Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S9 Ep 26: Adam Lambert

Episode Date: July 29, 2020

This episode was recorded last year but is worth the wait. Probably one of our most glamorous guests to dates; Adam Lambert arrived in Clapham in his blue platforms fit for a Spice Girl or Marc Bolan and the most divine velvet suit. The Indiana born superstar tells us all about his experience on American Idol & his more recent worldwide touring with Queen. We talk all about the importance of a tour outfit, having tequila on the rider and his favourite food spots from around the world....His album Velvet is out now, go and give it a listen to a belter of a voice x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with my mum. Hi. We recorded this podcast back in the autumn and here it is for you. It's Mr Adam Lambert. One of my very favourite singers. Amazing voice. Amazing. Having breakfast with us at mum's back in autumn. Yes.

Hope you enjoy. Here we go. Adam Lambert, we're so thrilled to have you. I just loved you on American Idol and I still do. Oh, thank you so much. Can I tell you, I followed you from the beginning. It was American Idol, wasn't it? It wasn't. Jess said it might have been X Factor. No. It was American Idol, wasn't it? Yes, it was. It wasn't. Jess said it might have been X Factor. No, it was American Idol. No, it was American Idol. But Simon Cowell was on American Idol.

Yeah. The judge, yeah. And was Randy Newman on there? Randy Jackson, yeah. No, Randy Newman. Randy Jackson. The other Randy, yeah. Yeah, and who else was the other judge?

Paul Abdul. Did he love? Loved her. Yeah, I loved her too. But they loved you. It was such a good experience. You were the best. Thank you.

Every single week you were phenomenal. I had so much fun. It was such a, it was like such a, it was fun. It was like a good challenge. Like every week they're like, okay, here's the theme. I'm like, all right, let's go. I loved it. And you wore makeup.

I did. I love makeup, as you can see. Simon Cowell nearly had a nervous breakdown. Why did he? I don't think he was used to that flamboyant image. Did he say something? Ten years ago in America, the climate was so different. Yeah.

It was just so different. Well, we were talking about this because we had our first pop idol, Will Young won. Yeah. Who is, he's gay. Yeah, I remember him. And he wasn't out as gay gay but then the papers were going to get they were outing him weren't they and then he out he he came out after the show but i think

like i guess everyone you kind of you were open about the fact that you were gay or you didn't need to even say it it was like it never i was never i mean i've been out since i was 18 yeah right you know what i mean and i was 27 when I was on the show. So it was kind of like, I was like, yeah, what? Like it never was said on the show. And it was never, I never really thought of it as something that was missing from being said. I didn't think about it that way. I was open with everybody, like the producers, the other contestants.

It wasn't like a secret. Did they ever want to make a thing of it? Like, did they ever want to go like sob story, Adam, Indiana, teenager. You were like, yeah, I was doing like, I was fine. Yeah. I grew up in San Diego. Oh, okay. You were born in Indiana. Yeah. But it was, it was like one of those things where, I don't know, it just never seemed like it was relevant. I think if I had had like a, like a of those things where, I don't know, it just never seemed like it was relevant. I think if I had had like a long-term relationship, like a partner, and when they've panned to the audience and they show who's out there, if that had been the case, maybe that's how it would have come up.

But it just seemed like, I guess there was no reason. But do you think you didn't win because you were gay? Probably. Yeah. Or gay, different, you know, left of center. You know, I was wearing makeup. I was doing crazy stuff. I mean, it wasn't like I was the most, like, butch masculine dude up there.

So maybe, yeah, maybe that was part of it. Because the guy that won was the stereotypical country, Midwestern. I liked him actually. He was really cute, really talented. But what happened to him? But you were the star. You were the star of the whole thing.

You were. Everyone talked about your performances. Everyone talks about the outfits. Everyone talks about the falsetto. It was just, you were that series. I had fun. I had a lot of fun.

But I mean, you've done okay since, so it's fine. Yeah, no shit. I mean, no harm. It's kind of better not being the winner.

