ADAM LAMBERT: Why You Should Always "Just Do It" | GREAT MOMENTS

Adam Lambert has built an incredible career since finishing second on American Idol in 2009. For more than a decade, he’s shared a stage with rock legends Queen and won 14 awards internationally. But before the fame, Adam was working in theatre in the American production of Wicked when he took a leap of faith and auditioned for American Idol. In this Great Moment, Adam reflects on the risk that changed the course of his life, and how more than ten years performing with Queen helped him grow into a stronger performer. Listen to the full episode HERE https://open.spotify.com/episode/5VnoyNLrH0w5d8D7rrOzFQ?si=fec0b23658404af8! If you enjoyed the show, you can also follow us: Instagram-@greatcompanypodcast https://www.instagram.com/greatcompanypodcast/# TikTok -@greatcompanypodcast https://open.acast.com/networks/611e511b4ec6dc00134bced2/shows/65d737dfdc02e00016c413b2/episodes/www.tiktok.com/@greatcompanypodcast And if you've got thoughts, questions and comments, you can email us at: [email protected] THE CREDITS Assistant Producer: Issy Weeks-Hankins Video: Josh Bennett Social Media: Laura Coughlan Snr Producer: Helen Burke Exec Producers: Ewan Newbigging-Lister & Jemima Rathbone Great Company is an original podcast from JamPot Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:48Speaker 02

  Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training, nor does it constitute an endorsement by any securities regulator. Please see nerdwalletwealthpartners.com for disclosures and important information. This episode is sponsored by Zocdoc. Have you been putting off a doctor's appointment or need a dentist and you don't know where to start? We've definitely been there, and that's why we use Zocdoc. Actually, over the holidays, Michael had a dental emergency, and seemingly every office was closed. But we hopped onto Zocdoc, found an in-network dentist, had great reviews, saw real-time appointments available, which was key. It was on New Year's Day, and booked an appointment in just minutes.

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• 3:03Jamie Laing?

  Hello, everyone. I'm Jamie Laing, and this is Great Moments.

• 3:09Jamie Laing?

  Hey, guys. Welcome back to Great Moments. Now, this week, I'm really excited because I wanted to revisit my conversation with the one and only Adam Lambert. Adam's voice, by the way, has taken him to huge heights, from singing Bohemian Rhapsody on American Idol to performing it with Brian May at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. I mean, how amazing is that? Adam was already in the American production of Wicked when he took this huge risk and auditioned for American Idol. And he tells me all about it. Okay, so sit back and enjoy this great moments with the amazing Adam Lambert.

• 3:39Jamie Laing?

  Before you arrived, I watched your audition for American Idol.

• 3:43Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 3:44Jamie Laing?

  Have you rewatched it?

• 3:45Speaker 04

  I've seen it numerous times, yeah.

• 3:47Jamie Laing?

  What is your critique on it now?

• 3:49Speaker 04

  I was really nervous.

• 3:51Jamie Laing?

  Because you seemed a little bit nervous.

• 3:52Speaker 04

  I was definitely really nervous, yeah, because there was so much riding on it. Like, you have to understand that I had been doing theater for like almost 10 years in LA. And like, I'd gotten to a point where like, I finally had booked like a really good professional job. I was in the first national tour of Wicked.

• 4:09Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 4:10Speaker 04

  So the first company that they formed after the Broadway production. I did that for six months, and then I left. And then a year or two later, they formed a resident LA company of the show. And that was really rare to have like sit-down Broadway productions in LA. It was very, very few and far between. And I got that gig. And so I was working daily at the Pantages Theatre in Wicked as Fiero's understudy. So it's like the prince's understudy. So I'm also in the ensemble. Basically means I was the guy in the back screaming my balls off, you know, for the notes with no credit. No one saw me, they just heard me.

• 4:49Speaker 04

  But it was a great job, you know? And it was like being able to get paid like good money to do theater in LA was such a treat, because it was hard to find that kind of theater in LA. And I had been toying for years about, I should finally move to New York. That's where the real theater is, blah, blah. But I was scared of it. I knew I didn't have the money. This was going to be sort of my preset to go to New York, to get in there and to save up some coin. But then each time that one of the guys that playing Fiero would get, you know, when his contract would be up or he was sick, it's like they wouldn't promote me. And I started getting real. I was like, I know I'm good at this part. What the hell's going on? And it was some politics and this and that and the other thing. And I was just so frustrated that I was like, you know what?

