{"id":782627,"date":"2026-05-08T19:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782627\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T19:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:39:14","slug":"adam-lambert-on-new-single-eat-u-alive-and-forthcoming-album-adam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782627\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Lambert on New Single ‘Eat U Alive’ and Forthcoming Album ‘Adam’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAdam Lambert<\/a> sounds carnivorous, and more than a little carnal, in his new single, \u201cEat U Alive,\u201d which just came out Friday. But what he\u2019s hungered after most in his recent music-making is the spirit he thinks best thrived in the \u201990s and early 2000s, when there was an easy crossover between electronic music and alternative rock. He\u2019s aiming to have that same kind of fruitful blend be the basis of his sixth full-length album, \u201cAdam,\u201d which will arrive July 10.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s basically a rock song with electronic production,\u201d Lambert says of \u201cEat U Alive.\u201d He admits that\u2019s partly a youthful fixation, given his own coming-of-age in the \u201990s. Fans who first experienced him doing more rock-oriented material, via \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d or as a Queen frontman or just in some of his early records, may embrace \u201cEat U Alive\u201d and \u201cAdam\u201d marking a turn toward the rockier. it will strike a significantly different tone than the clubby \u201cAfters\u201d EP or his covers album, \u201cHigh Drama.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLambert 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 \u201cCabaret<\/a>\u201d on Broadway and \u201cJesus Christ Superstar<\/a>\u201d at the Hollywood Bowl, and discussing how a change in coasts has altered his musical framework. <\/p>\n

\n\tIs \u201cEat You Alive\u201d the first single because it\u2019s indicative of what you want people to expect from the whole \u201cAdam\u201d album?<\/strong> Or is it more to do with just feeling like a great track?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI mean, there\u2019s definitely a few different facets of my musical identity on the album, but there\u2019s 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, \u201cHow 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?\u201d I think we nailed it. And \u201cEat You Alive,\u201d it\u2019s just a banger of a song. I mean, it\u2019s basically a rock song done with electronic production, which I was so excited about. And lyrically, it\u2019s a bolder way of saying, \u201cHey, I have a lot of love to give.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSome people might say lust, with all the hunger imagery, but love sounds good, too.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHowever you want to put it! It\u2019s just a more dramatic way of saying all that.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the announcement you mention a specific period: \u201990s, early 2000s. Do you feel like that was some kind of peak for the kind of mixture you\u2019re talking about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I think in the \u201990s there were so many songs and bands and artists that found this sweet spot in the intersection of electronic and alternative rock music \u2014 it was such a great blend. Looking back to the late \u201990s, that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tBringing in Pete Nappi as your executive producer \u2014 was there a reason you were pulled to work with him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMany years ago I did a writing session with him, and at the time I was working on my album \u201cVelvet.\u201d My whole collection of music at that point was all kind of in this \u201970s\/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, \u201cYou know what? I think this is the direction.\u201d 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 \u201cAfters,\u201d called \u201cFace,\u201d 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\u2019s coming next.<\/p>\n

\n\tWill you be touring behind this album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, hopefully. I mean, I want to see how people like it first. That\u2019s important. Let\u2019s see if if everyone\u2019s into it as much as I am! I would love to do some shows. I can\u2019t wait to sing some of these songs live \u2014 the whole album, , it\u2019s 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\u2019s a couple different acts to it. It\u2019s kind of a two-act piece.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd the other cool thing \u2014 I don\u2019t know how conscious we were of doing it, but what I realized once the album was finished \u2014 is that there are almost cousins of the different tracks in other parts of my catalog. Once I put together a live show, it\u2019ll be exciting to pair certain songs up in a setlist, like, \u201cOK, this is almost the 2026 version of this song from my first or second album.\u201d I hope fans make that connection because I think it\u2019ll excite them.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen 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?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tA 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\u2019s two different emotional sides to it, and obviously the sonics match the emotion.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think thematically, lyrically, the thing that I wanted to explore was this razor-thin edge in-between something that\u2019s a positive, healthy experience and something that might be challenging or negative. That\u2019s life, you know? You wake up, you might have a really great experience or be just enjoying a relationship, and then sometimes it\u2019s the complete opposite. If it\u2019s 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 \u201cOK, now I\u2019m overdoing it,\u201d or, \u201cNow I\u2019m sad because of my habits.\u201d 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\u2019s cognitive dissonance. Two things can be true at once.<\/p>\n