People always come up to me and they go, oh, it's better that you didn't win right because that means that you had more and I'm like well no actually would you have preferred

to have won no we got the same contract I mean it was the same I didn't really care once I got to the top two I was like whatever I got a record deal that's what I wanted

out of this I wanted a shot so what did you if you were 27 what had you done before that? Musical theater. For years. See,

that's why you love Jesse. Yeah. That's really what you love as well. I love it so much. It's great. All I want to be in is a musical. I just can't really do the dancing bit or the acting bit. Well,

there's plenty of roles that aren't dance related. And there's a lot of roles that are more singer heavy than acting. I want to be Anita in West Side Story. I want to be her i love that i don't want to be maria you could also do a great elphaba maybe in wicked i've never seen wicked you did that's what i did for years well there's that gravity song it's a very good song did you sing that well no i was an elphaba as much as i wanted to be the witch I really wanted to paint myself green. Like, can you guys do non-traditional casting and cast a boy? No?

No, that's not... Where were you born? I was born in Indiana, which is in the Midwest. And my parents moved me to San Diego when I was less than a year old. It's nice. Yeah, it's beautiful in San Diego. Brothers and sisters? Yeah.

Brothers and sisters. I have a little brother. He's three years younger than me. And you have a nephew? Yes. Okay, fine. and my sister-in-law they're they're lovely and they just moved back down to orange county which is in between san diego and la yeah my cousin used to live there yeah so they're in irvine where did your cousin where was your cousin really oh yeah that's where they live yeah how funny yeah big jewish community there i didn't know that yeah really he lived in this really strange place it was was like an Italianate

village. Really? It was so odd. It was all very Italian duplexes. It was really pretty. Not so many Jews, but lots of swimming pools. Growing up, were you brought up Jewish? Like more or less.

I went to Hebrew school for a year. Jew-esque. Did you have a bar mitzvah? No. You would have sung those notes. Yeah. You could have. Wow. Yeah. The rabbis would have, grandmas would have been crying.

I think my mom was very like, she was really excited to kind of, we celebrated Hanukkah, we celebrated Passover and she was really excited to have that cultural experience. But I think once I got a little older, I was just too distracted with the theater stuff. I was doing theater as a kid and that's what I wanted to do. You could be like, sorry, I have to fast today so I can't do the performance. Yeah, right.

I was like, I don't want to learn Hebrew. I want to learn the play that I'm in, you know? So you're secular. Yeah. Would you define yourself as Jewish? I think tradition, I'm proud of my heritage. I like telling people because I feel pride in it. But I don't think that I'm religiously Jewish.

I'm not necessarily a religious person. Did your mom cook Jewish food? Not really. I mean, for Passover, we did the traditional Seder. And I have some Jewish friends, and I've definitely gone to Seders at their house. I have friends that are more Jewish than me and you know had the experience I love it I love that as like a cultural heritage yeah I remembered the prayer like I liked the prayer when we were lighting the menorah I like I knew the song I'm like okay this is cool I like

it and I liked I liked being different I like because it was like no Jewish kids in my neighborhood really in my school nothing like we there was like a very few in San Diego because it's such a sort of like a conservative Christian type area and my brother and I kind of liked being like the weird kids we were like yeah we're Jewish yeah yeah we're different we're the rebels my little brother actually the funniest thing when he was in school they were doing like portraits It was Christmas time and they were doing portraits with like one of the teachers was dressed as Santa Claus. And they were making all the kids wear like a Santa hat for the photo. And my brother was like, I don't want to wear the hat. And the teacher was like, you have to wear the hat.

And he was like, I refuse. And my brother was such a such a like a firecracker. And he got in trouble for refusing to wear the Santa hat. And my parents had to go down to the principal's office. And my dad was kind of like, well, this isn't really appropriate.

He's Jewish. He doesn't really want to. Why should he have to wear the hat? And it was this whole philosophical moment. And my brother was protesting. At like fifth grade. Is my brother was, my brother was, you know, like a protesting, you know, like fifth grade.

Is your dad Jewish? No. So where's he from? He's from Vermont and he's very like white Anglo-Saxon American. Really? So the dark hair

is definitely your mom's side. Yeah. Yeah. My dad's blonde, blue eyes, tall. But you've got the blue eyes. Well,

