Last night (May 31), music superstar Adam Lambert paid a visit to the London base of LGBT youth centre Mosaic to host a talk for its members. Mosaic is a group which aims to support, educate and inspire LGBT youth by providing a safe environment where people can make friends and learn more about the community. This is in the form of weekly youth sessions, annual summer camps, cultural events, performing arts programmes and more.
During the short talk and Q&A, Adam discussed a number of topics including how to broach ‘coming out’, his experience as a famous person coming out, the backlash he received, being a positive LGBT influence, and how things are for the LGBT community in 2018.
We first fell in love with Adam after he stole our hearts on American Idol back in 2009. Not only is he a phenomenal talent, but he is also a positive LGBT role model who always uses his platform to make a difference within the community. However, as with many other artists, Adam was subject to backlash early on in his career. Speaking about this, he said: “There have been moments early on, where I felt I needed to prove something, and make a point that wasn’t necessarily a popular. By principle, I believed in it – but then you have to balance it out, it’s a business and I have to be palatable and commercial. I guess I had a struggle in finding the balance – but I don’t have any regrets.”
Adam added that after American Idol came to an end, his sexuality seemed to be the main topic of conversation when it came to media outlets. “After American Idol for a year it was all anyone wanted to talk about in the media,” he said. “Part of me was like this is cool, this is important and I’m comfortable with my sexuality. But it also became weird because I was like I also sing, and I have a record that I’d love you to hear. It was tricky to balance it.”
Whilst Adam shared his personal experiences during the talk, he also gave some advice to the attendees. When asked how to broach ‘coming out’, he said: “I think the best way is to begin communicating, to talk about how it makes you feel. When you own how you are feeling to another person, it always seems to work better and connect deeper in that moment.”
It’s also no secret that Adam is an inspiration to many and he was humbled to be told by one of the guests that he was a huge influence to them. Adam said: “I think it’s beautiful that people see me as an influence. When I first started getting that comment from people, I didn’t really know what to do with it. But then I realised it’s bigger than me, because I was able to mean something to someone that maybe I didn’t have myself. I love that I can bring someone confidence, or encouragement.”
Finally, he also spoke about where the LGBT community stands in 2018. Whilst there has definitely been a positive development over the past few years, the singer acknowledged that there is still a lot to be done.
“Now we’re at a point where other artists are out, and the landscape has changed. Watching the queer movement over the past ten years has been awesome – we’ve come so far, you can see the conversation starting and things are really changing. Making it more than just gay or straight. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel and I’m very proud of that.
“The development of social media and streaming is also why we’re seeing so many more successful queer artists now, because not all decisions are being made by the suits,” Adam added.
“There’s still a lot to be done, but I think it’s up to us to talk about it, get it out in the open, accept everybody no matter where you fall on the spectrum and keep pushing forward.”
Let us know your thoughts on Adam Lambert’s inspiring talk with Mosaic on Twitter @CelebMix