What Celebs Have Said About Adam Lambert
Plenty of big names have long celebrated the artistry and authenticity of Adam Lambert — even while the rest of the world was clutching their pearls. Here's what some of them have had to say about the Queen frontman over the years.
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00:00Plenty of big names have long celebrated the artistry and authenticity of Adam Lambert,
00:05even while the rest of the world was clutching their pearls. Here's what some of them have
00:09had to say about the Queen frontman over the years.
00:11The year was 2009. Barack Obama had just taken office, Adam Lambert took second place on American
00:17Idol, and Lady Gaga was pushing boundaries everywhere she went. That fall, as she was
00:22gearing up for the release of The Fame Monster, Lambert's wild glam rock antics caught Gaga's eye.
00:27They worked together on a song called Fever, which Gaga had originally written for herself,
00:31but let Lambert record instead. In an interview with Kiss 106.1, she said,
00:35"'It's like a total hit, smash record. But for some reason,
00:39like, I couldn't get it right with me doing it. And I said,
00:41gosh, it would be perfect for him. They went into the studio together, and as Gaga recalled,
00:46I played it for him and he's like, oh my God, I love it, and he went crazy. So we did it.
00:51He's a funny guy. He's a good guy."
00:53Gaga also offered Lambert some advice about what would be his first album, saying,
00:57"'You never debut again. You only get one time.'"
01:00Back in 2009, when Adam Lambert was competing on American Idol,
01:03the surviving members of Queen stopped by to perform with him. Guitarist Brian May told
01:08Rolling Stone they were considering inviting Lambert to step in for the late Freddie Mercury
01:12as the band's new vocalist, saying,
01:14"'It's not like we, as Queen, would rush into coalescing with another singer just like that.
01:18It isn't that easy. But I'd certainly like to work with Adam. That is one amazing instrument
01:22he has there."
01:23"'We all sort of got a kick out of each other, and it felt like the right fit. It felt good.'"
01:27It took a few years, but Queen and Adam Lambert did indeed coalesce beginning in 2012.
01:32They embarked on the Queen and Adam Lambert tour that year,
01:34and they've toured regularly ever since. In a 2023 interview on SiriusXM,
01:39looking back at more than a decade of collaboration, May marveled over the way
01:43it all happened, explaining,
01:44"'We didn't advertise. We didn't audition or anything. He just turned up out of the blue,
01:48out of heaven somewhere. And he had everything that we needed, plus more.'"
01:53The 2009 American Music Awards featured an incredible cast of performers,
01:57but the biggest headline grabber was Adam Lambert's performance of For Your Entertainment,
02:01which included a moment where he kissed a guy. That was still scandalous in 2009.
02:06It led to more than a thousand complaints and even the threat of legal action from ABC,
02:10who carried the awards show. Speaking at the 2023 Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Gala,
02:15Lambert said,
02:16"'I'd been in a bubble in L.A. amongst artists,
02:18weirdos, and I didn't realize that that kind of thing would ruffle feathers the way it did.'"
02:23"'People in this country like things very black and white,
02:26and I think when it gets gray, it gets really uncomfortable, and they don't know what to do.'"
02:30Melissa Etheridge, on the other hand, loved it, and said so on the red carpet, gushing,
02:34"'Don't you wanna see what his hair looks like? And just how much makeup he's gonna wear?
02:38Finally, finally, we've got a real diva.'"
02:40Even as he faced homophobia from the public, Lambert also faced backlash from the queer
02:45community, including an editorial in Out magazine that claimed he wasn't gay enough.
02:49Etheridge, who is also openly gay, had some thoughts, sharing,
02:52"'I know how it is in this industry and in the world. When you're an out,
02:55gay person, you take on a lot and you never ask for it.'"
02:59When Lambert competed on American Idol, judge Simon Cowell wasn't always a fan.
03:03"'I think you are theatrical and therefore not current.'"
03:08Though he once gave Lambert a standing ovation, there was also one time where
03:12Cowell compared Lambert's rendition of Born to Be Wild to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
03:16Lambert told NME that before he competed on Idol, Cowell wasn't exactly kind to
03:20contestants he presumed to be gay, saying,
03:23"'Simon would make fun of them. That was the comic relief.'"
