1: hair just right, and you're taking your time. Hopefully there's
Speaker 1: no rush because you want to, like I.
Speaker 2: Mean, there's for some reason, there's always a rush. I'm
Speaker 2: always running behind. But you know, I work well under pressure,
Speaker 2: so maybe that's part of it. I don't know. And
Speaker 2: then on.
Speaker 1: Comes big heavy metal jewelry, and then comes all the
Speaker 1: piercings and you know what am I going to put
Speaker 1: my ear holes? And then the clothing. Then you hop
Speaker 1: into the back of an suv. Yeah, and they pull
Speaker 1: up in front of the whatever theater where all the paparazzi.
Speaker 1: Paparazzi's out front. It's going to be and you know
Speaker 1: it's going to be a lightning flash or seventeen of flash.
Speaker 1: What are you feeling? Right as the door opens and
Speaker 1: you step that eight inch platform heel outside the suv
Speaker 1: and you have to get from that truck to the
Speaker 1: door and inside. What's it like that rush of going
Speaker 1: through that red carpet? Do you know?
Speaker 2: I think if I go back, like six seven years ago,
Speaker 2: it used to kind of give me like I would
Speaker 2: be excited, but it would also give me like a
Speaker 2: little pang of anxiety, like because it was just a
Speaker 2: lot of energy. But these days, I just I think
Speaker 2: I've grown into it as best I can, and it
Speaker 2: just feels like another day of what I do. And
Speaker 2: I love getting dressed up, so it feels like, oh,
Speaker 2: look what I could show off, what I did, what
Speaker 2: I made, what I put together. You know, it doesn't
Speaker 2: freak me out at all like it used to in
Speaker 2: the beginning, right, So it feels good. It feels like, hey,
Speaker 2: a lot of the photographers look familiar, you know, like,
Speaker 2: hey guys, you know, it's kind of like I've gotten
Speaker 2: used to it.
Speaker 1: You know. There was a there was actually it was
Speaker 1: the Grammys, and I was working with a news organization.
Speaker 1: We were a first position, so people would stop at
Speaker 1: us first, so we would interview them and talk about
Speaker 1: what they were wearing on that bullshit there was one
Speaker 1: artist who I'm not going to say who. She her name.
Speaker 1: She had so much anxiety she had to get back
Speaker 1: in the suv and lead. Oh and later on we
Speaker 1: had a private moment talking about it, and she said
Speaker 1: that it just it was just overwhelming for her. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it just took her mentally to a place where she
Speaker 1: can be. Yeah, it was a lot. It was a
Speaker 1: rush of just fright because she knew as soon as
Speaker 1: she made through made it through the photographers, she came
Speaker 1: to us and we had questions.
Speaker 2: She Yeah, sometimes it takes a second to kind of
Speaker 2: like ground yourself afterwards, because it can be very like dizzying,
Speaker 2: you know. I think for me, like, and I've talked
Speaker 2: openly about this, like I'm I'm on medication for anxiety,
Speaker 2: so that like that helps me so much deal with
Speaker 2: all the crazy energy that comes out. It helps me
Speaker 2: stay centered and grounded. So I feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: and it's not for everybody, but I feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: in talking about mental health stuff, I discovered a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago, oh this is what anxiety is. I
Speaker 2: didn't realize that I had been suffering from it for
Speaker 2: so long. And so after like some therapy and you know,
Speaker 2: some pharmaceutical help. It's like so much easier to go
Speaker 2: to work now, it's like way more I can just
Speaker 2: be the moment, which is so nice.
Speaker 1: If you're a friend and said, hey, Adam, you've been
Speaker 1: so vocal about your mental health and anxiety. I'm going
Speaker 1: through that too, Convince me to do something about it,
Speaker 1: because I can't tell the difference with just what's reality
Speaker 1: and what I should be dealing with as a human
Speaker 1: being versus what is over supercharged in my head. And
Speaker 1: do you have an explanation you could give. Let's say,
Speaker 1: if I.
