Today's guest is one of the great voices of his generation — the theater kid who auditioned for American Idol with Michael Jackson, watched the judges' faces fall, and demanded a second song because he'd just quit his job and had no health insurance. But his real story isn't the voice. It's the game — the one Freddie Mercury wrote about, the one that picks your singles, writes your headlines, and decides who you are before you do. And The Writer Is... Adam Lambert! In this episode of And The Writer Is, we go deep on: The AMA kiss that blew up a $500,000 single launch — "everyone was going, oh shit" Quitting Wicked — and losing his health insurance — to audition, then refusing the judges' no Why Kara DioGuardi 'busted his balls all season' What Brian May says "Play the Game" was really about Signed before the finale even aired: why losing Idol never mattered and much more. Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music. Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris A special thank you to our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. 0:00 Intro 1:09 The album is out — why self-titled, "first name basis" 2:35 Meeting Pete Nappi through a pandemic song still in the vault 3:39 "Am I Okay" — written one week after the breakup 6:02 Singles made him "crazy" — the label picks that flopped: "I told you so" 7:04 Leaning into what fans expect vs. challenging them 8:16 Proud of the flops, indifferent to some hits 9:34 Theater kids: every album is a character, every record a world 11:28 The dystopian cover — "I want it blasted into the future" 13:55 Adam Lambert or Freddie Mercury? "I feel like it's me" 15:35 Coffee with Freddie — what Brian says "Play the Game" was really about 16:56 "The music industry is a big old game, isn't it?" 17:43 A college-DJ dad, a Sly Stone mom, and a kid screaming through the house 19:46 The Fiddler note where everybody went "oh, wow" 21:03 San Diego to LA at 19 — math knocked him off the college path 23:00 Weed, poetry, and GarageBand 25:49 Wicked: six months, burnt out, and a new plan 29:20 Inside the Idol machine — two camps, two agendas 32:49 The Burning Man epiphany that vanquished the fear 34:39 No job, no insurance, and judges who didn't get Rock With You 35:11 "I didn't really ask" — the second song that changed everything 36:22 Why Idol can't break artists anymore 38:04 Honey water: the whiskey story behind Kara DioGuardi's grudge 41:21 Justin Timberlake tells him to remake A Night at the Opera 42:06 Losing the finale — already signed before it aired 47:20 The blog photos drop: "Yeah, that's me. Get over it." 51:53 The AMA kiss and the $500,000 single 53:22 What Do You Want From Me — the P!nk demo 56:00 Singing uncredited on Avicii's "Lay Me Down" 59:03 "It takes a village — bring them with you" 60:26 Max Martin: "When you get on stage, I don't have to worry" 61:26 How Queen actually made the call 62:07 Trespassing hits #1 — a first he didn't know he'd made 62:48 The poster-child years: "the headline is that I'm gay, and no one's talking about the music" 66:11 Trespassing, the "bipolar album" — his half vs. the label's half 67:20 Two months with the Wolf Cousins — why his songs didn't make the cut 70:05 The Ghost Town gamble — "you've got to do something drastic" 72:44 Songs with no home — "throwing my ideas into space" 76:03 Velvet dies to Covid, two weeks in 76:52 A Telefunken, YouTube tutorials, and teaching himself Logic 77:51 The secret musical: 20 songs written over Zoom 82:45 Identity vs. brand — "the personality precedes the skill" 83:35 Songwriters don't get paid for their time — the union conversation 87:37 Giving his co-writers master points — "it's just classy, man" 88:28 Where the stage presence actually comes from 90:13 The hardest part of fame 93:06 "I nitpick the negative" — showing the uglier side for the first time 96:28 Is Ozempic killing LA nightlife? Credits: Hosted by Ross Golan Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad Edited by Jad Saad Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