I also have light hair. This is all smoke and mirrors. You're kidding. This is all fake. But what's about the this is all smoke and this is all fake but what's about the beard no what's about the beard you're kidding me i mean i don't want to talk to me he's got better makeup on than me and i on when i'm on performance on a stage like i mean yeah and i love you and for those of you wondering i'm not wearing makeup for the podcast um i'm wearing makeup for what i'm doing later uh i'm slightly offended and for you making an effort i love your nails as well i love it now that's a good thanks thank you um so so so growing up in san diego i i presume it was a was it a lot of mexican food or i love mexican food because san diego is so good for you yeah that's what we did for you mexican eggs i love mexican food because san diego is so good for yeah that's what we did for you mexican eggs i love mexican food it's like we better not do that it's yeah it's it's like that's

home cooking for me you know so there wasn't jewish food was your mom a good cook is she a good she's not a bad cook but we no she's good she my mom was really into like all the health food trends that were going on at the time so i remember the first time we had like soy it was like this thing like oh it's not meat it's better for you and she would get it it was before like almond milk was a real thing but i wish we had had almond milk why because i drank too much dairy as a kid and i think it screwed me up didn't mess up your falsetto it like it made me i had all these like sinus issues and things and they say dairy does that so can we talk through because we got told you're a vegan that eats eggs and fish say dairy does that so can we talk through because we got told you're a vegan that eats eggs and fish so technically not that's not veganism yet i'm

like a pescatarian that doesn't eat dairy okay so whatever that means you know what i mean and do you not eat the dairy because of how it affects your kind of your sinuses yeah okay that makes sense like also i did watch some of these documentaries about dairy farming and it's a little scary yeah right okay fine kind of freaks me out so um what would be a usual what's one of the most memorable meals that your mom would cook a lot of or was it kind of very different i mean i do remember i mean if we're talking about like traditional jewish food i did love latkes they were really exciting they were great i mean it's a good time yeah a fried potato cake you know i mean you can't go wrong you can't no and so she did she did a great job at that my dad was a good cook too really yeah we used to on saturday mornings he made pancakes like the fluffy ones yep we and i would help him

make them and like we would do the batter together it was like a very like ritualistic yeah it was like what we did like every weekend saturdays what What was your toppings? He would bake apples into them or bananas into them, which was really good. And he had like a griddle and like the first batch would always be too greasy and then they would be perfect. And did he put baking powder in his, like to make them like fluffy? Yeah. And sometimes we use like whole wheat flour.

Cause my mom was kind of like pushing the, like, we got to get like better food in here. Well, we do ones for my daughter she loves pancakes we do them just with banana and egg and a tiny bit of oats and she's like and it's fine actually we also do the other ones but i mean it works that sounds good um when did you go pesky terry i i went vegan first and then i was kind of like i need some sort of you know because you go to like restaurants or you're traveling and it's kind of like uh must have been hard you know what i mean you have to find vegan food in order to eat vegan and outside of la it's harder you know so um i think i started what four years ago maybe

i mean tried it what being vegan yeah yeah my husband's really keen to be vegan like for you know uh trying to save the world and and and and and tries to kind of just you know he's basically vegetarian now and then i'm that person that i just kind of can't resist a little bit of we had roast beef and york pudding yes no i mean listen everyone every once in a while i i have a steak i mean like maybe once or twice you feel like you need it yeah sometimes i'm just like i want a filet i just want a filet of steak i I mean like maybe once or twice a year. Do you feel like you need it? Yeah. Sometimes I'm just like, I want a filet. I just want a filet of steak. I had one like four months ago.

I just needed it. Oh, okay. Yeah. I feel like the thing about meat is like if, if I was like living on a farm and it was like, we were raising our own livestock and like, it would be like real and fresh, but I just feel like the industry,

like the food industry, like the, there's so much processing and antibiotics. It just freaks me out. Yeah. I think particularly in America, it's really bad in America. It's worse.

It's definitely worse. But, but yeah. And I think, you know, I completely, I think it's, I think it's amazing,

but I, I, I think it, veganism requires so much more effort. Like as you, it's not easy, especially when you're traveling. Yeah.

I can imagine like going to Poland. What are you going to have? Yeah. Meat and potatoes. That's's it so all you get is a potato you're like uh okay can i put something there's and it's plain in poland you know they're like you don't get close you know so you're hardly ever at home yeah i mean i was a little lot last year all the time yeah i mean with queen we're really lucky we have a chef which is very nice it's that's the whole thing with Queen what I love about Queen is that it's very grand I'm a bit spoiled in a five-star I'm spoiled yeah we fly around in a jet and we yeah it's like the five-star hotel it's very nice do you think it's gonna be hard for you to go touring as Adam Lambert now that you've been

spoiled with Queen or are you quite looking forward to it? It is a slight adjustment. I do have to like, it's humbling. It's like, oh, right. Yeah. Right. Okay. My budget's a little smaller. I can't spend as much on my stage and travel and all that stuff, but it's good for me. I think it's humbling. I think it keeps me grounded. Are you going to be performing in England? Eventually. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Of course. Speaking about your EP, that's why you're doing the promo now. Yes. Yes.

