Beatweek.com launches reader forums: discuss music, iPhone+iPad, entertainment, pop culture, and more

Beatweek’s reader forums launched earlier today as the place to discuss, music, technology, entertainment, pop culture, and anything else that comes along. Opportunities for discussion include everything from talking up your favorite artists and products, to buying advice, to tech support. Several hundred post have already been made on a variety of topics, so feel free to join the conversation at Beatweek.com/forums.

Beatweek Magazine #77: Jordin Sparks, Lights, iPhone 4 cases, laptop stands

In this seventy-seventh issue of Beatweek Magazine:

• Jordin Sparks cover story interview

• iPhone 4 cases and portable laptop stands reviewed

• Lights talks about her new acoustic album

• Latest top apps for iPad and iPhone

• classic interview with guitar legend Steve Vai

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Beatweek Magazine #76: Allison Iraheta, iPhone 4, We Are The Fallen, The Band Perry

In this seventy-sixth issue of Beatweek Magazine:

• Allison Iraheta: cover story interview with the future of rock and roll

• comprehensive hands-on review of the new iPhone 4, plus iPhone 4 cases

• interviews with Carly Smithson of We Are The Fallen, and The Band Perry

• Twitter tips and bargain apps

• classic interview with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello

• and much more

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Why I left Los Angeles – and why I’m going back (eventually)

Early this year I moved to small town nowheresville with a specific goal in mind: spend twelve to fourteen hours day locked in my office, without distraction, and turn Beatweek.com into a successful separate entity from Beatweek Magazine. Mission accomplished, more or less. It may or may not yet be apparent to you, but it’s at that stage where eighty percent of the work has been done and twenty percent of the results are externally noticeable. But at the moment that’s not what I’m in a mood to write about.

On a personal level, I miss Los Angeles and I’m ready to go back. From a professional standpoint, I know there’s another couple months of grunt work yet to be done before I’ll be happy with the results, and there’s no point in moving back to the big city until I’m at a stage where I’m actually in a position to take advantage of it. If I packed up and went back to LA today, I’d spend my first couple months there just as thoroughly locked in my office as if I were still here in the middle of nowhere, and there’s be no point in that. So if nothing else, my revelation that I’m done with small town life for the long term, before I’m quite ready to abandon it from a pragmatic sense, has given me some time to think about plotting my return to the real world.

At the moment I’m torn between hammering out the rest of what I’ve got to do here and then heading back west in what would probably be September – or instead taking a summer break (going somewhere interesting just for kicks) and then coming back and finishing things up here in the fall before finally heading west at the end of the year. It’s all still hypothetical until I get a little closer. But I know that many of you have been asking where I disappeared to and whether I’m planning on re-entering the land of the living any time soon, so there you have it.

iPhone 4 review: hands on with FaceTime, display, camera and more

“It’s the biggest leap since the original iPhone.”

Steve Jobs is right. Thankfully, there was no overuse in the words ‘magical’ and ‘revolutionary’ this time around, but one thing is for sure – this iPhone is a complete game changer to the iPhone line.

Design

Let’s go over the build first. This thing has two pieces of glass that serve as the screen/front display as well as the backside. Jobs claims that this glass is 30 times stronger than sapphires, so it is pretty good at being scratch resistant. I’ve been using mine for 4 days now, normal use, and no scratches. But also keep in mind that I have my phone separate from everything else (as should you, really).

Despite my lust for a white iPhone originally, I decided to just deal with a black one because I wanted to have it first, and frankly, I couldn’t wait until the second half of July. I’ve noticed that the black model doesn’t really show fingerprints as much as the previous models, and if it does, it’s easy to clean – I found that this screen as well as the iPad screen can get cleaned simply by wiping with the bottom of your palm. However, dust can show up much more, but that’s easy to clean too.

The stainless steel band that surrounds the exterior of the phone is just a gorgeous design, despite the reception issues that it is reportedly causing (though a software fix may be out soon to address this). Because of the unibody, square design of the phone, it felt a bit weird to hold compared to the previous three generations (I’ve had them all). But after a while, it felt much more natural to hold in the hand, because it didn’t have the curved back of the 3G and 3GS, though I still believe that the first generation’s back casing is the best.

