Adam Lambert on Queen, Touring & Sam Smith

Photos from Adam Lambert's Instagram

The "Whataya Want From Me" singer just wrapped a 24-city tour in North America with the surviving members of Queen, where he brought their hits into the 21 st century with his own Freddie Mercury-esque performance style and glam-rock looks.

In an interview with The Advocate, Adam Lambert spoke about his inspirations from the very band he was on tour with and how today's generation handles sexuality.

On channeling Freddie Mercury, not imitating him

"I'm Adam onstage. I'm not playing Freddie. I'm not trying to be him. However, he's so amazing. His recordings and his performances were so incredible that I can't help but be inspired by them. And on a technical level, I don't want to move too far away from the music that they've created, but I do want to put my own stamp on everything."

About the mixed crowds of Queen loyalists and younger fans of his

"It's a huge challenge because there's been a lot of expectation and doubt. You have a mix of people in the audience that are diehard Queen fans, and I have my fans that are coming to the show kind of through me. It's interesting bringing them all together and seeing how it all plays out."

On why he's happy that Mercury's sexuality is only a side-note in the story of his success

"It doesn't have to matter whether you're gay, straight, bi, black, white, whatever, man, woman. That's not the point. That's not the thing that's bringing us together. The thing that's bringing us together is music. [We're] entering a period of time now where we're getting towards that post-gay sensibility, which is, so what? But it took a lot of fighting to get there."

On the younger generation's expanding acceptance

"This next generation coming up is like, 'Hey, it doesn't fucking matter... My sexuality, doesn't [determine that] this is the type of music I listen to, or this is the type of activities I'm into, or these are the type of people I hang out with. It's getting to the point now where we're more mainstream, and we're allowed to do anything we want, and we're allowed to be with anybody we want. So there's not as much segregation... and I think that's really exciting, because I don't think it should matter."

On the LGBT support he's gotten and friends he's made within the industry

"I definitely struck up some friendships with some out musicians that I really respect: Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters, Sam Sparro. I got to meet Sam Smith in London. He was wonderful. I definitely think there is a certain fraternity there."

Read his complete interview on Advocate.com