Speaker 2: Leave you as a friend, I mean, I would definitely say, like,
Speaker 2: it's up to you, because I do think it's different
Speaker 2: for everybody. Some people react really well to therapy and medication.
Speaker 2: Some people don't want to be on a medication daily
Speaker 2: like that bothers them. The idea of it bothers them,
Speaker 2: or the physical feeling of it bothers them. I think
Speaker 2: it's kind of to each their own, really, And there's
Speaker 2: also a lot of other, you know, alternative therapies now
Speaker 2: you know that they're coming up with that are very interesting.
Speaker 2: So I don't know, I would say, like, is it
Speaker 2: worth it? Is it worth suffering. I mean, is it
Speaker 2: ruining your lifestyle? Is it getting in the way of
Speaker 2: you enjoying yourself and being present in these amazing moments
Speaker 2: or not.
Speaker 1: You wonder, like, how many moments have I missed out
Speaker 1: on because I just felt it better to stay home? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I just didn't want to deal.
Speaker 2: With or I was in my head, or you know,
Speaker 2: or I was thinking too much about what if? What if?
Speaker 2: What if? You know? What are they thinking? What?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: It's it. I think everyone's different, like I said, But
Speaker 2: for me, I also didn't realize that I had any
Speaker 2: sort of like issue. I just thought, Oh, I'm just stressed,
Speaker 2: you know. Oh, I'm just in you know, I'm just
Speaker 2: an overthinker, which is true. But like you know, when
Speaker 2: I finally like hit the wall at one point, was
Speaker 2: like getting panic attacks out of nowhere for no apparent reason.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, dang, Like this is more serious
Speaker 2: than I thought. And I think as we get older,
Speaker 2: our bodies change, and these things can be become worse
Speaker 2: or become you know, more, you know, easily recognized than
Speaker 2: we once recognized them. And once I found that to
Speaker 2: be the case, I was like, well, Okay, let's get some.
Speaker 1: Help, could you? And if I get too personal, just
Speaker 1: say no, it's fine.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty Would you.
Speaker 1: Count the number of panic like serious attack panic attacks
Speaker 1: you've had in your life on one two hands or I.
Speaker 2: Never had one before in my entire life until like
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen or nineteen. During that year, it was just
Speaker 2: I think some of it was like burnout, like I
Speaker 2: was working a lot and traveling a lot, and jet
Speaker 2: lag will take it out of you. You know, it
Speaker 2: will zap you. I mean, and from what I've learned,
Speaker 2: like it actually attacks the you know, the chemical in
Speaker 2: your brain that that that causes this anxiety thing when
Speaker 2: it's out of whack. So I think it was a
Speaker 2: combination of a lot of things. But that was when
Speaker 2: it first started, and it was terrifying because I didn't
Speaker 2: know what was going on. I didn't know why I
Speaker 2: was having a panic attack. Half the time it was
Speaker 2: for no apparent reason. It was literally just a physical reaction.
Speaker 1: Isn't that weird?
Speaker 2: It is weird because someone goes, well, why, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: I don't know. It's not logical.
Speaker 1: You can't. You can't announce the trigger. You can't. I've
Speaker 1: had it. I've had two and I could absolutely And yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought I was having a heart attack, right, because
Speaker 1: I would, you know whatever, right, But you know what,
Speaker 1: once you once you seek help, you learn, you learn
Speaker 1: about it and you can learn how to.
Speaker 2: Make and honestly like the pandemic, you know, it was
Speaker 2: a lot of things for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: There were a lot of disappointments associated with it. For me,
Speaker 2: but also once I got over the disappointments, which was
Speaker 2: my album Velvet that came out a week before everything
Speaker 2: shut down, I was like, oh, but once I got
Speaker 2: over that, it actually became a really beautiful time of
Speaker 2: sort of self care and sort of getting back to
Speaker 2: myself and you know, starting some creative projects, not on
Speaker 2: a tight timeline, but being able to focus on them,
Speaker 2: you know, and unencumbered and with full attention. And you know,
Speaker 2: I think I'm grateful for that time. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: grateful for the time off so that when I got
Speaker 2: back into this career and our lifestyle that we're all
Speaker 2: in hustling all the time, it like kind of gave
Speaker 2: me new energy behind it.