I like juggling the Queen stuff and my stuff. It works. Does it? Yeah. Kind of makes you miss one and then, yeah. It's like it just takes a bit of planning, but it's like, you know, it's a good balance. I like it. And being out with Queen, when I'm on stage with them, the audiences are like on fire.

They know every word to every song. It's like, it's very charging. It gives me a lot of energy a lot of adrenaline so when was the last time you did like your own adam lambert show that was in well i've done a couple like private gigs here and there but um off of my last album and that came out in 2015 so it's been like four years yeah so doing this touring with queen has it i mean you've always been an incredible showman. Like, I mean, that's, but, but I mean, it's effortless. It's, um, but has it kind of made you think about how you want to do like touring your shows and like what the setup will be? Obviously I, I have no doubt you'll be in stadiums, but like, you know, it's like, but you know.

It's smaller. The Queen stuff is like, it's, it's grand. but you know. It's smaller. The Queen stuff is like, it's grand. It's giant. We're playing arenas. You don't dress up like Freddie Mercury yourself. No, I'm by myself. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. People have asked me that before. I'm like, no, no, it's not like I'm not playing a part. It's not an acting role. No, you're just singing. You do your own trills. Yeah, I interpret it my way. I try not to go too far from the original because it's kind of like, that would be like sacrilegious.

Is your voice really so alike his? It's more a bit different. We're a bit different. He had like a stronger, like mid range. Like he had more weight in his voice, more like texture. I think he was cause he was a smoker. So he had like, he had a lot of like he had like more like like power in the middle but i do think your mine sits a bit higher your falsetto is higher my belt the belt is higher yeah yeah everyone loves a belt in a lot of beautiful falsetto actually freddy's falsetto is amazing probably better than mine for sure but i can wail up high did you sing at all on the bohemian Rhapsody?

No, I was just, I was a trucker. I was a trucker for five seconds. Was it just a bit of a kind of nod, wink? Yeah, we were just like, let's do that. I was in London and they were like, do you want to go on set and play a little role? And I was like, okay. Do you know, when it first opened here,

it wasn't, they didn't go crazy for it. No? And then I didn't see it. And then I went to see it. And I thought, oh, I don't even know if I want to. I didn't see it either. And then I went to see it because he got nominated. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it.

I think the beautiful thing about the film is that people fall in love with the idea of Freddie Mercury in this movie. You know what I mean? And the music is like. The music is amazing. It sounds so good. And that whole band-aid set that they show yeah

and it's the original voice it's his voice isn't it yeah that's all his voice that's all his voice what Rami

no they use they use the live but he yeah and so it's as if you're living that whole

live aid thing I mean Queen has so much of the recordings that they did like still filed away they have all the files so much of the recordings that they did like still filed away they have all the files so most of the singing in the movie is freddie um rami doesn't sing at all no okay no he's lip-syncing and then they had a guy named uh mark uh martel who's more or less

like a freddie impersonator i mean he sounds just like freddie mercury it's uncanny he's brilliant he's really talented and i think he came in and did some of the like just a bit of like cutaway stuff when Freddie was like composing so yeah so do they call it

Queen with Adam Lambert Queen and plus plus I don't know whatever the heck that means yeah yeah

I'm a plus but so what's on the rider in the Queen on the Queen rider what do you have I guess you all have tequila

tequila no I know but they have a rider too yeah in the room yeah like i have like i have like healthy snacks i have like almonds i have what else do i have i i ask for avocados i ask for i mean it's like just healthy snacky things i like having a juicer in the room and fresh vegetables that's that gives me energy oh really yeah it's like great before a show because it gives you this natural really yeah it's great before a show because it gives you this natural oh really yeah it's good maybe I should try that celeries

and like beets and lemon and ginger and you just blend it all up and make a fresh juice it's great it's better than a vodka

Red Bull isn't it probably probably in the long run do you put the tequila in I have I have done that I have done that I'm like it's a salad

with a shot yeah great keep going so tequila's your drink of choice yeah I don't know enough about tequila I've done that. I have done that. I'm like, it's a salad with a shot. Yeah. Good. Great. Keep going. So tequila's your drink of choice? Yeah. I don't know enough about tequila.