03:25Cowell came around, though, and these days he's a big Lambert fan. In fact,
03:29when Lambert performed on the 2023 finale of America's Got Talent All-Stars, Cowell told him,
03:34"'You are honestly one of the nicest people in show business I've ever met.
03:39Such a star. I'm so proud of everything you've achieved.'"
03:42One would think Lambert's love of leather, his wailing vocals,
03:45and his theatrical performance style would make him a natural successor to the Kiss throne. And,
03:50in fact, Kiss teamed up with Lambert on American Idol in 2009 to sing a medley of their hits.
03:55But lead singer Gene Simmons isn't a fan. In a Q&A on his website,
03:59Simmons told a fan that he had no interest in helping Lambert set up a career in rock music,
04:03saying,
04:04"'Respectfully, I don't think Adam is a rock singer.
04:06He sounds much more convincing singing ballads and Broadway shows. His voice doesn't seem to
04:10have a rock quality, but I'm sure he's going to do just fine.'"
04:13Then, after Lambert came out in Rolling Stone,
04:16Simmons told AOL that he thought Lambert had no future in showbiz, blurting,
04:20"'I think he killed his career because now the conversation is not about his talent,
04:23but about his sexual preference. My advice is still the same. Shut the f— up. Just sing.'"
04:29Like Lambert, Clay Aiken wasn't openly gay when he competed on American Idol.
04:33He came out in 2008 on the cover of People, posing alongside a headline that read,
04:37"'Yes, I'm gay.'" He had a message for his fans,
04:39"'Know that I've never intended to lie to anybody at all.'"
04:42The following year, when Lambert set the internet alight with his Idol performances,
04:46Aiken took to his blog to tell everyone he wasn't a fan. According to Pride.com, Aiken wrote,
04:51"'I happened to turn it on during the minute that Adam Lambert was singing Ring of Fire
04:55and, at that moment, thought my ears would bleed. Contrived, awful, and slightly frightening.'"
05:00In a 2012 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Andy Cohen asked Lambert to say three
05:04nice things about his Idol predecessor. Lambert simply replied,
05:12"'Can't think of any.'"
05:15In the late 2000s, Perez Hilton could make or break a career. When he liked you,
05:19he'd cover you positively on his gossip blog. When he didn't like you, he could be vicious.
05:23After Lambert's controversial AMAs performance, Hilton defended him, telling ABC News,
05:28"'He doesn't have to play it safe to get votes, and at the end of the day,
05:31it's all working. I applaud him for that performance. It was ballsy.'"
05:35A few years later, however, Hilton spoke with Carson Daly and revealed that Lambert had acted
05:39up at Gaga's 2011 birthday party, sharing,
05:42"'He showed up really drunk. Actually, beyond drunk. Like, super sloppy, messy,
05:46embarrassingly drunk. Gaga had, like, these little princess cakes with Disney characters on top. He
05:51got one of the toppers and attempted to, like, put it in her mouth, and we're like, what is going on?'
05:56For the record, Hilton and Gaga would later feud.
05:59In 2018, Variety got a bunch of queer entertainment professionals together for brunch. The guest
06:04list included stars like Troye Sivan and songwriter Justin Tranter, in addition to Lambert.
06:08Parson James, best known for his hit single,
06:10"'Stole the Show' with Kygo," also attended the event. He noted that he had been signed
06:14to a major label that had queer executives, but they wanted him to tamp down his identity
06:18in order to succeed. James took the opportunity to shout out Lambert's trailblazing career,
06:23thanking him for being so open and visible during a time when queer
06:26entertainers were told to remain quiet. James went on to say,
06:29"'There are pioneers here like Adam Lambert,
06:31who was just wholeheartedly himself and put his f-----g foot forward and didn't hold back.
06:35A lot of people bashed him for what he did. But to be honest, I think if people like him
06:39didn't come around when the conversations were so mum, then we couldn't have people
06:42like Troye or myself.'"