Speaker 1: And the things we learn from pandemic is learning how
Speaker 1: to push a button shut it down. Yeah, and we
Speaker 1: didn't know that before.
Speaker 2: And it also like I think it reminded me of
Speaker 2: priorities were like it kind of it got me back
Speaker 2: in check with like the things that I need to
Speaker 2: stay happy and content. And it's not all career stuff.
Speaker 2: As much as I love what I do and I
Speaker 2: put a lot of work and time into it, I
Speaker 2: also was like, you know what, I need to maybe
Speaker 2: balance this out with like my personal life a little
Speaker 2: bit more.
Speaker 1: I deserve that everyone needs to listen to that carefully
Speaker 1: because it's very that balance thing. People hear that word balance.
Speaker 1: I think we use that life professional balance conversation too much.
Speaker 1: People don't hear it anymore. It's so important.
Speaker 2: It's nice too, you know. I think I think it's
Speaker 2: I think our lifestyle here in America is very like
Speaker 2: hustle mentality. It's go go, go, go go. We won't
Speaker 2: want to win, and there's a healthy amount of competition
Speaker 2: that can be a great motivator. But I have some
Speaker 2: friends over in Europe and there's other countries that like
Speaker 2: collectively just look at certain things differently, like the way
Speaker 2: of life is different. And my partner right now, he's Danish,
Speaker 2: and like the in Denmark, like the Danish way of
Speaker 2: sort of life. There's a different emphasis on work, there's
Speaker 2: a different emphasis put on competition and winning. It's it's
Speaker 2: less emphasis, and they put more time and thought into
Speaker 2: lifestyle and just enjoying themselves and sharing time with family.
Speaker 2: And it's like, oh, and live longer. Probably probably they're
Speaker 2: all one hundred and fifty years old over. I also
Speaker 2: have a lot of rules for like healthier food and
Speaker 2: all that. It's a beautiful place. I'm not saying that
Speaker 2: I don't love being here, but you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: just reminds you that there's other ways of doing things.
Speaker 1: That's why it's important to have a passport to see
Speaker 1: the world and see how they live and do a
Speaker 1: lot in life. So you know what, ten years on
Speaker 1: the road with Queen. Of course this meeting happened, thank god,
Speaker 1: because of American idol, and these guys said, look, you
Speaker 1: know what, no one else can do it like Adam Lambert.
Speaker 1: I know, but you know, stepping into those those those shoes,
Speaker 1: Freddie Mercury, you know, and you never came in and
Speaker 1: wanted to be Freddie Mercury. You came in and you
Speaker 1: were Adam Lambert with Queen and it's just worked out
Speaker 1: so beautifully. But ten years it still go. And then
Speaker 1: you said earlier that you just don't see you don't
Speaker 1: see it the plug being pulled anytime soon, because people
Speaker 1: are still selling out. People still come.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean it's really like, you know, if Brian
Speaker 2: and Roger wanted to do another tour, I mean, that's it,
Speaker 2: that's all it takes. I mean, luckily people will still
Speaker 2: want to come see us. And I mean we sold
Speaker 2: out this North American tour that's coming up in October November.
Speaker 2: We sold it out in like a day ish.
Speaker 1: If you guys ever looked into the demographics of who's
Speaker 1: coming to these shows, well.
Speaker 2: I can see I look out in the audience a lot.
