On June 12, 2015, Adam Lambert released his third album The Original High. After having creative differences with his label at the time RCA Records, which wanted him to create an album of '80s cover songs, Adam's original musical ideas and intentions finally came to fruition with this album, released on new label Warner Bros. Records. Ever since Adam's rise to fame and recognition after auditioning on American Idol season 8 and making it to the top two, he has gained and retained a committed fan following thanks to his unique artistry and his amazing voice, regarded as one of the best of our generation; he has even gone on to get a Grammy nomination for the top ten hit "Whataya Want from Me", making him one of the most consistently successful artists from American Idol, after Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. With The Original High, the follow-up to his albums For Your Entertainment and Trespassing, the album that gave Adam the achievement of being the first (and still only) openly gay artist to earn a #1 album in the United States since the beginning of the Soundscan era (1991), Adam decided to tone down the campiness of his music and image with more dark, cohesive and smooth music and more subdued vocals: exploration with his lower register and the omission upper fifth octave belts. His lead single "Ghost Town" was released to massive critical acclaim, my favorite single of 2015 tied with Demi Lovato's “Cool for the Summer”. Not only does the song have impeccable vocals and lyrics, but most importantly for me, the song's production is phenomenal and innovative. The melancholy lyrics, which are simple, yet effective, of the song include "Died last night in my dreams / Walking the streets / Of some old ghost town / ... And now I know my heart is a ghost town" are conveyed through the juxtaposition of light, angelic vocals backed by acoustic guitar in the verses and powerful electro-house beat drops and ghostly, mysterious whistles throughout the choruses. Second single "Another Lonely Night" takes a less risky and innovative approach, a contemporary pop ballad similar to "Whataya Want from Me". It features a hypnotizing pre-chorus and a smooth chorus with excellent harmonies at the end. It's a bit fluffy and arguably generic, but it's Adam enough and works well. Adam sings about his wait for Mr. Right and his disappointment toward his past failed relationships: "Alone in the dark, hole in my heart, turn on the radio / And the words fall out, but they got no place to go / ... Another day, another lonely night". As The Original High is a very electronic fusion album, the song is complemented with a light, lively beat. My favorite non-single on the album is the title track, a mix of dance-pop and R&B. It's sensuous, teeming with edge, and very '80s-sounding, Adam's own interpretation. The pattern of breathy vocals in the verses, belty pre-chorus and bridge, and falsetto chorus is quite beautiful, conveying Adam's range and variety of excellent vocal capabilities. Unarguably the most vocally demanding track on the album, especially the end of the bridge with that mid-fifth octave belt that most males (like me) could only dream of hitting. The song and its dark, mature undertones is about having fun and chasing after your passions: "Just let me feel the rush like the first night / Wanna breathe it out cause I'm going out my mind / Gotta feel the touch like the first time Cause I'm chasing the original high". Another favorite of mine is the minimalistic ballad “Underground”, where Adam's emotions are front and center. His sensual R&B sound is evident here, featuring some of the best low notes on the album and his entire discography, hard-hitting and packed with emotions. The climactic moment is the end of the bridge and the chorus until the end of the song; on all the dynamic levels of "Underground" from the low to the high to the quiet to the loud, the song is really a tear-inducing work of art and has the best lyrics on the album: "Cause nobody feels you like I do / Nobody kills me like you do /Nothing I take can ever cut through / I'm in trouble / I look at myself and I don't know / How I'm stuck to you like velcro / Can't rip you off and go solo / I'm in trouble / ... I want you, I need you / I want you to take me underground". A similar song with a different artistic interpretation that implements more of the signature sound of the album, a hybrid of dark
electro-pop and R&B influences, deluxe track, my favorite of the three, "After Hours" is a power pop ballad that leans more toward midtempo, and is the other song that showcases the excellence of Adam's lower register. In this song, the register is more raspy and provocative than captivating and emotion-ridden. Matched with breathy vocals in the chorus, the song shares a layout with the title track. The song has very few lyrics, but again they are quite effective and amplify the dark theme of the album and complement its dark sound: "I'm on a drive / I'm on a night drive / I gotta take a little trip, get twisted / And ride it out". Overall themes of exploration, adventure, and living life to the fullest are starting to become evident. Diverging a tad in terms of sound, "Lucy" is the most rock song on the album, paying homage to Adam's debut album For Your Entertainment as well as Queen, whose guitarist Brian May is featured on the track and of whose Adam is now the lead singer. Adam's high powerful