I felt that the glass on the front and back made it a little weird to hold, but surprisingly it isn’t so slippery anymore. I believe that the stainless steel antenna band helps alleviate this problem.

The design of the iPhone has undergone a very thorough change, and for the most part, it’s for the better. I just wish that Apple did not make the back with an easily breakable material and did not have problems with the antenna.

I would believe that it would still be wise to invest in a Bumper or a case since the phone is made of a very easily-breakable material – glass. Better safe than sorry.

But the new redesign of the hardware is a welcome change – since it’s the “biggest leap since the original iPhone”, it would be wise to start it off with a brand-new design. For better or worse, a new look doesn’t seem to hurt the most popular smartphone on the market.

Camera

The camera on this thing is a fantastic upgrade from the 3GS. 5 megapixels, LED flash, and illumination sensor to help take pictures in low light. It’s the iPhoneographer’s dream.

Picture quality of the photos I’ve taken is great, the colors seem just about right and nothing is really too over-saturated or washed out. It captures the scene as it was intended to be. Although if a scene is getting some parts washed out or blown out (such as the sky against a foreground), the tap-to-focus that originated from the 3GS is still there so such problems can be easily fixed. There is also 5x digital zoom, available because of iOS 4, that will activate once the screen is tapped (tap-to-focus).

The LED flash is controlled by the on-screen controls in the upper left corner (On, Auto, Off) and is easy as pie to use. Since the iPhone 4 also comes with a front-facing VGA camera, there is also a button in the top right to switch to the front facing and back again. The Camera app will also remember your settings the next time you go back in the application.

Video recording on the iPhone 4 is shot in beautiful 720p HD resolution. There are still the basic video editing options that are built in, but there is also the iMovie application that Apple has released specifically for the iPhone 4 because of the processor, memory, and HD capabilities.

The biggest downfall though, is that currently HD content cannot be uploaded directly to YouTube through the device – it must be transferred to a computer and then uploaded through the web. There is no iPhone workaround for this. This limitation is also there because of upload performance, though even trying through Wi-Fi will yield the same result. Apple has dropped the ball on this one – if HD content must be sent to a computer first, then it is no different than having to use a Flip Mino HD or the like, besides having everything else with you in one. Hopefully this will be addressed in the future, if not, then Apple has let down a lot of people.

Retina Display

This display is sharp and crisp. And I mean really sharp and crisp. I didn’t even think the 3GS screen was that bad until I saw this thing for the first time – it completely blows the 3GS display out of the water. Typography that is completely zoomed in on will display no showing of pixels – this thing makes everything like real print. Even tiny text can be read clearly now without the need for much adjustment. Everything will just look better with this display (except for the surplus of third party apps that aren’t currently updated with support for the Retina Display – they’re all pixelated).

Not much else I can say about the Retina display, other than it’s just awesome.

FaceTime

FaceTime calls can be placed initially through a regular phone call or directly through the “FaceTime” option when viewing a contact’s information card (only viewable if the user has displayed their phone number for use with FaceTime, available in the device Settings).

When placed through a regular call, once the FaceTime is started, minutes are no longer being used since it will be handled over to the Wi-Fi connection. Video is decent quality for a VGA camera, and the images can be in either portrait or landscape mode. Audio is also pretty good with the current hardware.

The display of FaceTime will have the other recipient of the call being shown on the main screen, and a smaller window that will show your own video on the screen, and this window can be dragged to any of the screen’s corners. You can also switch to the back camera to share your surroundings if you desire.

The camera may not be the best out there, but for quick sharing of moments, it’s perfect. FaceTime is great for catching up in a fun new way.

Software

Because of the iPhone 4′s 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, everything just runs much faster and snappier. iOS 4 definitely was not this speedy even on last year’s 3GS model. There is virtually no lag on anything, even games. Everything is just clear and crisp, and blazing fast.

Conclusion

This really is the biggest leap for Apple’s iconic phone. Aside from the design flaws and HD uploading problems, there is little else that absolutely needs to be changed.

If I must give this device a rating, it would be 4.5 stars out of 5 right now.