Speaker 2: I really love you can see the hairstyles, yeah, or
Speaker 2: the baldings exactly. But it's interesting because you know, we
Speaker 2: were always pretty successful as a collaboration, and we were
Speaker 2: selling really well for years. But then when the movie
Speaker 2: came out, the Bohemian Rhapsody film, that like took things
Speaker 2: into the stratosphere because all of a sudden you had
Speaker 2: different generations, more of them. You know, I've never seen
Speaker 2: so many young people at our shows until after that movie.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. I mean it's you know, in Europe, we
Speaker 2: were on tour last summer. We did ten shows in
Speaker 2: London at the O two and a bunch around Europe
Speaker 2: and they had standing room on the floor, like you know,
Speaker 2: the floor of these arenas and it was just like teenagers.
Speaker 2: It was crazy and they're just like they love rock
Speaker 2: and roll. It's it's almost like, I think, because it's
Speaker 2: a generational thing, it's like they're discovering something new for them, right,
Speaker 2: this classic rock thing too.
Speaker 1: Don't tell them it's old, yeah, right right, brand new,
Speaker 1: brand new from this new It's though, everyone.
Speaker 2: Loves to discover music, and I think there's like this
Speaker 2: resurgence of rock and roll right now, which is really cool.
Speaker 1: So back to the movie. When you saw the movie, yeah,
Speaker 1: did it? Did it shift anything in your mind and
Speaker 1: how you performed with the guys? Did it change your
Speaker 1: outlook on Queen? Where did you see it? For the
Speaker 1: A lot of things to learn, a lot of things
Speaker 1: for the first time that made you great?
Speaker 2: I am I had heard a lot of those things before,
Speaker 2: you know, I think being with them for the previous
Speaker 2: what eight years before that movie, I guess it was
Speaker 2: like eight years. I guess that was longer ago anyway,
Speaker 2: being on the road for them for that long before
Speaker 2: where the movie came out. I was actually on the
Speaker 2: plane while they were planning the movie. I mean I
Speaker 2: was like I was a fly on the wall. So
Speaker 2: I wasn't surprised by anything. I was actually really excited
Speaker 2: to see it all like come together. I thought the
Speaker 2: music was so well like edited and like the music
Speaker 2: really shown in that movie. I thought that was really
Speaker 2: important is that their catalog of amazing hits was sort
Speaker 2: of on display, you know that. I mean that's what
Speaker 2: they're known for us.
Speaker 1: That was really important. Oh, absolutely, But especially the scenes
Speaker 1: where the camera is behind Freddy Mercury.
Speaker 2: Look like yes, I mean, how many millions of.
Speaker 1: People around the world were watching, But how many people
Speaker 1: were there at live A do we?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I actually just performed in that stadium,
Speaker 2: so a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: It was eighty thousand, okay, So that's where I lost
Speaker 1: it when I saw the view from the stage. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because it's daytimes, so there's no lighting like blinding you
Speaker 1: see every right little head out there. That's gotta be
Speaker 1: just nuts. I mean, do you do you think of
Speaker 1: eighty thousand people as individuals or is it just one
Speaker 1: big piece of energy.
Speaker 2: It is. That's a good way to put it. It
Speaker 2: is energy. It's like plugging into a battery. It feels
Speaker 2: really good actually, as long as everything's going well.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: But like we did right before the pandemic, we did
Speaker 2: a tour down in Australia and we were playing stadiums
Speaker 2: and that was my first time with Queen playing that
Speaker 2: large of space and it was nuts. I mean, you
Speaker 2: do get extra extra momentum from them, you get extra juice,
Speaker 2: you know. It's like, I don't know, it's like you
Speaker 2: get off stage from a crowd that big and you're
Speaker 2: really hyped. I mean that's funny because it's almost like
Speaker 2: I've gotten numb to you know, oh, eighteen thousand whatever.
Speaker 2: But that's become normal.
Speaker 1: You know, It's not a numbness, I don't think. And
Speaker 1: I was thinking, I'm making this observation because I remember
Speaker 1: when we first met you back in the idle days
Speaker 1: or just beyond long time ago, to see how you have.
