Adam Lambert reflects on being part of the wave of queer artists who helped change the music industry

I’ve been in this business now for over 10 years and it is weird. It’s exciting. It’s f*cking surreal. It’s sometimes challenging, sometimes frustrating—especially at the beginning, you know, being a queer guy going into the music industry, which at the time was not necessarily open arms for gay men. It’s been interesting. 

And I feel like I haven’t lost my drive yet. I feel like there’s a fight that exists in me to try to prove the point that you can be a queer artist and have a space and affect other young queer people and give them inspiration—or non-queer people.

In the beginning, when I got into it, it was nice knowing that I was a part of a wave of artists that were sort of pushing. And I look back fondly on that journey that we’ve all made, and the fact that we’ve now changed the music industry—there’s a bunch of us. But we’ve collectively shifted the landscape.

Adam Lambert speaking with Queerty about his career post-American Idol and the ways the music industry has changed for LGBTQ+ artists.