• 5:34Speaker 04

  If I got on TV, I bet they would take me seriously. So I'm gonna get on TV. And that summer before I actually auditioned, I went to Burning Man for the fourth time. And I tripped on acid and had this amazing, amazing experience where I saw my fear in front of me for the first time, like as a physical manifestation. Up until that point, I was always coming up with excuses not to do things. I was always getting in my own way. I was self-sabotaging. I was always that guy that would like not take a risk, whether it would be like dating or whatever. I was just scared. And when I was in the desert in this moment by myself, I like saw my fear. I heard the voice of some higher power, and it was like,

• 6:18Speaker 04

  this is your fear, kick it away. And I kicked it away, and I saw it like shoot across the desert floor. And I swear, I got back from that Burning Man trip, and I was like fearless.

• 6:28Jamie Laing?

  Get out of here.

• 6:28Speaker 04

  It was crazy. I was like, I'm gonna say yes to everything. I'm gonna quit saying no and coming up with excuses. I'm gonna say yes to everything. I'm gonna, I gotta put my eggs in more than one basket. I just gotta go for it, because I was a little stuck at that point. And it changed everything. It changed my entire attitude. So I was like, yeah, TV, that's what I should do so that they take me seriously. Now I can actually have the balls to do it. So I auditioned for American Idol, and it like, I got to the first round. I got past it. Then there was like a second round for producers and a third round. And this, what you see on TV, was the fourth time coming back for an audition.

• 7:01Jamie Laing?

  Singing the same thing?

• 7:03Speaker 04

  A couple of different things, but yeah, more or less. And in order to get in front of the TV judges at this point, the producers came to me and they're like, well, so here's the deal. You can't have any professional contracts that are in play. You can't be signed to an agent, a manager. You can't be employed by a theater or a record company. Like, you have to be like on amateur status. So I had to quit Wicked. I had to quit my job, which I was doing for eight shows a week. That's how I paid my rent. That's how I got health insurance, all of it. I had to quit for that chance to sing for Paula, Randy, and Simon, and Cara that year. So that's why I was nervous. I was like, oh, man, if I don't get this, I'm gonna be pissed.

• 7:46Speaker 04

  Like, this is gonna suck, because I just quit my job.

• 7:50Jamie Laing?

  Did you have doubt in your mind at that point? Or were you just like?

• 7:52Speaker 04

  Of course, I like had the like, oh, what if they, oh, what if they, ugh. But then, but it was like, it was like the moment. I was like, all right, well, this better work out, because if it doesn't, I'm gonna be screwed.

• 8:02Jamie Laing?

  Going to American Idol and doing that, and from what I understand, and maybe I'm wrong here, you kept your sexuality to yourself.

• 8:10Speaker 04

  I didn't really. I was, everyone knew I was gay. I just didn't really like talk about it on air, because it never came up. I mean, Ryan Seacrest never was like, like dick, you know? Like, it just never didn't. It wasn't a part of the narrative of what we were doing, but like, everyone knew I was gay. It wasn't a secret. I came out, so I came out right after high school, like I said.

• 8:31Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 8:31Speaker 04

  18, and I was 27 when I did Idol.

• 8:34Jamie Laing?

  Sorry, that's my, because I saw, there was a picture of you kissing your ex-boyfriend, and it went to the press, and it was on Fox.

• 8:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, so it wasn't a public thing that like, but that was the thing, is that I had been living for nearly 10 years in LA as an out-gay man, living my life.

• 8:52Jamie Laing?

  I read somewhere that where you almost say that like Freddie Mercury is almost a part of you in certain ways.

• 8:59Speaker 04

  I wish I had known him, you know? I feel like the more I learn about him, like I was watching something the other day about like all of his friends in the 80s that he lived with. He lived in this place called Garden Lodge. And he lived, it was like 85, there's like all this video footage, and he's like, he had like six guys living there, all gay, and they all had like nicknames for each other that were like women's names. And like, they lived in this sort of communal village together. And the way they talk about him, like, it was the happiest he ever was. Like, he loved it. He was so happy, he could be himself. And like, just seeing that and seeing the way he was in some of these little clips, I'm like, I get that guy. I get him. Like, I feel, I feel like I have some kinship there. That make, I can see that.