Ozzy Osbourne to headline seventy-fifth issue of Beatweek Magazine

Ozzy Osbourne, the living legend who is releasing his next album entitled Scream on July 22nd, will appear on the cover of Beatweek Magazine’s seventy-fifth issue on that same day. In the cover story interview, Ozzy reveals the origins of lead single “Let Me Hear You Scream” (hint: it was originally about Michael Jackson) as well as the controversial real life story that his new song “Latimer’s Mercy” is based on. He also shares why he’s bringing Ozzfest back to life this year a previous hiatus, and explains why even though Ozzfest 2010 once again finds him touring with Motley Crue, “it’s not gonna be a rerun” of the infamous touring stretch the two had back in 1994. Ozzy also discusses the “water gone under the bridge” between him and Sabbath’s other lead singer, the late Ronnie James Dio, as well as the “great deal of respect” he had for Dio as a singer.

Beatweek Magazine issue #75 will also include the top 75 products for iPad and iPhone along with interviews with several additional musicians to be revealed soon. The issue will arrive on June 22nd.

Beatweek 74th issue: DEVO interview, iPhone 4, The Ready Set and more

•cover story interview with music legends DEVO, who release their first new album in twenty years today

• iPhone 4: should you upgrade?

• interview with The Ready Set, Lights, and Malina Moye

• bargain apps for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch

• and much more

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Adobe employee calls journalist “twerp” for criticizing Flash

Adobe may have a problem on its hands beyond the fact that public opinion is turning against its Flash technology faster than you can say “FarmVille iPad app.” John Dowdell, who identifies himself as an Adobe employee and blogs on adobe.com has taken to using his Twitter account @jdowdell to publicly attack journalists who don’t have positive things to say about his company’s Flash technology. After the publication MacDailyNews criticized ESPN.com for using Flash, Dowdell publicly referred to the MacDailyNews writer as a “twerp” and “dumb” in the same sentence. In fact we here at Beatweek were only made aware of it after Mr. Dowdell also subsequently publicly lashed out at us after we referred to Adobe’s Flash as being ancient (Mr Dowdell also publicly insinuated that Beatweek has some kind of hidden monetary or compensational relationship with Apple, which for the record, we do not). While we’ve been called far worse and we fully respect the right of individuals to calls us by whatever ugly names they wish via their own Twitter accounts, we find it disturbing that Adobe’s obsession with propping up Flash has now extended to its employees publicly attacking journalists. It’s not immediately clear whether the Twitter account is considered an Adobe account or whether employee was speaking on behalf of Adobe, as his Twitter account does link to his blog at adobe.com but uses the employee’s own name for a Twitter username.

Again, we’re not looking to get the specific employee in trouble. But that Adobe’s employees would sink to such depths as Flash continues to circle the bowl is endemic of Adobe’s seeming disturbing desire to bet the entire company on Flash as somehow being the future.

Just in case the employee removes the tweet and then claims it never existed, here you go:

Hot and Rising app: Twitter official for iPhone

Twitter’s acquisition of popular independent iPhone app Tweetie (and the hiring of Tweetie’s sole developer in the process) earlier this year has finally paid off for users in the form of Twitter for iPhone, which is based on Tweetie and still performs quite a bit like it but is now a completely free app for iPhone and iPod touch users. While there are still dozens of third party Twitter apps in the App Store which each have various features and cater to various niches, it’s fairly easy to recommend Twitter for iPhone as the best place for users to start.

The app comes complete with support for Twitter lists, search, retweeting, trending topics, and the ability to be logged into multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously (handy if you’ve got professional and personal Twitter accounts). The only widespread complaint from users thus far is that the new icon, which features a bird in white silhouette with no eyes, looks a bit creepy.

A more serious, but much more rare, complaint is that a few users are still suffering from the same caching issues that plagued a handful of Tweetie users, in which leaving the app and then relaunching it would cause hours or even days worth of tweets to disappear and have to be reloaded. But this issue appears not to affect the vast majority of users, and combined with its free price tag and the potential it has going forward now that it’s got Twitter’s official backing (and funding), makes Twitter for iPhone both hot and rising.

