Dust off your feather boas and leathers because flamboyant pop diva Adam Lambert is coming to NZ and is set to entertain you.
He may not have won American Idol but in the past year Adam Lambert has made a far bigger impression than winner Kris Allen.
The 28-year-old counts Brian May from Queen as a fan; so is Matt Bellamy of Muse, and Lambert and Gaga are good mates. This glammed-up male pop rock diva has some serious pull, not to mention broad appeal, and he puts it down purely to his voice.
"It's becoming less and less common for people in pop music to sing. Say what you will but I know that's something that I can do," he laughs.
He's currently on a globetrotting mission around the world with his Glam Nation Tour which stops in at Auckland's Trusts Stadium on Sunday in support of his debut album For Your Entertainment.
So get your feather boa on, sprinkle some glitter on those cheeks, and pull on your leathers for a theatrical pop show that Lambert says will be a "Victorian, steam punk, New Orleans kind of vibe".
How did Idol change your life?
Oh gosh, it changed everything. People would not know who I was down in New Zealand if it weren't for American Idol. It really helped create the platform for me to do what I love. I've always loved to perform and I've always wanted to be on stage and then I started getting really interested in recording and making original music as a departure from the musical theatre thing. And it [Idol] was my chance to do that and break out.
But you do seem like the sort of person who would have made it without Idol, don't you think?
I don't think so. One of the reasons I did Idol anyway was because of how difficult it is to make in the recording industry. Especially nowadays with record companies going through some struggles, they really want performers and artists who are straight down the middle, commercial, easy to sell and advertise. Those sorts of people. But I know myself, I'm a little bit left of centre, so I have a feeling any record executive probably would have looked at me and said, "No, that's too experimental for us". So I have a feeling it would have been a struggle for me on the mainstream level.
Do you want to get more involved in the songwriting process on your next album - and write more original material in the future?
I think it's something that's definitely going to happen. I wrote five songs for my last album, and so hopefully for this one I'll get to be involved in the writing process for all of them. But you know what, it's not really about that. It's about having music and performing music I believe in. Obviously it's a lot easier to do that if you've written it yourself but there are great songs by great writers and if one comes across the table that's really awesome, then I'll do it.
Now that pop music has entered the era of the meat dress [TimeOut talked to Lambert soon after Gaga's appearance at the MTV Music Video Awards] where is there to go from here? And what do you want to do with pop music?
That dress made me laugh. Sometimes people take her so seriously but I think she has an incredible sense of humour. But for me, I love the idea of escapism in music. I want to help people forget their problems for three minutes, and make them feel powerful, and make them feel beautiful. So it's that escapism that I find really cool in music.
From your Idol performances it's easy to pick some of your favourite songs. But what albums have inspired you?
I remember really getting into Michael Jackson's Dangerous. I had that from a really early age, as well as Madonna's Ray Of Light. They are both great albums. I take inspiration from those albums and the tours [by those artists]. I love the theatricality behind artists like that, things they did on stage were based on the music but they give the music a story and a life and that's something I'm constantly trying to do.
How did the idea for the Glam Nation Tour come about?
The first thing we needed was to base it in some kind of a world that all the songs exist in. That song Voodoo that I wrote is about mysticism, allure and seduction and I just thought that would be a really good first number for the show. It also inspired a lot of the costuming for myself, the dancers and the band, a kind of Victorian, steam punk, New Orleans kind of vibe. And so what I did was structured the set list where we go constantly from dark to light, and it's all about love really and each song pertains to love in some way.
LOWDOWN
Who: Adam Lambert
What: The American Idol runner-up's Glam Nation Tour
Where & when: Trusts Stadium, Henderson, Sunday
Debut album: For Your Entertainment (2009)
-TimeOut