06:44"'There is a responsibility to be a queer celebrity, and I had to learn
06:49on the spot what that responsibility was.'"
06:51Variety noted that the attention seemed to make Lambert emotional,
06:54and that he sat alone during part of the event and reminisced about those early,
06:57homophobia-haunted years. Lambert shared,
07:00"'I'm at a point in my career where I'm being true to who I am. I'm being authentic,
07:04I'm being myself, and not making any apologies for it.'"
07:07Few pop stars are as gleefully provocative as Swedish singer Tovlo,
07:10who has some song titles that are too risque to include here. It makes sense,
07:14then, that she'd get along well with Lambert, who's no stranger to pushing the envelope himself.
07:18The two linked up for a studio session back in 2014, for Lambert's album The Original High.
07:23Lambert told Billboard,
07:24"'She's funny. She's normal. She's like a normal, down-to-earth girl. We sat and had,
07:28like, a couple glasses of wine and talked about dating and life and music.'"
07:32It seems that the feeling was mutual. Lo told Digital Spy that they'd ultimately gotten together
07:37and written a song for Lambert called Rumors, saying,
07:39"'Adam's probably the first guy that I've successfully written something for.'"
07:42In an interview with Billboard, she complimented Lambert's talent, saying,
07:46"'When you hear the fully produced stuff from the studio,
07:48that's one thing. But his voice is insane. I couldn't believe it.'"
07:52With the 2012 release of Trespassing, Adam Lambert made history. As noted by Billboard,
07:57he was the first out gay man to debut an album at the top of the charts.
08:00Ahead of the record's release, he told the outlet,
08:03"'I wanted it to reflect my social scene, not just what I knew my fans were going through.
08:07So I'm writing about my gay friends, you know, going out and getting laid.'"
08:10Lil Nas X, on the other hand, ruled the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019. With Old Town Road,
08:15he logged not only the longest-running No. 1 by a queer artist, but the longest-running
08:19No. 1 overall. Though Lil Nas X was afraid of coming out and facing the backlash,
08:24he told BBC Breakfast that he was ready for it, saying,
08:27"'I don't want to just live my entire life, especially, you know,
08:30how I just got to where I'm at. Just, like, not doing what I want to do.'"
08:35The artists have complimented one another several times. After Lil Nas X sparked controversy for
08:40kissing a man at the 2021 BET Awards, Lambert noted the similarity to his own AMAs performance,
08:46telling Billboard,
08:47"'I thought it was hot. I mean, he's really giving it to us.'"
08:49Lil Nas X responded in kind, telling Heavy,
08:52"'I really appreciate all the love that he's shown me. And I definitely don't
08:55take it for granted. And I appreciate all the doors that him, and people like him, opened.'"
09:00On Surefire Winners, a track from his 2009 album For Your Entertainment, Lambert sang,
09:05"'All the girls and the boys wanna know, how far this bad wild child's gonna go.'"
09:09A few years later, on her track Die Young, Kesha sang,
09:12"'Wild child's lookin' good. Livin' hard just like we should.'"
09:14Lambert and Kesha were two of Pop's wildest children at the start of their careers,
09:18so it makes sense that they linked up and became friends. In early 2010,
09:22the twosome had a whirlwind night out at a gay club in New York. Afterward,
09:25Lambert confessed to BLi in the morning,
09:27"'She's really pretty. We were laughing, and we just started kissing.'"
09:30Just Jared followed up to get some more details, asking Lambert and Kesha how the kiss was.
09:35Lambert shared that,
09:36"'She tasted like Goldschlager and maple syrup.'"
09:38And Kesha doubled down with,
09:39"'He tasted like blueberries and champagne.'"
09:41They're apparently still friends, having posed together several times over the years.
09:45In 2016, after Kesha stopped by Lambert's tour, he shared a photo to Facebook, posting,
09:50"'I missed you, darlin'."
09:51In 2024, both singers landed on the same lineup at West Hollywood Pride,
09:56likely setting them up for yet another wild night ahead for the bars of Santa Monica Boulevard.