• 9:43Speaker 04

  I understand that guy, because that's how I am with my friends. I'm like, come over, spend the night. You know, if there's friends from out of town, I'm like, you know, you can use the guest room. And like, we're very like family-oriented house, you know? And I just, seeing that side of him was like really cool. Seeing like the human side of him, the social side of him, not only the rock god, not only the brilliant musician and vocalist, but like getting a glimpse into sort of his private life is really cool.

• 10:10Jamie Laing?

  I mean, in terms of shoes to fill. They're pretty big ones.

• 10:16Speaker 04

  Have you seen my shoes?

• 10:17Jamie Laing?

  I haven't.

• 10:18Speaker 04

  They're like six inch heels, baby. Come on. That's why the shoes are so big. I'm like, well, if I'm gonna fill Freddie's shoes, I gotta bring platforms. For fuck's sake.

• 10:27Jamie Laing?

  But, but that is, and again, this goes back to your risk-taking. That is a, an icon, a, not, as you said, not only just his voice, the way he was, the what he stood for, all those different things. And then, and, and you come in and blow it out the water as well in such a great way. That, how does it even, how do you get asked to do something like that?

• 10:46Speaker 04

  Well, I sang his song, I sang Bohemian Rhapsody from Queen.

• 10:49Jamie Laing?

  First edition?

• 10:50Speaker 04

  As my idol audition.

• 10:50Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 10:51Speaker 04

  So like, I think I got on their radar somehow through that. And then they were asked to come sing at the finale. So I sang We Are The Champions with them at the finale. And then when we met, and it was like.

• 11:01Jamie Laing?

  Was that insane moment?

• 11:02Speaker 04

  It was so surreal, but I was so wrapped up in the finale that I didn't even know what was happening.

• 11:07Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:08Speaker 04

  I was like, I was completely like, in another, I was, I was very overwhelmed with that week because there was just so much to do.

• 11:15Jamie Laing?

  Anxiety or?

• 11:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, a bit, a bit of anxiety towards the end, but also just being overwhelmed. Just, there was a lot of material, there was a lot going on. So it was very surreal. I was kind of floating through it a bit.

• 11:27Jamie Laing?

  So it's more like, oh, hey, yes, fine, we're doing this. Okay, cool.

• 11:30Speaker 04

  I'm like, this'll, this'll hit me later.

• 11:32Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 11:33Speaker 04

  And it did. And I was like, you know, I remember getting home like two nights, and two nights later, just finally getting to veg out in front of the TV and, you know, have a glass of wine. And I was like, did that just happen? Like, what is life right now? You know? And it was like, it slowly started dawning on me that last couple of weeks before the finale, I was like, things are gonna change. This is, this is like, this is a big shit. This is like a big left turn in my life. This is gonna change everything. I think my mom actually said, she's like, you know, everything's gonna change. Everything's gonna be different. I was like, Mom, stop freaking me out. But she was right. Everything did change. And then, so yeah, with them, um, we stayed in touch. And they asked like shortly after, like, hey, we should do something. But I had so many commitments with the show.

• 12:16Speaker 04

  You know, you get funneled into their management company. I had an album to make, a tour, a tour with the other American idols to do that summer. My own album, my own tour. So like, once the dust settled on my own first project, my, my album, uh, an opportunity came up to perform with them here in the UK for the, the EMAs, I think.

• 12:34Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 12:35Speaker 04

  To do a medley.

• 12:36Jamie Laing?

  It was MTV.

• 12:36Speaker 04

  Yeah. And I was like, fuck, yeah, of course I'll do that. Yeah, I'm honored. And we did it. And the response was mixed.

• 12:46Jamie Laing?

  Give me the response.

• 12:48Speaker 04

  From the band, they were great. Like, I, we, we clicked right away. Like, we got along from day one, which was very cool. I always felt very safe with them. Fans online were, you know, but he's, where's Freddie? I'm like, he's not here. Like, what, what do you want me to say? You know, I think that there's always been this sentiment of like, he's no Freddie. It's like, no shit, man. Like, I know that, you know, I'm just singing the songs. And I, and I learned really quickly to kind of have to like rationalize it with myself. Cause I'm like, well, no, of course I'm not Freddie, but he's not with us. Brian May and Roger Taylor have created incredible pieces of music. They still wanna get up on stage.

• 13:27Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 13:28Speaker 04

  They wanna perform.

• 13:29Jamie Laing?

  Yes.