Hot and rising artist: Colbie Caillat

Colbie Caillat’s two albums have produced one hit song after another, with her latest release Breakthrough pushing her popularity to new heights with hits like Fallin’ For You and I Never Told You after her debut Coco spawned hits like Bubbly and Realize. Despite the heightening stakes, Colbie tells Beatweek she’s finding it progressively easier to deal with because “now I know what to expect.”

Colbie Caillat is a Beatweek “Hot and Rising artist” for 2010, and you can read our interview with Colbie in Beatweek’s current issue.

Beatweek Magazine #71: Sevendust, Shelby Lynne, iPad FAQ

Beatweek Magazine #71: Sevendust, Shelby Lynne, iPad FAQ, bargain apps and more

Jonny Lang interview: guitar stories, new live album and more

Since first bursting onto the scene as as teenage blues prodigy back in the nineties, Jonny Lang has released several studio albums but never got around to offering up a live album – until now. Live at The Ryman, recorded at the Nashville venue of the same name, captures his biggest hits over the years along with jam sessions that never made it onto the original studio versions. Jonny and I talked about a little bit of everything, including whether singing or playing guitar is nearer to his heart, why Lie To Me made it onto the live album, and the stories he’ll have to tell his kids someday…

You could have chosen any of your recent shows to turn into a live album. How do you choose a show?

In this case it decided afterwards, because how we try to do it now, is leading up to that show, we had recorded a bunch of shows, so we record to a hard drive just about every show. It’s pretty cheap to do, and it’s cool that you can do that, cause it used to be that you had to drive a big sound truck out and it cost a bunch of money, and then if you didn’t have a good show, you wasted all that money [laughs]. So yeah, we were able to kind of pick and choose. But that show just happened to be kind of a special one.

You’ve played everywhere. Is there something special about playing in Nashville?

Yeah man, I love Nashville as a music town and a community. I think it’s kind of unparalleled. It seems to be a real tight knit music community. It doesn’t seem to be that competitive.

But when you play there, there’s usually a lot of great musicians in the audience, which is a cool thing. It’s kind of intimidating.

With a song like Turn Around, on the original studio version it was four minutes long, and then on Ryman it stretches out to twelve minutes.

The outro thing on Turn Around is something that we did do in the studio originally, and then just decided not to have it. Sometimes to interpret it differently live is a good direction to go, just for the listener, in that they get a little something else in the song or added to the song, other than what they’ve already heard.

Some artists, when they’ve had a long successful career, they start to shy away from their earliest big hit. But in your case, Lie To Me is your big encore on Ryman. I guess you’re not shying away from it.

I owe a lot to that song, you know? Being the first live record, I feel like I guess it should as much of a spotlight as anything else.

You’ve been in the upper echelon of guitar talent for years now. Once you get to that level, do you have to keep practicing? If you sat your guitar down for a few months, would your skills be diminished?

I think it stays in your head and you know what to do, but physically you’ve kind of got to keep at it because you’ll get out of shape and be unable to actually physically do the things that you know how to do, you know? So I think yeah, if you left it for a year or something, totally didn’t play guitar for a year, it would probably hurt you. I don’t know, I’ve never done that.

What’s the longest you’ve ever gone?

I’ve probably gone a month or two without playing guitar, just because I’ve gotten so burnt on it touring all year or whatever. I’ll just put it away. I won’t even listen to music. [laughs]

If you were stuck on a desert island and you could only have one with you, would you choose an acoustic or electric guitar?

If I was on a desert island, I would pick an acoustic cause it’s louder. [laughs]

I see the impracticality of my hypothetical [laughs]. Let’s say you had an amp, you had electricity.

That’s a good question, man. I would probably [long pause] pick acoustic guitar.

If you had to choose between only ever singing or playing the guitar, would you have a clear choice there?

Probably singing.

You just made a guest appearance on “What I Need” on the new Dave Barnes album. How did that collaboration come together?

I’ve known Dave for some time now, maybe a couple years I think. But yeah, we toured together a little bit, and he lives in Nashville and we have a lot of the same friends. So yeah, it’s just one of those things where “Hey man, I’m recording today, you wanna come over and sing on something?”

