Adam Lambert Talks About Michael Jackson

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Adam Lambert told Rolling Stone, "We were in the middle of rehearsing the tour when we heard the sad news. Michael Jackson just died. I went, 'What?' and stopped singing. Everybody just stopped. We canceled rehearsals for the rest of the day. No one could really believe it."

Lambert told the magazine, "I have memories of dancing around my house to his music. There's video of me somewhere lip-synching 'Beat It' when I was probably seven, with a flashlight on my face."

"'Rock With You' was my first audition song for American Idol," he continued. "I had actually never performed a Michael Jackson song before."

Lambert said when the AI finalists did the Michael Jackson show this year, he thought, "What song should I choose? They're all so good. It was either 'Black or White' or 'Thriller.' I wanted to make more of a statement the first time out, and 'Black or White' comments on culture and racial harmony in a very eloquent way. It also means a lot of other things. To me, personally, it was, 'it doesn't matter if you're straight or gay. It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. I loved the sentiment there. What was really cool about Michael is that he straddled a really fine line of race and sexuality. There was something very androgynous about him, and very race neutral. People criticized him for lightening his skin or whatever, but he was like his own race. A lot of people saw it as bad, but it was kind of fascinating. And very original."

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Life on the road for the American Idols summer tour doesn't seem all that difficult for Adam or Kris Allen.

Kris told E Online that he brought along a lock of his wife's hair, "so I can brush it on my face."

Adam, however, eskews the need to carry around a lock of Drake's hair. Instead, he said, "I need to have my iPod, so I can have music with me."

Lambert has also purchased a new iPhone, which he is still figuring out how to use. He told the Calgary Herald during an interview he "isn't quite sure how it works, so, um, sorry if I accidentally cut you off."

Adam told the Herald that his experience on AI grounded him. He admits the music industry is different than he thought, but insists Idol did not wreste control of his artistic ambition.

"I like to control what I create and what I perform," he said, "And with Idol, they let me do that. There's this perception out there that they control you, and that's not the case. They consult about everything . . . it's all been kind of up to me."

The post-Idol chaos, including non-stop rehearsing and endless media interviews, is handled by experts,and Adam said that's fine by him. "The day-to-day stuff isn't up to me, but to be honest, it takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders. I'd be a mess if I had to look after that at the moment."

Adam's set on the Idols tour includes a David Bowie medley -- "Life on Mars," "Fame" and "Let's Dance" -- which he'll deliver with an electronic spin while decked out in a blue metallic silver bomber jacket with tails and spikes.

Lambert has also been busy in the studio, writing and recording songs for a CD that will be released in November.

He says the best advice he's gotten so far came from Katy Perry who told him, simply, "You gotta stay happy."

Go here to find out when the American Idols summer tour will be in your city.