• 13:30Speaker 04

  And they should have every right to perform. And they need a singer to perform the songs with. I'm like, yes, I can do that. I can be, I can help, you know? So, you know, it.

• 13:41Jamie Laing?

  And I just, I love that because most people, I just love that, um, that, again, I'm sorry, that fearlessness. It's insane, dude.

• 13:51Speaker 04

  Well, and I think, I think that, I think there, there is a requirement to get on stage and sing the songs of Freddie Mercury and Queen. You have to be sort of cocky. Like, it's the character of the song. Like, most of those songs are a lot of like peacocking, kind of bravado. It's like, that was that era of rock and roll. Like, you couldn't be like, is this okay? You know, it was, it wasn't like shoegaze. It was like, da, da, da. You know, owning it and being strong and, and, and powerful and confident. And so

• 14:19Speaker 04

  I always get on stage and like, that's the like, that's like the character of the song. That's the like, energy of it. I have to step into that, that space. Even if I'm completely terrified and feeling nervous, I'm like, but that's required. Like, that's what this music is. So in a way, it's always been like, almost like playing a role.

• 14:37Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 14:38Speaker 04

  You know, even though there's a lot of me in there, it, it's sort of like me through that lens, you know? Me taking on that, that energy, that emotion.

• 14:48Jamie Laing?

  What is the song that you sing and you're just like, this feels good?

• 14:53Speaker 04

  I love Another One Bites Dust. I love that song. It's just so, it's so sexy. And it's power, and it's, and it's hard. It's a hard song to sing.

• 15:01Jamie Laing?

  Why, why?

• 15:01Speaker 04

  When it goes up the octave, it's like, it's like a very athletic vocal.

• 15:05Jamie Laing?

  Which, which bit do they, what, what is?

• 15:09Speaker 04

  You know, the, the real bitey part. It's high and it's like, bite.

• 15:13Jamie Laing?

  I can get that high. Give me the note.

• 15:16Speaker 04

  I don't, I don't know what it is right now. I don't know at the top of my head.

• 15:19Jamie Laing?

  You ready?

• 15:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm ready for you.

• 15:22Speaker 04

  Are you gonna sing right now? Are you really?

• 15:24Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 15:24Speaker 04

  Do you sing? Okay. So are you gonna?

• 15:27Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, I'm gonna try. Okay, wait.

• 15:31Jamie Laing?

  Ready for this?

• 15:32Speaker 04

  I think so.

• 15:34Jamie Laing?

  I, I don't think I can do it in front of you. I actually, I actually. Oh, God.

• 15:37Speaker 04

  Yeah, it doesn't sound like that. That's not the song.

• 15:43Speaker 04

  I think that was Star Wars.

• 15:47Jamie Laing?

  But it's, but it's, I mean, what an amazing thing to be able to do and to step into those shoes and to be.

• 15:53Speaker 04

  It's a dream. Yeah. It's a, it's a fucking honor, really. It really has been. And it's been, it's been over 10 years that we've been on the road together. So it's, it's evolved for me personally, too. Like, I think if I look back at the first couple of times we worked together, I was like, very nervous and overcompensating like hell. Like, I was hitting every note I could. I was like, I wanna change this note. I'm gonna change this one. I'm gonna scream this one. I'm gonna, ah! I had so much energy, cause I, cause it was all like sort of adrenaline and nerves. Cut to the last like five years of touring with them, where I feel like I've settled in a different way. Like, I feel like.

• 16:31Jamie Laing?

  Doesn't it?

• 16:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, it took me a long time.

• 16:32Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 16:33Speaker 04

  And I, and, and that's just growing up and becoming a more seasoned performer and musician. And I can look back, you know, about five years ago and be like, okay, that was, that's the sweet spot. Like where I trusted myself more and I didn't have to like overdo it. I didn't have to throw everything at every song. Learning that as a singer is a real moment. When you're like, I don't have to hit every high note. I don't have to like do runs and melismas on everything. Cause you learn what pulls the audience in versus what pushes them away. And I think for a young, younger singer or somebody in their, in their art where they feel they have to prove something,

• 17:13Speaker 04

  like, look what I can do, look what I can do, that kind of doesn't pull the audience in the same way just trusting it does.

• 17:41Speaker 05

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• 18:26Speaker 05

  Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training, nor does it constitute an endorsement by any securities regulator. Please see nerdwalletwealthpartners.com for disclosures and important information.

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