You’ve collaborated with some guitarists who are much older than you, and statistically speaking, someday when you’re Buddy Buy’s age, people are going to come up and say “Hey Jonny, what was it like to play with Buddy? What was B.B. King really like? What was Clapton like?” Have you thought about the fact that you’re going to be carrying the legacy of some of these guys that you’ve played with?

Yeah, man. And being on this Hendrix tour has really made me think more about that. I guess when Muddy [Waters] and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells and all them were sitting around playing, they weren’t thinking that they were gonna be legendary kind of guys. Some of the people I’ve been able to meet and hang with are definitely like that. It’s just an honor to be a part of something like that, and it’s a cool thing to be able to tell my kids stories.

Learn more at JonnyLang.com • iTunes • MySpace • Facebook

Lady GaGa predicted the fame

It’s difficult to believe that a mere year and a half ago, most people had never heard of Lady GaGa, but that was exactly the case when she first spoke with Beatweek near the end of 2008. At the time she was the opening act for New Kids On The Block – and not even the main opening act, if we’re recalling correctly. We knew she was on her way to stardom – as evidenced by the fact that we put her on the cover of Beatweek Magazine in January 2009 – but probably no one, not us, not her, could have quite predicted this level of fame for her.

So now that she’s become our society’s most famous pop star, it’s no surprise that her musical styling and unique fashion sense have directly and indirectly influenced everyone from new up-and-coming pop stars to teenagers in the malls. But what might surprise you is that GaGa is loving all this, at least if she still stands by what she told us about her impending fame back in 2008: “If anything I really love it when I see that my music and my fashion is affecting pop culture. That makes me feel famous.”

In our interview she also discussed the real meaning behind her breakthrough hit Just Dance, the origin of the “GaGa” name, and what she specifically wanted the world to know about her back then. You can find the full cover story interview with Lady GaGa from Beatweek Magazine’s January 2009 right here.

photo credit: Candice Lawler

Silversun Pickups reveal summer tour dates

Remember that summer headlining tour that Silversun Pickups bassist Nikki Monninger promised us when she graced the cover of Beatweek Magazine last month? Well, we can now share some of them, starting on June 15th at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando. From there the band will gradually make its way up the eastern seaboard before landing in Toronto at the end of June and then wrapping up the announced dates in Detroit on July 2nd. Full list of shows here.

That’s all we’ve got for you at the moment, but in the mean time you’ll likely enjoy reading our Silversun Pickups interview with Nikki, which you can find right here. She talks about the surreal video for Swoon’s second single Substitution, the band’s experiences with their Grammy nomination, along with her favorite iPhone photography apps – and she reveals the surprising name of her band’s next album.

Adam Lambert on mentoring American Idol’s Elvis week

Adam Lambert returns to American Idol tonight to mentor this season’s contestants as they each prepare to perform an Elvis Presley song, and in the cover story interview for the latest issue of Beatweek Magazine, Lambert reveals that he had already been playing the role of “armchair mentor” even before he tried out for the show himself:

“My friends and I at Wicked would sit backstage and argue about which one was the best one and why.”

On my why he’ll have no problem telling contestants what they need to hear: “I’m a pretty opinionated guy, so I think it’ll be really fun. I also had some experience last year during the show helping some of the other contestants, just bouncing ideas.”

On why he said yes to the mentoring role: “It’s something that I want to do to try to just help.”

The digital version of the April 14th issue of Beatweek Magazine featuring Adam Lambert on the cover can be downloaded digitally for free. Lambert also discusses his debut album For Your Entertainment, his choice of singles from the album, his “extensive” U.S. summer tour plans and more.

Beatweek’s full Adam Lambert interview can also be read on its own here.

Adam Lambert on fellow American Idol Kris Allen: “We get along great”

Speaking with Beatweek Magazine for the cover story interview for our new issue out today, Adam Lambert spoke about his friendly relationship with fellow American Idol contestant Kris Allen in spite of the fact that the two stereotypically appeared to be opposites:

“I feel like I hope people could see that, and kind of be inspired by that,” Lambert tells Beatweek, “because it really shouldn’t frickin’ matter what your background is, what your religion is, what your sexuality is, what your color of your skin is. It’s like we should focus on our similarities as opposed to our differences and learn how to coexist. Kris and I were very different, but we get along great because we were both willing and wanted to and had the desire to get along.”

