Adam Lambert sounds carnivorous, and more than a little carnal, in his new single, “Eat U Alive,” which just came out Friday. But what he’s hungered after most in his recent music-making is the spirit he thinks best thrived in the ’90s and early 2000s, when there was an easy crossover between electronic music and alternative rock. He’s aiming to have that same kind of fruitful blend be the basis of his sixth full-length album, “Adam,” which will arrive July 10.
“It’s basically a rock song with electronic production,” Lambert says of “Eat U Alive.” He admits that’s partly a youthful fixation, given his own coming-of-age in the ’90s. Fans who first experienced him doing more rock-oriented material, via “American Idol” or as a Queen frontman or just in some of his early records, may embrace “Eat U Alive” and “Adam” marking a turn toward the rockier. it will strike a significantly different tone than the clubby “Afters” EP or his covers album, “High Drama.”
Lambert talked about the shifting focus of the new material in a conversation with Variety, also landing on his recent theatrical experiences playing a lead in “Cabaret” on Broadway and “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl, and discussing how a change in coasts has altered his musical framework.
Is “Eat You Alive” the first single because it’s indicative of what you want people to expect from the whole “Adam” album? Or is it more to do with just feeling like a great track?
I mean, there’s definitely a few different facets of my musical identity on the album, but there’s definitely also a strong thread of alternative rock-leaning, heavy, very metallic-sounding production. That was something that I was really excited to just have sort of discovered with my executive producer, Pete (Nappi). We were like, “How do we straddle all these different sorts of influences and parts of my musicality? How do we funnel that into one feeling, one sound, one world?” I think we nailed it. And “Eat You Alive,” it’s just a banger of a song. I mean, it’s basically a rock song done with electronic production, which I was so excited about. And lyrically, it’s a bolder way of saying, “Hey, I have a lot of love to give.”
Some people might say lust, with all the hunger imagery, but love sounds good, too.
However you want to put it! It’s just a more dramatic way of saying all that.
In the announcement you mention a specific period: ’90s, early 2000s. Do you feel like that was some kind of peak for the kind of mixture you’re talking about?
Yeah, I think in the ’90s there were so many songs and bands and artists that found this sweet spot in the intersection of electronic and alternative rock music — it was such a great blend. Looking back to the late ’90s, that’s when I was a teenager and music was making its first big sort of an adult impression on me. Before I started the writing process, I was going back and kept listening to old playlists and bands and acts that inspired me then, and I just had this aching nostalgia for it all, so I definitely pulled that in as major references for this project. It was a good era for music.
Bringing in Pete Nappi as your executive producer — was there a reason you were pulled to work with him?
Many years ago I did a writing session with him, and at the time I was working on my album “Velvet.” My whole collection of music at that point was all kind of in this ’70s/lo-fi kind of space. The song that I did with Pete was not something that would fit into that, but I loved it so much that we put it on the shelf. I listened to it again before I started this process and was like, “You know what? I think this is the direction.” We had already kind of embarked on this sort of industrial/alternative kind of sound. He ended up working on a song with me that I put out two years ago on my EP “Afters,” called “Face,” that I really love. I put it at the very end of that EP because I knew I wanted to do more with Pete, so it was like: This is what’s coming next.
Will you be touring behind this album?
Yeah, hopefully. I mean, I want to see how people like it first. That’s important. Let’s see if if everyone’s into it as much as I am! I would love to do some shows. I can’t wait to sing some of these songs live — the whole album, , it’s gonna be so much fun. I feel like the exciting thing about the album is that it has a world sonically around it, but there’s a couple different acts to it. It’s kind of a two-act piece.
And the other cool thing — I don’t know how conscious we were of doing it, but what I realized once the album was finished — is that there are almost cousins of the different tracks in other parts of my catalog. Once I put together a live show, it’ll be exciting to pair certain songs up in a setlist, like, “OK, this is almost the 2026 version of this song from my first or second album.” I hope fans make that connection because I think it’ll excite them.
When you say you think of the album as having kind of a two-part structure, is that to do more with a contrast in musical styles, or thematically?
A little bit of both. Sonically, we have a lot of songs that land in this darker, moodier, heavy, melancholy, shadowy kind of place. And then there are songs that are a lot more dreamy and a little bit more positive, more hopeful, sort of euphoric. So there’s two different emotional sides to it, and obviously the sonics match the emotion.
I think thematically, lyrically, the thing that I wanted to explore was this razor-thin edge in-between something that’s a positive, healthy experience and something that might be challenging or negative. That’s life, you know? You wake up, you might have a really great experience or be just enjoying a relationship, and then sometimes it’s the complete opposite. If it’s romance or attraction, it can be really beautiful, and then ever so quickly it can tip into obsession or possession or frustration. Or the same thing with going out and having a good time with your friends and having a few drinks. That can be an escape that we all love and need, and then it can ever so quickly go into “OK, now I’m overdoing it,” or, “Now I’m sad because of my habits.” I tried to lay the album out sequence-wise where it goes back and forth between those two sides of the same coin. What do they say? It’s cognitive dissonance. Two things can be true at once.
