Interview, but order if you can --

Adam Lambert is the first openly gay artist to have an album debut at #1 on the US charts. Deliciously flamboyant and disarmingly charismatic, he spoke to Marc Andrews about fronting Queen, his Finnish boyf and the state of the American psyche.

DNA: So is your hubby (Finnish TV celebrity Sauli Koskinen) back in the States?
Adam Lambert:We spent time in Japan together, which was really great. He is back in the States now. He lives with me.
Does he say weird Finnish things to you at all?
Sometimes, yeah. Most of the time they’re really good, though. The Scandinavian mind-set in general is very open.

Isn’t that why you’re with him?
Yeah. It’s just getting to understand more about that culture.

Do you have lots of saunas?
I wish I had a sauna at home and I think he really does, too. If this album cycle keeps going really well, maybe I’ll be able to build one [laughs].

Not sure how your new blond hair is going to go in the sauna, though!
[Laughs] Oh, I’ll shower-cap it out with moisturiser.

So we have to say congratulations on your album Trespassing debuting at #1 in the US.
Thank you! That was very exciting.

Where were you when you heard it had gone to #1?
I was in the UK rehearsing. My managers told me. I was like “Woo! Fuck yeah!” I didn’t expect it. I think there might have been a cupcake or something, but I don’t need to eat my celebrations [laughs]. I think I did have a drink though, truth be told.

Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters told DNA that you’ve really raised the bar now.
I love him. That’s so sweet. He is a hoot, man. I haven’t seen him in a while. When I got to London he was there for two days and we tried to get together. He called me on the phone and he was so funny. He just had me laughing, but I was trying to get over my jet lag and I knew I had to do an interview early the next morning so I was like, “Dude, I can’t go out!” I’ve turned into a responsible young man.

That blond has gone to your head!
It’s no fun doing the work when you’re in hangover recovery mode. It makes the promo stuff a lot more fun when you’re feeling fresh.

They love you in the UK now because you’re the new Queen so to speak!
Oh yeah, that was fun. An actual queen singing with Queen! It was unbelievable to be asked.

But Jessie J stole your thunder at the Olympics closing ceremony!
Oh, but she was good. I wish I had one of those yellow long jackets that she had. I was like, “Damn girl, that’s fierce!” I wanted to perform at the Olympics and the Queen guys were curious about it, too, but the deal was that you had to be a UK citizen.

You’re with someone from Finland, which is the EU, which is close!
Hey, the band is British and I’m a guest! I understand. I thought the closing ceremony was really cool celebrating British pop culture. I don’t quite fit into the British pop culture – maybe some day. Queen were so cool though.

Did you have to study Freddie Mercury to sing with Queen?
I actually tried not to study Freddie Mercury. That was the big thing. I didn’t want to get too obsessed with the way he did everything. I thought that would be a corny choice – to mimic him. The important thing for me was not to stray too far from the original, but also to be myself. I had to tune out the versions in my head that I grew up listening to and think how I would interpret it. The respect thing was really important.

Are you likely to do more work with Queen?
I’m not sure. It’s possible. To say that was the last time would be sad.

Tell us about American Idol!
There are no secrets. I’m working on the video for my third single and a couple of other things, too. I’m still waiting to hear about the TV things. Of course I would do it. I do feel like I am an alumni and think it would be fun to do. I loved the show when it first came on.

You just want to hang with Mariah, don’t you?
Yeah and borrow some of her hair products.

You and Aussie pop star Sam Sparro have worked on both your albums. How did that connection come about?
He and I wrote a b-side on my last album and I thought it was amazing. I was so in love with it that I opened my tour with it. Sam is so talented, so funny and he’s rad. He’s got it going on – the full package.

He’s a black diva on the inside!
Oh yeah! I definitely hear some Chaka Khan coming through on his new album!

We were surprised there was no Gaga involvement on your new album.
Well, we did Fever on the last album together, which was really fun. It would have been a great single – tell my record label!

Do you get a say in those types of decisions about your career?
I definitely am very opinionated and very present in the decision making and a lot of the planning, but it’s not 100 per cent me. There are a lot of things that go beyond the creative in this business and they are the things I let the professionals do.