In the Beatweek interview, Lambert also talks about his return to American Idol tonight as contestant mentor (and performer tomorrow night), and also discusses his debut album For Your Entertainment along with his summer tour plans.

The digital version of the April 14th issue of Beatweek Magazine with Adam Lambert on the cover can be read here for free.

The Adam Lambert cover story interview can also be read here in full.

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Tagged: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Beatweek, cover story, For Your Entertainment, interview, Kris Allen

Adam Lambert interview

April 13, 2010 by Bill Palmer · 107 Comments 

Who says you can’t go home again? Back from traveling around the world to promote his debut album For Your Entertainment, Adam Lambert is revisiting his old stomping grounds this week as he gears up for the role of contestant mentor on tonight’s episode of American Idol. In our Beatweek cover story interview, Adam talks about why he’s chosen to release the singles that he has, why he’s never turned his back on Idol, what went into his Remixes EP and VH1 Unplugged performance which both surfaced this week, what we can learn from his friendly relationship with Kris Allen, and what he’s got on tap for that U.S. summer tour that his fans have been clamoring for in our cover story interview for Beatweek Magazine’s 69th issue, released today.

You’ve been all over the world lately. You were in Japan, and now Canada?

It’s non stop. It’s a rollercoaster [laughs]

And yet you were home just in time for the earthquake.

That’s true, yes. I had that day off. I had a wonderful lunch that day. It was like two Mimosas in, and I thought “Is this a really strong Mimosa or am I tripping?”

When you were putting together the album, did you have a sense that Whataya Want From Me was going to be a big hit, or did that surprise you?

No, actually it was kind of a consensus that it would be well received on radio and that people would like it. It’s real catchy. When I finally heard the first demo, I thought the production was, I was like ooh God, it sounds just beautiful, just the quality of the way that the vocals were mixed, and the beats and the keyboards and everything, and I knew it would be great. So yeah it was definitely something that we knew.

I think the reason that we went with the first single, For Your Entertainment, is I just wanted to do something a little unexpected, and Whataya Want From Me is a little bit more straight ahead, you know? In some respects it has a little bit more mass appeal, but [laughs] it has its positives and its negatives. But I’m kind of subversive and contrary by nature, so it’s like “I want to do what people don’t think I’m gonna do.” It’s more entertaining, you know?

For Your Entertainment was something that I didn’t think anybody would expect, and it’s not your typical kind of Idol first single, so I wanted to just do something a little different.

When you listen to Whataya Want From Me it seems like there’s two ways the lyrics could be interpreted, you talking to someone you’re in a relationship with, or maybe you talking to your whole fanbase or the whole world. Is there validity to both those interpretations?

You know, actually I think there is validity there. I think that when I first heard the song, I thought automatically, it’s just about a relationship, that’s usually what songs like that are written about. And I thought it was beautiful, because I thought the way in which it’s talking about it is so universal, like we’ve all felt, you know what I mean, at one time or another, in some way, and so I was really into it.

And then the more and more I started thinking about it, right after the whole AMA debacle, and I was getting a lot of backlash for that, the first song that we wanted to perform was Whataya Want From Me, as almost a response. It was kind of unintentional, but when I realized that that’s what I was singing, after dealing with all that and having interviews about “Why, why did you do that, what were you thinking?” You know, I thought Whataya Want From Me, wow, that really fits. It really fits the tone of where I’m at right now. So I thought that was kind of cool. It plugged into me addressing the media and the public. And so with the video, we definitely tried to kind of show both angles of that.

For half the video you’re not wearing a lot of makeup, your hair is combed down. It seemed like you were trying to show a vulnerable side of yourself.

It always comes down to the song for me. I think that was kind of evident on Idol. It’s like if the song was crazy and over the top and fun and playful, I dressed accordingly, you know what I mean? But if the song is more emotional and more vulnerable, obviously, having eight tons of eyeshadow on isn’t really the right fit [laughs].

