Adam Lambert feels liberated.The platinum-selling singer-songwriter, 42, rose to fame on the eighth season of “American Idol.” He climbed the charts with his 2009 debut album “For Your Entertainment,” and has entertained millions as the touring singer with the band Queen.

Next is an announcement to kick off Pride Month: Lambert is releasing his first body of original work since 2020. It’s an extended play called “Afters,” out July 19. He will also headline WeHo Pride in West Hollywood on May 31.“Over the past couple years, during the pandemic, we had downtime and it was a strange time for everybody,” Lambert tells USA TODAY from his Los Angeles home. “But I did get to meet my current love. I'm in a relationship that I'm really happy in and it makes me feel young. It makes me feel alive.“We've become known for having really good after parties here at my house. We love socializing. We love hosting. We love having food and drinks for everybody and playing great music. People love it. They love coming over. And I was just really inspired by that world.”

The first taste of “Afters” hit inconspicuously. Lambert released a song called “Wet Dream” on his SoundCloud without any announcement but certainly to his fans’ delight. Sonically, the track is indicative of the EP. Lambert uses the adjectives “electronic, sexy, naughty” and “a little steamy” when describing the body of work.“When you go to an after party, there are no rules,” he says. “There are rules when you go to the club or a restaurant or a bar. At an after party, it's very free. And that is what inspired this music.”

Lambert has seemingly lived his life in the public eye unabashedly but that doesn’t mean he didn’t compromise behind the scenes. When the artist Pink decided “Whataya Want From Me” wouldn’t work for her, the song went to Lambert. His record label and management were concerned that radio stations wouldn’t play the song if Lambert sang the original lyric, “He messed me up,” so Lambert changed “he” to “it.” At the time, Lambert was less concerned about the pronoun in the lyric and more hopeful that if he had a hit song, it would help other queer artists get representation.   

Almost 15 years later, Lambert rereleased the song with the original pronoun.“It's interesting because I go back to my very first single that I put out (‘For Your Entertainment’) and we made a really dark, kind of sexy video. It was very charged,” he recalls. “And then I did the performance on the (“American Music Awards”), which is sort of infamous now, where it was a very sexually charged performance. And I got a big slap on the wrist from people that complained and whatnot. 

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“Very quickly, I felt like I had to sort of dial back certain impulses that I had creatively, in ways I like to express myself in order to stay in the game. Which is exactly why we shifted that pronoun with ‘Whataya Want From Me.’ 

“This many years later, I feel like I've earned the right to sing about whatever the heck I want. I feel like I've earned the right to make music for people like me and people that understand people like me. And I'm not really concerned with anybody that doesn't like it.”

Heading into Pride, Lambert is cognizant of the political challenges that the LGBTQ+ community faces. But he also believes the pushback is happening because the community shines “so brightly and proudly.”

“I think people are scared of confidence and scared of pride and scared of what they don't understand,” he explains. I feel sorry for those that are controlled by that kind of fear.

“Love is beautiful. It's great to celebrate each other. It's great to feel good about who and what you are. There's no victim in that. The only time that (thought creates) a victim is when people hate you for it.”