The gays and the girls have always made a phenomenal alliance, but when Adam Lambert covered Queen’s “I Want To Break Free” with an all-black, all-female rock band live at the YouTube Space in New York, the result was simply amazing.
Sporting silver platform boots and a black pinstripe suit, Adam’s rendition packed mountainous levels of glitz and glam into his dynamic voice. He spun the song’s melodies with authentic and respectful twists and tones, making the 80s hit burst back into life.
Adam (aged 38 at the time) performed this amazing live cover to promote his fourth studio album, “Velvet” — a record brimming with power anthems, funk, and “butter melting” vocals. But if you’ve been following Adam’s unforeseeable rise to stardom, this exceptional Queen cover comes as no surprise.
Despite failing to snatch the American Idol crown while it was within arm’s reach, Adam later told Entertainment Weekly, “I knew I was going to make an album whether or not I won,” — referencing his debut record, “For Your Entertainment,” which carried Adam’s highest-charting solo single to date, “Whataya Want From Me.”
His second record, 2012’s “Trespassing,” debuted at #1 on the US album charts, marking the first #1 album from an openly gay man in Billboard history. But his performance as Queen’s fill-in vocalist at the MTV European Music Awards in 2011 is what truly brought Adam’s name into the spotlight. Performing “The Show Must Go On,” “We Are the Champions,” and “We Will Rock You,” Adam’s voice hit hard with Queen fans and the band’s surviving members, who invited him to perform in a mini-European tour the following year.
Ever since, Adam’s been shaking the earth as Queen’s “official” new vocalist, keeping the classic rock hits alive for the next generation. In an interview with Esquire, Adam explained how he tackles filling the boots of one of the world’s most beloved rockstars, Freddie Mercury, revealing, “I don’t want to imitate, copy, or mimic; I think that would be sort of tacky, and it’d be sort of disrespectful to the fans […] I’m not here to do an impersonation. I’m here to make sure these songs are still heard, to keep the songs in a live space.”
Most recently, Adam and Queen drummer Roger Taylor played a part in opening an LGBTQ+ nightclub in West Hollywood named The Wild. He’s also been announced as an all-new celebrity judge on The Voice Australia, bringing his career full-circle from TV talent star to star judge. With 1.8M Instagram followers and 2.2M views on his YouTube Space live cover alone, Adam clearly isn’t letting his name wither into a 2010s flashback; he’s keeping rock music ever-relevant with an energy that drives lasting respect.