Trespassing (album)
Trespassing is the second studio album by American singer Adam Lambert, released on May 15, 2012, by RCA Records[3][4] Originally scheduled for March 20, 2012, the album was pushed back for two months in order to add more songs and collaborations.[5][6] In late March, alongside the reveal of snippets of four album tracks,[7] Lambert announced on Twitter that the album would be released on May 15, 2012. Lambert is the executive producer on Trespassing, as well as a principal writer.[8]
Trespassing
May 14, 2012
December 2010–March 2012
42:34
- Josh Abraham
- Ammo
- Jason Bonilla
- busbee
- Cirkut
- Josh Crosby
- Adam Lambert (exec.)
- Robert Marvin
- Lester Mendez
- Dr. Luke
- Oligee
- The Smeezingtons
- U-Tern
- Rune Westberg
- Fred Williams
- Pharrell Williams
Trespassing debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 77,000 copies in its first week, making Lambert the first openly gay artist to do so in history.[9][10] The album also topped the Canadian and Hungarian charts.[11] It performed very well internationally, charting in all major territories and was met with positive reception from most music critics, praising Lambert's musicianship and the "catchiness" of the record. The album was also voted the best album of 2012 in the Rolling Stone Reader's Poll.
The album spawned three singles: "Better Than I Know Myself", "Never Close Our Eyes", and "Trespassing", which achieved limited success on the charts in the United States but were moderately successful in Europe and New Zealand. Trespassing was promoted in 2012 through a string of concerts and television appearances in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. In 2013, Lambert embarked on a mini concert tour dubbed "We Are Glamily", which visited parts of Asia and Europe which was successful.
Background[edit]
After completing his Glam Nation Tour in late 2010, Lambert took his time working on his second album, and changed direction in both sound and creative process. Whereas his first album For Your Entertainment featured a glam rock sound, Lambert turned to funk and pop music to create a more dance-oriented record and began collaborating with a new team of producers, including Dr. Luke, Pharrell Williams and Bruno Mars. He also assumed creative control as executive producer of Trespassing and co-wrote most of the songs. Conceptually, the album represents the lighter and darker sides of Lambert and reveals more of his personal side. The album is split between two sections: the first "lighter side" features more uptempo, party-themed tracks, while the second "darker side" includes ballads and other songs that explore more somber themes of anxiety, love and heartache. Several songs were inspired by Lambert's relationship with Sauli Koskinen. These include "Broken English" which "reflects the challenges and rewards of this relationship", "Naked Love", and "Shady" which is about the night they first met.[12][13] The song "Outlaws of Love" which he co-wrote with BC Jean is considered to be the most important and political song of the album as it is about legalizing gay marriage.[14] Lambert first introduced the song back in July 2011 at the Sainte Agathe en Feux Festival in Quebec, Canada.[15] Originally slated for a March 2012 release, the official release date was pushed back due to "linguistics, more songs" and such. Around fifty tracks were recorded for Trespassing, but seventeen total tracks were officially released. At one point, Underneath was considered for the title. Lambert describes Trespassing as a very "funky" sounding record, and says that he feels much more grounded with this album.
In October 2012, "Hold On", a song originally recorded for Trespassing, was leaked online. Lambert recorded the track with Printz Board and Nikka Costa, later tweeting that it was indeed a leaked outtake.
Singles[edit]
The lead single from Trespassing is "Better Than I Know Myself", which was released digitally on December 20, 2011.[3] The song was written by Lukasz Gottwald, Joshua Coleman, Claude Kelly, and Henry Walter. It received mostly positive reviews from music critics but was a commercial failure in the United States. The song charted at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100, the lowest chart position of Lambert's career to date.[39]
The second single, "Never Close Our Eyes" was announced via Lambert's Twitter account on April 11, 2012, and included a photo of the artwork.[40] It was co-written by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars, and was met with positive reviews. The song premiered the following day through his SoundCloud profile.[41] The song was released on April 17, 2012.[42] It was sent to mainstream radio in the United States on May 29, 2012.[43] Like previous single, "Never Close Our Eyes" made little to no significant impact on the Billboard Hot 100, however it became a top 10 dance club hit, his second single to do so. The single also became Lambert's first top 20 hit in the United Kingdom, debuting and peaking at position number 17 on the UK Singles Chart.
On September 5, 2012, after much speculation and a leak of the news by a Dallas radio station, Lambert confirmed on Twitter that "Trespassing", written by himself and Pharrell Williams, would be the next single.[44] The announcement was accompanied by a contest in which Lambert asked fans to create and submit videos of themselves performing the song.[45] A lyric video for "Trespassing", featuring the album's signature black and yellow colors, was uploaded on the singer's Vevo account on October 4, 2012.[46] The song was officially released to radio on October 8. An eight-track Trespassing EP was released digitally on October 16, with a hard copy/digital download combination available from Lambert's official site. The EP included remixes of "Trespassing" by Pharrell Williams, Benny Benassi, Zak Waters, and vAnity mAchine; "Never Close Our Eyes" by R3hab, Mig & Mike Rizzo; "Better Than I Know Myself" by Robert Marvin and Shearer; and "Pop That Lock" by Johnny Labs.[47] "Trespassing" peaked at number 38 on the Hungarian Airplay Chart.[48] As of mid-2014, no official music video of the single has surfaced yet.
Box set edition The box set edition of Trespassing includes:[64]
Adapted from AllMusic[65]
Performers
Musicians
Production
Imagery