I've had too many bad experiences on tequila. Everybody that I've met on this side of the pond feels that way about tequila. Most people. And I'm like, well, have you had any good tequila? And they're like, well, what do you mean? I don't know. And I'm like, well, you probably haven't. So there's like, there's certain tequilas. I'm kind of a snob about it.

But there's certain tequilas i'm i'm kind of a snob about it there's certain tequilas that are like so good and they're like you just sip them and they taste like caramel and they're sweet and they're it's so good there's this one called clase azul and it's in that white bottle i've got that yeah that's that's heaven that's it that's the that's my favorite yeah what about george clooney's that's good yeah he's got one yeah casamigos okay so tequila and you just drink it neat most of the time or with ginger beer a little ginger beer oh nice oh there's a lot of sugar but you know i know that's the thing i know look you don't need to worry about oh you look fabulous when i was a teenager i was so fat it really it was whoa yeah it got bad there for a minute i think i was eating my feelings

do you know what i mean i think i was like okay i'm gonna eat ice cream no one knows and i would like really go in on like a whole gallon of i mean it was like it was ice cream i was a yeah it was big what style what type of ice cream was it oh any yeah yeah okay you name it i ate it man you there's kind of a pressure to be slim and body beautiful, huh? It is. I think there's more pressure because we're the same sex, you know, we're trying to attract. It's competitive. It's like we compare ourselves to each other.

It's tricky. Do you work out? I used to. I've been so lazy the last couple of months. Do you want to eat something? Sure. Shall I put our eggs on? Yeah. And you can eat your fancy stuff.

So we have, I'm going to call them folded eggs today because that's what they all say in the... Folded mama. Yeah. So folded eggs with tomatoes and spring onions and chili. And then we've got a vegan banana bread. Ooh, I might like a little bit of that. With some raspberries. That sounds lovely.

And then what else have we got? Oh, I've got some lovely bread. And then we've got some avocado with some pickled onions or like a little salsa. So there's bits and bobs. So whilst mum is folding the eggs, I'm going to ask you some of the things that we ask all our guests. Such as, do you think you've got good table manners? Probably not, actually. I'm probably a pig.

I don't know. I don't know. When I was a kid, I remember my father, I was trying to eat with a fork and I had it like sideways. Kinda like it wasn't like straight on. Right. And I was putting food in my mouth and he was like, that's not how you hold your silverware. Like hold it right.

Why are you eating like that? And I would be like, what are you talking about? And then when I came to the UK for the first time, people use cutlery totally differently in the UK than they do in America. Did you know that? Well, okay.

Show me how you're doing yours. Most Americans that are American, we just use one fork. If you're using a fork and knife to cut a piece, most people have their fork in their dominant hand. They turn their fork over to cut it. You know what I mean? To hold the piece of food. And then you cut with the left knife.

Then you put the knife down and you just turn the fork over and shovel it into your mouth like you don't you use the the points of the fork and we do a thing where we do it you like do a thing where you yeah you do a thing where you like stack your bite oh yeah we love to stack and you keep your fork upside down Americans don't eat like that that's really weird I've never nobody's ever told us and when I realized it I was like whoa it's so weird it's like a totally different style of using your cutlery how funny i don't know because americans are you know we just poke it with the we want to puncture you know um so what's a table manner that you don't like in other people table manner i don't like i don't know i don't know i don't i can't think of anything um i think it's a bit silly that you

have to crisscross your fork and knife on your empty plate to signal to the the wait staff that you're done you know a lot of people do that they crisscross like you put your knife i thought you put them together like that no like a lot of people like on an empty plate after they're finished they go like that. And that means take it away. Oh, no. I thought that meant, for us, that means that you're not finished. Oh, my gosh.