You’ve got a remix album coming out. When people start remixing your songs, how hands-on are you with that?

There were a couple of remixers that I actually really wanted to work with. Both Brad Walsh and Fonzarelli were people that I had been in touch with. So those were people that I kind of wanted to bring to the table, and then the label brought the other two guys, Bimbo Jones and Jason Nevins. And they’re both such great remixers, so I was really excited about the collection of DJs we had.

You also just did VH1 Unplugged. There’s such intricate production on so much of your album. How much of a challenge was it to rework and strip down your songs?

It’s funny, because certain songs work really well acoustically, based on, like, the melody or the style of the song – and then certain songs on the album really just don’t work acoustically. Some songs on the album are very melodically driven and lyrically driven, and then there’s other ones that are more about a groove, they’re more about a style, a sound, and an energy. So the ones that I’m doing acoustically are the ones that I felt were stronger in that regard, melodically, and not necessarily like dance songs. You couldn’t really do For Your Entertainment acoustically. It didn’t quite translate. It’s more of a club song.

Why did you choose If I Had You for your next single?

What I like about it is I think it’s really high energy, I think it’ll get people dancing, it’s really great for the summer. I love the blend of pop and rock on it. I definitely think the verses have this kind of great pop dance beat kind of feel, but then you hit the chorus, and even more so in the bridge, we have all these guitars and all this kind of indie guitar thing going on underneath it, so it’s kind of a blend of two different styles, which I love.

And I like the sentiment. I like what it’s saying. I think it’s a positive message, and I think that we have a lot of music right now that’s really fierce and sexy and fun and dramatic, but I just thought I did that with For Your Entertainment, and then with Whataya Want From Me it’s a little bit emo, a little bit kind of emotive and reflective, and I thought for my third single, it would be good to do something joyful and positive. And basically the theme of the song, as I’m sure you could kind of find in the lyric, is that no matter how much my lifestyle is fabulous, no matter how much money I’m making, no matter how much I’m traveling, if I don’t have a connection with somebody, or with people in general, it’s worthless. I really think it’s a great message. I think that’s something that needs to be reinforced, is that in this age of pop escapism, love kind of still needs to remain at the center of everything.

A lot of people, once they’re done with Idol, they don’t want to ever go near it again because they just want to sink or swim on their own and be out of the shadow. But I guess you don’t feel that way, since you’re going back.

I definitely don’t feel that way. I think Idol’s amazing. It’s a phenomenon. As an artist, that’s the reason why I wanted to audition is because of the type of exposure you could get and how you get to challenge yourself every week to try to make a song your own, and to show what you can do. And I think that if it weren’t for Idol, I have strong doubts that I would have ever been signed to a record label, first of all. I just think I was a little too left of center for a typical record executive to probably look at it and go, “Oh, that guy, let’s hire him, let’s sign him” [laughs].

I think with Idol, I owe everything that’s happened thus far to Idol and to the audience that supported me on it. So I love the idea of going back and kind of getting to perform my hit single on there and giving everybody a show. And then when they asked me to be a mentor I thought ‘cool, that sounds great.’ When I watched the past couple of years before auditioning for it, I always had ideas, I always had my own kind of opinions about the contestants. My friends and I at Wicked would sit backstage and argue about which one was the best one and why. I’m a pretty opinionated guy, so I think it’ll be really fun. I also had some experience last year during the show helping some of the other contestants, just bouncing ideas. So I think it’s something that I want to do to try to just help, you know?

This whole country is so divided right now in so many different ways, and yet I looked at Idol last season and I see these two guys who were complete stereotypical opposites, the small town churchgoer, the homosexual from SoCal, and I always thought the way that you and Kris showed solidarity and unity was a model that the rest of us could learn something from. Am I reading too much into that?

That’s a wonderful compliment, and I feel like I hope people could see that, and kind of be inspired by that, because it really shouldn’t frickin’ matter what your background is, what your religion is, what your sexuality is, what your color of your skin is. It’s like we should focus on our similarities as opposed to our differences and learn how to coexist. Kris and I were very different, but we get along great because we were both willing and wanted to and had the desire to get along.