mixed belts also make a return here backed by the power of the electric guitar, which climaxes at the bridge. The song overall has the dark vibe as the album, just in terms of a different genre, helping show Adam's versatility as an artist. The lyrics revolve around a rebellious girl named Lucy, who seems as if a female counterpart to be having as much fun and excitement as Adam in songs like the title track: "She was bound to break free from the start / Girl got that rebel heart /She's out to rumble, gonna get it on / There ain't no stopping her now". "The Light" and "Evil in the Night" complete the songs that I would say most encapsulate the essence of the album as a whole, along with "Ghost Town", the title track, and "After Hours". Captivating vocals and pulsing beats, these songs also feature the dark aesthetic of the album with lyrics such as the following: "I'm the rush of a bleeding heart / I'm the bruise of a rough start / I'm the dust that ignites the spark / ... I am the fire and you are the rain / Washing me out, you drown my flame" and "My life flashed before my eyes / Razor blade lips and daggers up in your eyes / Baby, your love is a crime / Danger by day, but you're evil in the night" respectively. The expressive, imagery-providing lyrics and the innovative dark and emotive electro-pop beats and vocal delivery elevate the songs to more just than any pop song you would hear on the radio. "Heavy Fire" is a song of artistic integrity and a worthy album closer. It's a stunning power R&B song that would put you in a daze. Its complexity makes it a tad hard to remember at first, but it's indeed genius. The song goes from breathy verses, to powerfully belted chorus, to a sudden climax and explosion of emotion near the end. Noteworthy lyrics include "I don't wanna melt down in the heat / Like I got the devil at my feet / Just like a funeral pyre / Taking on heavy fire". Another theme is starting to become evident, the elements and the night. "There I Said It" and "Rumors" featuring Tove Lo are my least favorites among the eleven songs mentioned so far that encapsulate the album to at least a moderate extent, faceless and generic (I know there's not much of a distinction there, but generic is more so related to the sound of the song than anything else), respectively, but they are alright, because Adam's vocals, in my opinion the best of a male this generation, can save any song. I love Tove Lo as well, and I appreciate the fact that the two artists collaborated; despite Tove not having the strongest voice, she makes very good music that has her specific artistic touch on it, and that's what I consider a good artist. "There I Said It" is a straight-up ballad that does not blend genres or implement considerable dynamics, as with the midtempo "Rumors". Maybe on another album, these songs would not stick out as so, but on a hybridized, conceptual, and innovative album like "The Original High", they do. The lyrics on both are neither impressive nor effective as well. "Things I Didn't Say", "Shame", and "These Boys", the latter two of which are deluxe tracks, are very much in the same overall vein as Adam's second album Trespassing: upbeat light-hearted power pop. Unlike Trespassing, however, none of these songs is quite exceptional, but all of which offer an appreciated refreshing light touch to the album to balance with the dark and/or minimalist electro-pop, rock, and/or R&B featured on the other eleven tracks. My favorite of the three "Things I Didn't Say" is very much in the vein of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream and is perhaps the most immediate song on the album to hook you, "Shame" features an Asian-inspired resonant beat as well as falsetto that mirrors that of Maroon 5's "Sugar", and "These Boys" features a tropical beat and lyrics about Adam not letting the haters get to him. Adam with his A-list vocals is capable of doing much more musically, but I'm sure he just wanted some variety in the sound of the album, and his first intention in making these was not to push the musical boundaries. So, overall, The Original High is Adam's most cohesive album, which honestly made it hard to review each song because the songs function more so to form a whole album than to stand individually, making it more of an album than a bunch of singles. The album leans more toward cohesive than versatile, although the album is versatile in a cohesive way in that numerous tracks are hybridized in terms of sound. Cohesion is fine as long as the music is to par, and as a whole, The Original High definitely is. The album features my favorite upbeat Adam song, "Ghost Town", which is a song that is 100% Adam and that no one else could execute the way he does. My other favorites are the emotional "Underground" and the dynamic "The Original High". Adam's music is quite underrated to the general public despite everyone knowing him from American Idol, but his committed fanbase, as well as his impressive originality, artistry, and vocals, is truly a force that has helped keep his career thriving more so than the majority of American Idol contestants who actually won, such as the person to whom Adam was the runner up, Kris Allen. His music and his fantastic voice deserve to be heard by more. The Original High showcases Adam's maturity and his confidence as an artist and will surely stand the test of time.
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