English translation for those interested(@carole_bouchard)

Interview : Adam Lambert, showman avant tout


Adam Lambert remet le glam-rock en avant et se taille une célébrité à la hauteur de sa voix. Le chanteur de 28 ans vient de boucler sa première tournée mondiale, passée par le Trabendo à Paris le 18 novembre. Au milieu de quelques jours de visite dans la capitale, il a répondu à nos questions. Souriant, passionné, inspiré, Adam est un personnage entier. Entretien.

Adam, te revoilà en France après une tournée marathon. Tu tiens le coup ?
J’essaie ! On a fait plus de 112 dates sur cette tournée ! C’était génial ! Je ne savais pas du tout comment j’allais m’en sortir et surtout si je finirais en un seul morceau (rires) ! Mais tout s’est bien passé. Je n’ai pas eu à annuler un seul show, je n’ai pas perdu ma voix. J’ai enfin pu rencontrer mes fans dans le monde entier. Ce qui est drôle, c’est qu’avant de me présenter à American Idol, je pensais venir m’installer en Europe et tenter de faire carrière ici car je me disais que je serais peut-être plus facilement accepté… Mais finalement les choses ont tourné en ma faveur aux Etats-Unis…

Tu as vu des différences en rencontrant ton public en Europe ?
Une chose qui m’a frappé c’est que les fans sont plus jeunes en général. J’ai aussi vu plus de gays… Je me suis beaucoup amusé dans tous les cas et ai passé des moments inoubliables. Au Trabendo, c’était super, on y a pris vraiment beaucoup de plaisir. La salle était petite et intimiste donc j’ai quasiment pu regarder tous les fans droit dans les yeux. On a tout fait sur cette tournée, passant des grandes salles aux toutes petites et c’est un défi de faire fonctionner le spectacle dans ces extrêmes. J’ai appris énormément.

Quand tu regardes le Adam d’il y a un an et celui d’aujourd’hui, vois-tu la même personne ?
Oui, complètement. Il est toujours le même mais en beaucoup plus fatigué ! Je n’avais jamais eu à assumer un rythme de travail et de vie pareil. Évidemment avec le théâtre, les comédies musicales, c’était huit représentations par semaine mais j’avais trois heures de spectacle et c’était terminé. Maintenant c’est non stop, 24h sur 24. Mais je ne m’en plains pas, je sais que ça vaut le coup. Je vis mon rêve. Je peux enfin partager ma musique et mes idées avec les gens. Et puis d’un côté plus matérialiste, je peux acheter une maison maintenant ! Avant je n’avais pas d’argent du tout… Ce n’est pas le plus important pour moi : la musique, être un artiste et s’exprimer, ça c’est le plus important. Mais j’apprécie aussi d’avoir un peu de sécurité.

Sur ton album, tu as laissé parler toutes tes sensibilités. Quand on peut être une rockstar autant qu’une popstar, est-ce difficile à faire accepter ?
C’est ce qui est étrange… On n’arrête pas de me demander d’expliquer mon style, d’expliquer le style de l’album… Et voilà justement : je n’ai pas besoin de le définir. C’est tout à la fois ! Et pour moi ça colle parfaitement à l’époque, la musique devrait être comme ça avec un petit peu de tout. Que les gens qui vont m’écouter puissent trouver quelque chose qui leur plaît, dans un style qui me convient et leur convient.

Des artistes prestigieux t’ont donné des titres, comme Pink, Muse ou Lady GaGa. As-tu vécu ça comme une reconnaissance ? Idem pour la comparaison avec Freddy Mercury…
It meant a lot to me, really. And then it was also shown to those who make this music industry that I could be taken seriously. I look at Freddy is a great compliment! An honor well, as I was influenced by him. It was probably also a bit more pressure ... I really felt people's expectations ...

United States, your private life became fodder for the media ... How do you live this intrusion?
It's part of the job must be done with ... And if there's something that I retained from this whirlwind began, is that I need to keep certain parts of my private life very private, otherwise it remains for me nothing to which I cling. Although in absolute terms I've always been like an open book and that most people already know the principal!