Especially with the state of the world right now, it’s tricky. It can be very overwhelming, all the stuff that’s going on, and I’ve had conversations with friends that are like, “Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m even going out or having fun or laughing.” We need that; as humans, we need to balance it all out. But it’s not always easy to do. So I think the album reflects that state a little bit, of trying to find the good despite the bad, and also just accepting what’s not great. As far as it relates to me personally, looking in the mirror and really honestly seeing all parts of yourself is not always the easiest thing to do. It’s not always easy for our egos and our psyche to admit that there’s something about ourselves that’s not great. Or if you messed up or you made a mistake, you have to own it. I think another part of growing up is self-acceptance —like, radical self-acceptance — and not always trying to be a people-pleaser or perfectionist, but actually just being a realist.
People who are fans of yours are not going to naturally be thinking of insecurity first, when there is this bravado you project. But maybe it’s not insecurity, it’s just recognizing different parts of yourself that come out at different times.
I think you’re right. I mean, I always try to put on a good face for the public. I guess that’s the people pleaser in me, that’s the performer in me. I’ve always tried to be the best version of myself. None of it’s false, it’s just I’m pushing one part of my personality for people to see. And underneath that surface there’s a lot more going on. I’ve had my good days and my bad days. I’ve had challenges and my own types of struggles and ups and downs with relationships and, I mean, I’m human. I think I’m becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of letting the cracks show a little bit more, and being a little bit more unfiltered with my fans and my audience. I think it’s important, especially because, again, we all deal with that, so hopefully that creates a sense of unity. There’s a catharsis in sharing your challenges with people.
With the album cover imagery, which Nick Knight did, there’s a kind of an iron man look there, so maybe thst is about presenting one side of yourself visually and then people getting another side on the inside, too.
Yeah. It’s a little bit of metal, a little bit of stone. I feel like, especially in today’s world, you kind of have to develop a bit of an armor. Especially if you’re somebody like me who’s a queer artist in the public space. I mean, it is not necessarily always a walk in the park. I think the cool thing about the cover is that you see that some of the stone is kind of cracked or chipped or distressed. It wasn’t built yesterday. And neither was I. I’ve been doing this for a minute, and I have learned a lot, and I’m still standing strong. That’s a part of this character in this album, too — strength and perseverance.
You have an activist side, but obviously a very well-developed showman side. The public likes people who can embody all those sides.
For sure. I think with this album, it was exciting to dive deeper into some of those darker spaces, because again, they’re not as familiar maybe to the audience. But I think one of the other things is that the two theatrical experiences that I had over the past two years, “Cabaret” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” being so dramatic… You know, Judas isn’t smiling the whole time. He’s going through it. And in “Cabaret,” there’s this really amazing sort of like dichotomy between Act 1 and Act 2, where Act 1 is really silly and raunchy, and then Act 2 gets very heavy with the exploration of what evil the Nazis brought to Germany during that era. So, getting to tap into sort of these darker themes and spots in my person, I think, again, it felt cathartic. It felt like I was sort of like blowing off some steam.
Just like so many of us, like when I look at the state of the country and the world right now, I get sad, I get frustrated. You can feel a little helpless; you can feel a little bit defeated. There’s such a polarization in the public right now. You have to pick sides, it feels like, and it’s a tricky thing to navigate, and people are frustrated. And I think to make a whole album that was all escapist, happy, happy, happy — that part is also necessary; I think that people need that as medicine right now — but I think just as important is to tap into the harder-to-sing-about places and moments. It’s good medicine either way.
Speaking of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl last year, which was just such a phenomenal experience, there was a lot of FOMO. People who didn’t get to see it and they wished it was going to be filmed. But it was “a had to be there” sort of moment. What’s it like to do something that is kind of legendary but also really fleeting? Maybe all theater feels that way, however long a run is.
Yeah, it’s ephemeral, it’s not permanent. It was pretty magical, I have to say. It was three shows, and two weeks of rehearsal. Thankfully, I was really familiar with the music, so I was comfortable in the material right away. It really seemed to capture some energy. I don’t really know why or how, but… Well, Cynthia (Erivo)’s a big reason why. She’s pretty magical. I just think we tapped into something and people responded. It felt really pure in its intention. That show’s been around for a long time, and people know the music — it’s been done a lot. So to try to find the most honest way of presenting it, I feel like we achieved that. I feel like we cut through and really got to people’s hearts and minds.
Anything else to point out about the album?
One other thing about the album that kind of goes along with my evolution is that I made a big change last year and decided to move to New York, permanently. I’ve been in L.A. for 25 years; that’s been home. And growing up in Southern California, I was a California kid. I’ve always experienced New York in little bits; I’d travel here for work or to visit, and I’ve always had a good time. But when I was doing “Cabaret,” midway through the run, I just thought, “I think it’s time for a change.” So I sold my house in L.A., and I have a place here now on the Lower East Side. It’s a big, big shift, changing coasts after this long. I think a lot of that kind of lined up with some of these new songs and new sounds. It was definitely inspired by the city.
So it does feel like “a New York album” to you?
It does, it really does. The first track on the album is definitely a love letter to downtown Manhattan.
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