I love this. I don't know much about table manners, to be honest. I'm like, what? This is perfect. So, Desert Island, Last Supper. You've got a starter, main, pudding. Oh, no, not pudding, a a dessert and a drink of choice what would it be i think first a drink of choice would be my tequila yeah which are the the the one with the pretty yeah the class is all yeah probably because i'm on a deserted island i'd want to stretch it out so i'd probably add something i'd probably add some ginger beer or something gorgeous you know yeah fancy it up and a starter i would do like probably

like a really good tuna tartare oh yeah you get them really good in la with like avocado and like thin like wafery kind of chips to eat it with you know have you had it somewhere that you've had it yeah i love jesse what's the place that you loved it in mum you get the tuna tartare somewhere in in la i've had it in venice beach the pokey oh the pokey oh that's good i love pokey yeah it's really good um but gone so okay so that's the starter and then for the main probably like a really good piece of salmon i do love fish i really love it like salmon with like or if i wanted to go non-meat i do have you had a beyond burger have you tried this yet the the non-meat ones um i've had an impossible burger right and the the impossibles are good too but

beyond i just think beyond burger tastes better it's made from peas oh okay i think that impossible is using wheat i believe it uses like uses like, I think. Okay. I think that's the difference. But it's so good. It's so, so good. It tastes like meat. It tastes like a burger. And like, and you love the taste of meat then, so that's why.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, like the sensation of having a burger is so satisfying. And where can you get the Beyond Burger? You can buy it at the market, like Whole Foods. Oh, okay. To cook it, yeah. Well, I don't know about the whole foods here but they have it in America. Okay.

And some restaurants carry it now. Because now, yeah, so we have the Impossible that's come over here but I don't know if we've got the Beyond Burger yet. I haven't,

maybe our listeners can say. Okay, so then you'd have that with like all the other bits with the burger? Yeah, probably. Or the salmon. Okay, so it's,

okay, fine. Salmon or a Beyond Burger, I think. But what would you serve the salmon with? I need to know your size i would probably do like brown rice or you know what i love this is like healthy i like sweet potato fries yeah i do too oh i could eat a whole bowl of sweet potato fries when they're really

deep fried as well yeah they need to be like have that and actually you know what's good is a little cinnamon oh lovely yeah that's really just gorgeous and like a garlic aioli dipping yeah i love that pudding that was dessert sorry um you've been with brits probably coconut ice cream coconut ice cream from where anywhere that you've had it that you just love a couple different there's a there's a company called van ewen think, that's in LA that's like vegan ice cream and it's so good. It's so rich and it tastes like ice cream. I'm glad that you said ice cream because you loved it when you were a teenager. I love ice cream.

You love ice cream. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I just have to kind of watch it. It's an occasional treat. Are you a good cook? I'm not great, but I can like, I can like make food. I'm like a practical cook, you know. Can your partner cook?

Yes. Yes. He's great. He's actually, he's, I didn't realize that he could cook. And then he like got in the kitchen one day. I went, oh my God, this is amazing. I'll stick with you. Yeah.

What did he make you? I think he just kind of like improvised like i do like he put some like rice and some eggs and cheese and some cut up some vegetables and just made like a little and it was good it was great oh great it also looked pretty he was really like i'm kind of sloppy with my presentation i'm like there you go you have traveled the world with well um with queen you must have toured all over yeah where's your favorite place um like continent to eat new zealand oh yeah they do good food because everything's so fresh and like organic yeah yeah and also um where else i've had really good food in Japan. I mean, sushi. I mean, a legitimate sushi.

Yeah. And Australia as well. Really good food. Do you drink wine? Yeah, I like wine. I like red wine. Me too. Australia's good.

But sometimes it tears up my tummy a little bit, but I love it. I love wine. It's good. I want to know, actually, who designs your costumes. Oh, for the Queen tour? Yeah.

Most of them are done by Julian McDonald,cdonald who's a british designer fantastic how did that come about um he's friends with uh roger and his wife serena they're friends oh nice and so he i met him at one of the parties around oscar time and he he was very funny and charming and he's like i want to make some clothes for you i was like great and that's actually the first time that's ever happened like that that's like a real like legitimate designer you know and who do you have you i mean you dress in a very very flamboyant style yes of course of course so who's your favorite designer and who's going to design for your tour i love i mean the the costumes are already designed because we just did the north america tour so i'll probably use most of those again.