You do not want to be a reference to the openly gay star ...
Yes, but I am finally already become the "Openly gay singer" as they say ... I did not choose, it's done alone. I just wanted to sing, not necessarily represent an entire community. But at the same time, I'm very comfortable with all that, I never feel obligated to apologize or justify myself. I did not do it. And it's great that young people are inspired by my background and it gives them courage, seeing that I do not hang your head and I'm not hiding. So yes I hope it helps, but it's not really my main goal. My goal for me is to entertain people, to be a showman.

You love the provocative and sometimes push the limits of what people are used to seeing ...
Totally! And you know why? Because I think it's hilarious! And each time there are people to take it so seriously, damn ... It's a bit kitsch but it's the pop! We are here to have a good time and be subversive is also part of entertainment. I do not know what happened in this business but I say we lost something in some way and should just relax a bit ... All I do is always with a smile and a wink and mostly the fans understand me then ...

There's Adam Lambert provocative and sexy Fever or For Your Entertainment, but there is also the most fragile Soaked, Sleepwalker or Aftermath... What face is good?
The two (laughs)! It's all me. I think that right now the artists come and go as fast because every time you listen to their debut album, you can almost hear the same thing ... I do not want to end up like that, I do not want to be the story of a single tube. And this is one of the things I'm proud with my album, it shows that many aspects of my personality: hyper sensitive side, the sexual side, the side a little clown and also the rebel ... I am a human being, I feel a lot of things so far to get them out.

You keep a very intense contact with your fans, especially on Twitter. Do you need their feedback, this link?
I get quite a return on what I do is true and I like that. But mostly I try to read what they have to tell me in general. I think Twitter has become a way to communicate directly with my fans. It is a way to tell them "Ok here it comes from me and not a press release". It's more authentic. There was a time when I was still a little disturbed by that, it's true ... But I think I found the way to go about it and also when I have the right slip away. Sometimes it's hard, you're finally a rest day, you walk in the streets and suddenly someone recognizes you. In general, I love it because it makes me happy that they tell me they love what I do. Now it can also turn taking pictures, signing tons of stuff and then you realize that in fact some just want to change their Facebook profile picture above my head (laughs). It has nothing to do with my music. For me it's still super weird. But that does not put me angry at all and 9 out of 10 people I meet are fantastic.

I have an anecdote for you. Do you know that some in Europe have long known you for a reason that has nothing to do with music? DuringAmerican Idol, we asked you who was your inspiration for your haircut at the time ...
Oh my god (he explodes with laughter)! Bill Kaulitz! Of course I remember!

You doubted you reactions it would generate?
It's funny, frankly. The guy has a great style, it is very pretty. That's all, and some fans of Tokio Hotel were so angry against me. Unbelievable. And then it turned into a war between my fans and theirs, with "Adam copy Bill! No, it was Bill that copies Adam!". But no copy! It just tastes like: we love both black, a little rock style, fashion ... There are tons of people who dress like us, only they are not all famous musicians and ... And then prefers girls right? Honestly, I am among those who think that we must respect the way people identify themselves. If he says he likes girls, so it's like this. I just find that someone seems to be super interesting is all ... After this story has taken incredible proportions. It is still not the only two types to put mascara ... And somewhere, is to forget our past, because in the 70s and 80s there were many followers of glam rock, androgyny ... Now the men take more risks ... Bill and me, what was the most in common is the eyeliner ... Our voices are completely different, our music is completely different and we do not like.

You're already preparing your second album and you'll also go out in the coming days a few mini CD audio tracks ...
Yes, I have some ideas for the next album, but I have not really started working. I first want to take a break and recharge the batteries. But I love that people feel are in demand of my next projects is very motivating. I still think at times we need to know to pull back a little light. Your back becomes even stronger in every way. But I will not go too long, do not worry! I just really want to spend more time on this album than the first we had to make just three months. Finally, we did very well out but this time I need to sit down a little. And then for the next album, the release date will be the same for all countries, this time! So get ready to see me return to Europe soon!

Interview by Carole Bouchard

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