Speaker 1: You have changed and we all have. I'm not in
Speaker 1: just physically being older and wiser, but you have just
Speaker 1: grown into this incredible you. And so to hear you
Speaker 1: talk about walking out in front of eighty thousand people
Speaker 1: or walking in front of the paparazzi was just, oh,
Speaker 1: it's another day at the office, but still looks like
Speaker 1: you enjoy that living hell out of it.
Speaker 2: It took a long time to get to this point too,
Speaker 2: you know, because there was a point maybe it was
Speaker 2: you know, some of this anxiety stuff, but also just
Speaker 2: just typical stuff of like putting, you know, hanging your
Speaker 2: worth and your happiness on certain things that you can't control.
Speaker 2: I think that learning that lesson really helped me of
Speaker 2: just being like, you know what, I'm doing my best
Speaker 2: and I want to enjoy this. So like shifting my
Speaker 2: thought process behind it, I think allowed me to like
Speaker 2: sink into it a bit more, you know, And I
Speaker 2: do feel that way. I do feel like I've sort
Speaker 2: of I've grown up a bit. I'm like in a
Speaker 2: sweet spot right now, which feels really good.
Speaker 1: You know what that is the best advice ever is
Speaker 1: just figuring figuring out what it is you can or
Speaker 1: cannot control, and then you got to let loose. And
Speaker 1: that's so hard to do. It's so hard to do,
Speaker 1: but you know, being a performer, there is there's got
Speaker 1: to be this certain level of control. You've got to
Speaker 1: be able to control the decisions you make on what
Speaker 1: projects you do and what you don't want to do.
Speaker 1: And now you want to look, and now you don't
Speaker 1: want to look. But you sound like you're comfortable with
Speaker 1: being in control of those things as well.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think I've learned a lot, you know,
Speaker 2: And I learned a lot from like Brian and Roger
Speaker 2: for example, being in their camp. It's taught me a ton.
Speaker 2: And just you know, I think you pick and choose
Speaker 2: your battles, and you just figure out how to surround
Speaker 2: yourself with the right people. That's super important, both professionally
Speaker 2: and personally as well. And just make sure that there's
Speaker 2: joy in it. If there's not joy in it, you
Speaker 2: need to fix something.
Speaker 1: Amen. Yeah, and there's something we're all yeah grappling with. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you should always grapple with the fight for joy, I
Speaker 1: guess I think. So, Okay, we'll only have a few
Speaker 1: seconds left. I want to talk about High Drama, this
Speaker 1: album that's out right now. And I was telling I
Speaker 1: was telling Adam earlier that back in the early nineteen eighties,
Speaker 1: using a fake id. I was going to a gay
Speaker 1: club in Dallas called The Landing and there's a performer
Speaker 1: there that night named Sylvester. And we'd already dance, already
Speaker 1: danced to Sylvester's songs. Yeah, but the one that you
Speaker 1: cover on your album is you make Me Feel Mighty Real,
Speaker 1: And of course it immediately took me back to a space,
Speaker 1: to a place. It was it was like reading a history,
Speaker 1: my history book of me. It to me to that night,
Speaker 1: the smells of the Landing, which just stunk. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just you know those back in the day of
Speaker 1: the old gay bars. It didn't have lighting. I mean,
Speaker 1: it didn't have windows.