I love everything that Gucci's doing lately. I love the whole aesthetic of it. I love how it's kind of weird and whimsical and retro. I love anything that's sort of 70s inspired. Well, you've got a bit of a 70s out. You look kind of like you could be John Travolta porn star successful porn star you know what I mean thank you but it's full like

colour coordinated so kind of a petrol blue cowboy boot with a cord flare actually it's a suit so it's the same with a cord jacket and then this gorgeous

like aqua greeny shirt it's like a I'm in jewel tones today yeah yes yes like kind of merman yes merman realness yes of course

and then the fucking biggest diamond I've ever seen in my life is that a diamond no it's fake oh okay I was thinking Jesus Christ

if they need a backup singer for Queen. But if it makes you feel like it's real, it's doing its job. Well. You know? Mm. Well, I believed it was real. Great.

It's huge. Win-win. I'd love to know about your fans, because you, you know, you were kind of celebrated as being, as you even say, you know, you liked being different and kind of um your fans you i can imagine you've got like an army of followers they're very passionate really very i feel like

what my what defines my fans is that they a lot of them kind of identify as sort of outsiders a bit which i love because i am too um And they, I'm a mama's boy. Like I have a lot of mom fans, which I love. I don't know what it is. I don't know why. Pointing to Lenny Ware. A lot of it comes from the American Idol thing, I think. And also a lot of the music that I covered on American Idol

was classic and throwback and I still do and the Queen thing. So I have a lot of different ages, which is great. But I have a lot of younger fans too, which is awesome. Like when Ghost Town came out, I was seeing all these kids, like teenagers at shows and stuff, which was really cool. Were you writing your own songs before you went on American Idol? I was experimenting.

I had a band for a little while. It was super rock. Oh, really? Like sort of light metal, which is so not what i am into but i was just trying because the guitar player was pushing me to do it um and then i like i was on like garage band like trying to pretend like i'm gonna produce my own track i mean i didn't know what i was doing but it was a fun experiment i just hit epic diva reverb every time. That was the best verb I've ever tried in my life. Epic diva, exactly.

Love the name too. I read an interview where you were saying, you know, you and RCA partied company. Was that right? Yeah. And it was maybe you, they were expecting another, like a covers album. I think they were just trying to make some money. Yeah. I mean, it's business, you know, they were like, okay, we didn't make X amount of dollars

on this last project. We want to make more money and if we do it with covers it costs less and there's less red tape and we just have to do this and that and the other thing and i just didn't feel like the right time to do something like that totally you're singing covers being on idol yeah well on idol and then being queen it's like yeah it was like no i'm an artist and and and regardless of the the commercial success that doesn't mean that i'm any less of an artist totally you know and and and i feel like i've had to kind of fight for that and that's what i'm so proud of with this new project is that i executive produced it i co-wrote every song i'm i'm more involved on this than i've ever been um on a creative level well Well, was it hard to be as involved in the beginning

because you were in this kind of hit factory of like, you know, you were with 19, were you with 19? I was 19 for a minute after Idol, yep. And that's because you get that deal with them. You get kind of like put there. Are you going to have a bit of banana bread? Yes, I am. That looks amazing. I have got some coconut yogurt in there if you want it.

Oh no, this is probably going to be plenty. This looks so good. This is why he's slim. Look, this is his piece. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Definitely not slim. Mum, are you going to have some?

Why are you looking at me as if I shouldn't? No, no, I'm going to say you should. Okay, how about this? Oh, my gosh, it's good. I'm having my eggs. Oh, my gosh, it's so good. Well, you can take some home, darling I'm going to have one more piece

Oh, good Have a big piece Good Adam Lambert, thank you so much Thank you For coming for breakfast Thank you Thank you for this banana bread

It really Do you want to take a bit home? I might take one more piece Good Because it is really good Good, good, good Good, perfect I wish you'd come in the evening

We'd have tequila. Yeah. Next time. Next time. When they told me they're like, oh, Jessie Ware has a podcast.

My response, my email was, anything for Jessie Ware. Anything. Sweet. I will do anything. Right. Definitely.

The song. Definitely the song. Well, darling, I hope everyone enjoyed that. It was a strange one, wasn't it? It was unique. Unique. That we've never had someone bring their own food in a carton and eat it out of the cardboard box. But?

He did have the banana bread. He did. And he enjoyed that. And he was very polite. And he was sweet. It was a pleasure to have him over. Yes. Such a sweet guy.

Lovely. And always welcome back. Absolutely. Take away Etta. Thank you for listening. The music you've heard on Table Manners is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser. We will be back next week for more Table Manners special circumstances.