Adam Lambert in the new issue of Notion Magazine.
Darren Black/Notion Magazine
Six years after American Idol, Adam Lambert is back with his third studio album The Original High — an album that, he tells the U.K.’s Notion magazine, is designed “to encourage people to face their shit.” Lambert has been doing some serious self-examination since his critically acclaimed but commercially disappointing sophomore release Trespassing, and talked about his journey to self-acceptance in the interview.
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“I came out five years ago in a scene where I didn’t have a lot of people to look to or a blueprint for advice,” he tells Notion. “I was flying blind. At that time, I was reading things that were being written about me and it was affecting me both negatively and positively. It was really intense to get dropped into that whole world really quickly.”
When asked about his always distinctive look, Lambert says, “On the one hand, maybe I thought that’s what I had to do to be an artist, but there was also a part of me that was terrified, which was kind of hiding behind that a little bit. All of the make-up and the crazy clothes and all the over the top stuff…it’s kind of a defense mechanism in a way.”
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The pop singer is nothing if not self-aware, telling the magazine there are “certain ways in which I triumphed and certain ways in which I stumbled a little bit. Unfortunately, people were watching while I was learning.”
To pre-order the issue, click here.