I know it’s way too early to be talking about your next album in any kind of detail, but after going through the whole process of making this album and releasing it, have you had any general thoughts about things you’ll do the same or things you’ll do differently on future records?

I kind of think it’s still a bit too early to tell, to be honest with you. I definitely have people that I want to work with still, and people that I would work with again. I don’t know, I think it’s too early to tell. And that’s something too, is that we’ve just come back from the month long international promo to get the album out around the world, and that’s gonna interpret a lot of what I do next too, you know, cause now the album now is an international album and it’s reaching beyond just our country. So I have to kind of keep all of it in mind.

Your Twitter bio says “prepping for North American summer tour” – are there any more details you can share on that yet?

It’s still kind of all under wraps. I’m kind of coming up with ideas creatively, and the dates are all kind of tentative or being confirmed, that’s why I haven’t announced them yet. It’s gonna be pretty extensive though, as far as how many dates we’re going. And as far as I’m concerned, they aren’t necessarily arenas, but I’m gonna pull out all the stops for the production values as best I can. I think I’m gonna try to make it theatrical, environmental, and interactive, something that people who know the album will love, but then people who don’t know the album will really enjoy it as well. I think it’s gonna be something that’s really atmospheric.

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Tagged: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Beatweek, cover story, For Your Entertainment, interview, magazine, Remixes

Beatweek Magazine #69: Adam Lambert interview and iPhone 4.0

April 13, 2010 by Beatweek · Leave a Comment 

Just home from traveling the world in support of his debut album For Your Entertainment, Adam Lambert returns tonight to the place where it all started for him, American Idol, to mentor this season’s contestants. Adam speaks with Beatweek about his new album, why he’s chosen to return to Idol, and a whole lot more in our cover story interview – including the title of his next single along with plans for his upcoming U.S. summer tour.

We also talk with rising star Christofer Drew from Never Shout Never, who just made his television debut, along with pop duo Nikki & Rich, plus indie artist Rebecca Loebe.

On the tech side we look at the newly introduced iPhone 4.0 which brings a slew of new features to the platform. We also go hands on with apps and accessories for the new iPad including the much-discussed We Rule app, plus we take some (really) high-end headphones and a scanner for a spin, and there’s big news from Twitter this week as well.

Thank you to those of you who’ve been with us going back to 2004, and those who’ve found us along the way. In between issues, keep an eye on beatweek.com for the latest news, interviews and reviews published all day long.

Read this issue now

Subscribe

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Filed Under: iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes
Tagged: Adam Lambert, Beatweek, interview, iPad, iPhone 4.0, NeverShoutNever, Nikki & Rich, Rebecca Loebe

Beatweek Magazine #69: Adam Lambert interview, iPhone 4.0, Never Shout Never, iPad cases, Nikki & Rich

April 13, 2010 by Beatweek · 5 Comments 

Just home from traveling the world in support of his debut album For Your Entertainment, Adam Lambert returns tonight to the place where it all started for him, American Idol, to mentor this season’s contestants. Adam speaks with Beatweek about his new album, why he’s chosen to return to Idol, and a whole lot more in our cover story interview – including the title of his next single along with plans for his upcoming U.S. summer tour.

We also talk with rising star Christofer Drew from Never Shout Never, who just made his television debut, along with pop duo Nikki & Rich, plus indie artist Rebecca Loebe.

On the tech side we look at the newly introduced iPhone 4.0 which brings a slew of new features to the platform. We also go hands on with apps and accessories for the new iPad including the much-discussed We Rule app, plus we take some (really) high-end headphones and a scanner for a spin, and there’s big news from Twitter this week as well.

Thank you to those of you who’ve been with us going back to 2004, and those who’ve found us along the way. In between issues, keep an eye on beatweek.com for the latest news, interviews and reviews published all day long.

Read this issue now

Subscribe

Tell your friends:

• Tweet

Filed Under: Beatweek Magazine
Tagged: Adam Lambert, Beatweek, interview, iPad, iPhone 4.0, NeverShoutNever, Nikki & Rich, Rebecca Loebe

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