Update: Adam Lambert responds to Aaron Hicklin, via twitter:
Dear Aaron, it’s def not that deep. Chill! Guess ya gotta get attention for the magazine. U too are at the mercy of the marketing machine.
Until we have a meaningful conversation, perhaps you should refrain from projecting your publications’ agenda onto my career.
Well, yeah, but that still doesn’t address he behavior of 19. Does Adam think it’s fine for his publicist to tell reporters not to ask questions that would make the interview “too gay, ” or, “you know, gay-gay”? I can’t imagine he would.
Sure, Out editor, Aaron Hicklin calls out Adam Lambert’s management, 19M in a scathing letter from the editor that accompanies the mag’s special “Out 100” issue.
But that does not negate the detailed and insightful interview with Adam Lambert the magazine has posted on their website.
The journalist who conducted the interview, Shana Naomi Krochmal, has posted a blog up at Popnography you might want to read if you haven’t already:
An excerpt after the jump, but please read the entire post HERE.
Let’s get the most obvious thing out of the way first: Yes, it is totally absurd to imagine that anyone thinks they can somehow control or manage how gay Adam Lambert seems on any given day. You’ve seen him, right? Maybe read an interview with him? That’s exactly what I love about Adam, that in addition to being able to sing his face off (his words), he is defiantly, outrageously campy and queer — and that he seems to have such a sense of humor about it, and a willingness to shake things up.
That said: Despite plenty of back and forth between the magazine and the label about the cover and the photo shoot, I still wasn’t prepared for what happened when I showed up at the 19 Entertainment offices for the interview. I briefly met Adam, and then the publicist and I walked out to the balcony, at which point I was cautioned against making the interview “too gay, ” or, “you know, gay-gay.” Specifically I was discouraged from asking about the March on Washington that upcoming weekend or other political topics. I pointed out the difference between the Advocate, Out’s sister newsmagazine, and Out, which is more broadly a men’s fashion and lifestyle book, but obviously made no promises one way or the other. It was pretty awkward, as if we were discussing two totally different people — an Adam who doesn’t seem to have any real filter when talking about his life or his opinions, and an Adam who could somehow be contained, made safe for mainstream America.
There’s gotta be some major schizophrenia going on behind the scenes at 19M. I believe Hinklin and Krochmal’s accounts, while at the same time, acknowledging, that on the surface, 19 appears to be just fine with Adam, exactly as he is.
Maybe at some point, we’ll get the full story. Perhaps that peek behind the scenes will come from Adam himself. But I don’t expect it now–Adam’s focus needs to stay on that all-important debut album that’s just about to drop.
The second part of the interview is as good as the first. Out-of-bounds fans, loss of privacy as a trade-off for realizing his dreams, balancing love with his career goals, are a few of the topics discussed. Read part 2 HERE.