\n\tEspecially with the state of the world right now, it\u2019s tricky. It can be very overwhelming, all the stuff that\u2019s going on, and I\u2019ve had conversations with friends that are like, \u201cSometimes I feel guilty that I\u2019m even going out or having fun or laughing.\u201d We need that; as humans, we need to balance it all out. But it\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s not always easy for our egos and our psyche to admit that there\u2019s something about ourselves that\u2019s 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 \u2014like, radical self-acceptance \u2014 and not always trying to be a people-pleaser or perfectionist, but actually just being a realist.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeople 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\u2019s not insecurity, it\u2019s just recognizing different parts of yourself that come out at different times.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI think you\u2019re right. I mean, I always try to put on a good face for the public. I guess that\u2019s the people pleaser in me, that\u2019s the performer in me. I\u2019ve always tried to be the best version of myself. None of it\u2019s false, it\u2019s just I\u2019m pushing one part of my personality for people to see. And underneath that surface there\u2019s a lot more going on. I\u2019ve had my good days and my bad days. I\u2019ve had challenges and my own types of struggles and ups and downs with relationships and, I mean, I\u2019m human. I think I\u2019m 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\u2019s important, especially because, again, we all deal with that, so hopefully that creates a sense of unity. There\u2019s a catharsis in sharing your challenges with people.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the album cover imagery, which Nick Knight did, there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah. It\u2019s a little bit of metal, a little bit of stone. I feel like, especially in today\u2019s world, you kind of have to develop a bit of an armor. Especially if you\u2019re somebody like me who\u2019s 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\u2019t built yesterday. And neither was I. I\u2019ve been doing this for a minute, and I have learned a lot, and I\u2019m still standing strong. That\u2019s a part of this character in this album, too \u2014 strength and perseverance.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have an activist side, but obviously a very well-developed showman side. The public likes people who can embody all those sides.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFor sure. I think with this album, it was exciting to dive deeper into some of those darker spaces, because again, they\u2019re 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, \u201cCabaret\u201d and \u201cJesus Christ Superstar,\u201d being so dramatic\u2026 You know, Judas isn\u2019t smiling the whole time. He\u2019s going through it. And in \u201cCabaret,\u201d there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust 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\u2019s such a polarization in the public right now. You have to pick sides, it feels like, and it\u2019s a tricky thing to navigate, and people are frustrated. And I think to make a whole album that was all escapist, happy, happy, happy \u2014 that part is also necessary; I think that people need that as medicine right now \u2014 but I think just as important is to tap into the harder-to-sing-about places and moments. It\u2019s good medicine either way.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of \u201cJesus Christ Superstar\u201d at the Hollywood Bowl last year, which was just such a phenomenal experience, there was a lot of FOMO. People who didn\u2019t get to see it and they wished it was going to be filmed. But it was \u201ca had to be there\u201d sort of moment. What\u2019s 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, it\u2019s ephemeral, it\u2019s 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\u2019t really know why or how, but\u2026 Well, Cynthia (Erivo)\u2019s a big reason why. She\u2019s pretty magical. I just think we tapped into something and people responded. It felt really pure in its intention. That show\u2019s been around for a long time, and people know the music \u2014 it\u2019s 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\u2019s hearts and minds.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnything else to point out about the album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOne 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\u2019ve been in L.A. for 25 years; that\u2019s been home. And growing up in Southern California, I was a California kid. I\u2019ve always experienced New York in little bits; I\u2019d travel here for work or to visit, and I\u2019ve always had a good time. But when I was doing \u201cCabaret,\u201d midway through the run, I just thought, \u201cI think it\u2019s time for a change.\u201d So I sold my house in L.A., and I have a place here now on the Lower East Side. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo it does feel like \u201ca New York album\u201d to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt does, it really does. The first track on the album is definitely a love letter to downtown Manhattan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Lambert sounds carnivorous, and more than a little carnal, in his new single, \u201cEat U Alive,\u201d which…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":782628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[66301,169105,171,66308,975,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-782627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-adam-lambert","9":"tag-cabaret","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-jesus-christ-superstar","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116540654830011858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}