When one of your singles doesn’t become a hit, do you get disappointed?
The way I feel about charts is it’s very easy to get wrapped up in the competition aspect of the record industry. I just want the song to be heard. I don’t care if it’s #5, #10 or #15. We haven’t had a huge amount of success with the first two singles in the States it’s true, but you have to keep guessing.

Are you more an album artist now perhaps?
That’s the exciting thing that the album charted so well. Radio has become very political and tricky and there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in radio. The great thing about it is people bought the album and they are listening to it. That’s all you can ask for.

Let’s talk gay marriage. Your thoughts?
I always think it’s funny when people ask me about it, as if I’m going to say, “Oh, I’m really opposed to it,” [laughs]! Of course I support gay marriage. I think everybody should have equal rights, it’s as simple as that. If you look at the issue right now it’s a civil rights issue, at least in the States. It’s like, “Hello, I don’t care what your religion says, we should be able to have the same legal rights and be recognised in the same sense of what the word union means as heterosexuals!”

Do you get involved in this as a cause?
I have, but I’ve gotten more involved in LGBT youth. I relate to that more strongly, because I remember being a teenager and growing up and feeling I didn’t really have a lot to reference.

Were you bullied as a teenager?
Not necessarily bullied, but I definitely felt strange, like an outsider. People didn’t really screw with me that much, so I’m lucky. I grew up in San Diego, so it’s not a super conservative area. I definitely wasn’t open about it until later. I experienced little bits and bobs of discrimination even in the industry.

Frank Ocean came out after you…
That was really brave. That album is really cool. What’s interesting is reading the letter he wrote – he never said he was gay, just that he had a relationship with a guy. What is interesting about our culture now is that everybody wants everything to be so black and white. People just can’t accept the idea that you can have relationships. I know plenty of people, male and female, who have had same-sex relationships at one point or tried it for a while. It would be nice if we could get to a point where we didn’t have to label everything so specifically.

Is that hard for you too because people always want to label you as a “gay artist”?
Yeah, I am gay and an artist, but it’s not mutually exclusive and not everything I do.

Is this the glass ceiling you’ve broken down – that it’s not a big deal being an artist who is gay.
I totally admit that sometimes I am fickle on it. I’ll be like, “This has nothing to do with my sexuality, this is just a part of who I am!” Then there are other times where I am singing about something to do with my sexuality, or I am making a strong statement about my lifestyle.

Like when you kissed your band member on stage!
It didn’t necessarily mean that I was gay, I just kissed a dude, a bit like Katy Perry [laughs]. I look back and laugh at it now about how people got so tweaked about it.

Does this say something about America, that they’re more comfortable with guns than kissing?
Oh yeah. Violence is fine, but sexuality is scary. People feel threatened by it, if it’s something that doesn’t fit into their ideal. Toting your gun around to “defend yourself” is being a man, in their eyes. I don’t understand that at all.

Do you have a cause that you fight for – like Jake Shears is against circumcision?
[Laughs] Um, no I’m not really on that train although I understand what he’s talking about. It’s an interesting debate. I’ve had conversations with my friends when they were new parents about their children. For me, it’s trying to be post-gay in an industry that is definitely not. The music industry is a little homophobic. The film industry has made some great strides in social progress and is leading the way.

Are you planning to do any acting?
I definitely want to. I just filmed an episode of Pretty Little Liars which was really interesting. I play myself at a Halloween party – I’m Adam Lambert as Adam Lambert dressed as a vampire.

How True Blood!
That’s my favourite show. I love it. What’s great about the show is that it’s funny. It’s using the idea of a vampire as a metaphor – vampires all of sudden coming out into the open and coming out of the coffin as a social metaphor for gay rights. They create that symbolism quite obviously all the time in the show. The way that they use the whole vampire myth is so clever. You have to look through the obvious to see what they’re trying to say with it and it’s a really great show.

Anything you feel you need to share with the readers of DNA before we finish?
Um… [thinking] “Hey, girl, hey!” [Laughs]. I feel really good about this album because I feel I was able to give a voice to my circle of friends on some of these songs. It is a very universal album but I had the goal to write a few songs that were about my guy friends out at the club. Kickin’ In is about being with your boys and being stupid with them at the club. Someone also wrote and said, “Why is he singing about a girl?” I call a lot of my guy friends “girl” [laughs]. It’s lingo. Shady is all about cruising and I love that the album gets to go there really unapologetically.

© DNA 154

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