Speaking to Digital Spy earlier this week, singer Adam Lambert explained how happy he is with the shift in attitudes towards LGBT+ musicians and artists in recent years, despite 'industry gatekeepers' still needing more convincing.
Adam Lambert
As the first openly gay artist to hit number one on the Billboard 200 chart back in 2012, he made history with his album 'Trespassing' at the time and notes that the industry now is a little more comfortable with artists unafraid to express their sexual identities.
He told Digital Spy: "I think there have been a lot of things in general that have shifted within the LGBT community and mainstream acceptance.
"People are becoming less ignorant and the younger generation that's coming up right now are like, 'So what?' That's melting into and affecting pop culture in general.
"There's not as much of a reason to be scared of it, because people in general aren't scared of it."
Lambert added: "It'd be nice if there was more [openly gay stars]. I think it'll happen slowly but surely. There are success stories happening and that's the biggest thing for the music industry.
"They need to see that it actually works in order for them to feel comfortable with it. The audiences are there for it, but the industry needs to come around a bit more to it. They are, but it's the last piece."
He also admitted some of the big wigs in the business were the hardest to convince.
"There's only so much you can do as an artist. Luckily we're in a moment right now with streaming where there's more power put back into the artist's and audience's hands.
"But the gatekeepers who make a lot of the other big decisions in the music industry, those are the ones hardest to convince on certain things. That's the reasoning for some of that pronoun stuff (the use of male pronouns by gay popstars in their music).
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