Speaker 2: I mean, there was a gay bar in West Hollywood
Speaker 2: it closed only three years ago. That was like the
Speaker 2: same thing. They also dish.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, exactly. This meant like urine anyway, moving on, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but that song took me there, and this song, this
Speaker 1: album is full of covers you're doing in your own
Speaker 1: unique way that are going to take people places in
Speaker 1: their memories.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean mighty real. It's interesting because we put
Speaker 2: the album out actually in the spring, but we decided
Speaker 2: to put another song out. We just you know, there's
Speaker 2: no rules anymore, you can do whatever you want. And
Speaker 2: my labels I'm working with a label in the UK,
Speaker 2: and I came up with this idea. I was like,
Speaker 2: what if we redid you make me feel mighty real
Speaker 2: by Sylvester, but do it with like a modern DJ
Speaker 2: and like modernize it. And so we we approached Sagala,
Speaker 2: who I've actually done some writing with in the past,
Speaker 2: but we didn't have anything that we had put out yet,
Speaker 2: and he was really excited for it, and we collabed
Speaker 2: on this and I was like, I wanted to be
Speaker 2: able to be played like now in the club and
Speaker 2: people you know, enjoy themselves and dance to it. And honestly,
Speaker 2: it really is like a tribute to Sylvester because he
Speaker 2: was so ahead of his time. He was so the
Speaker 2: things that you know, he basically was gender fluid before
Speaker 2: before that word was.
Speaker 1: A thing exactly. He was there before there was, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, he really was like a pioneer and a
Speaker 2: trailblazer in who he was and how he was so
Speaker 2: bold and brave about it. He didn't give a crap.
Speaker 2: He was like, this is me whatever everybody else can
Speaker 2: you know?
Speaker 1: F off.
Speaker 2: It was really he was really bold.
Speaker 1: And other great songs that you're covering on here. Was
Speaker 1: there one or two that really are your favorites?
Speaker 2: I mean, I did a version of holding Out for
Speaker 2: a Hero, like a little guilty pleasure of Bonnie Tyler song.
Speaker 2: But we did it like a glam rock, like a
Speaker 2: very seventies glam rock kind of arrangement. That one's fun.
Speaker 2: I can't Stand the Rain is really fun. I did
Speaker 2: some current stuff too. I mean I did Chandelier by Sia.
Speaker 2: I did Pink's My Attic, which is kind of a
Speaker 2: B side on one of her last albums. I did
Speaker 2: Lona del Rey West Coast. That's a really fun one.
Speaker 2: And I did a song by Billie Eilish as well.
Speaker 1: And you chose every single song on this album. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a great I think I'll do this one in
Speaker 1: that one, no, and that one no.
Speaker 2: I mean it was definitely like a collaboration, and it
Speaker 2: was like as far as you know, working through some
Speaker 2: of these decisions and choices, for sure. But I didn't
Speaker 2: do it alone. But I but yeah, I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm in the driver's sea, which feels really good.
Speaker 1: I love hearing that. Yeah, next time you're here, I
Speaker 1: want to catch up again. I'm sure between now and
Speaker 1: then a billion and one great things so I hope
Speaker 1: so a lot of great things are going to happen.
Speaker 2: We like being busy now well good, you know, stay busy.
Speaker 1: It keeps us out of prison. Absolutely exactly, Adam Labrett,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for being on the podcast, which
Speaker 1: is called called Thinking out Loud with Elvis Duran.
Speaker 2: This one's this one.
Speaker 1: They wanted to call it. What do we want to
Speaker 1: call it? I'm contractually obligated to do this podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: It's great having you here.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Adam, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Wow. Wasn't that awesome spending time with Adam Lambert? Loved it.
Speaker 1: Hope you loved it as much as I did. As always,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening. Make sure your rate review, and of
Speaker 1: course subscribe to our show so we can pop up
Speaker 1: and tell you what's new, and tell your friends, tell
Speaker 1: them all about this interview and the other ones we've
Speaker 1: done so far. Thinking out Loud, that's what we're doing.
Speaker 1: Thinking out Loud is hosted by me Elvis Duran. The
Speaker 1: podcast is produced and edited by Mike Coscarelli. Executive producers
Speaker 1: are Andrew Paglsi and Katrina Norfel special thanks to David Katz,
Speaker 1: Michael kind Heart, and Caitlin Madore. Feaking Out Loud as
Speaker 1: part of the Elvis duran Podcast Network on iHeartRadio. For more, rate,
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Speaker 1: this episode, tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Elvis Durant.