Adam Lambert changes pronoun in 15-year-old song

Adam Lambert is reclaiming one of his hit songs, almost 15 years after its release.

The singer/songwriter rerecorded “Whataya Want From Me,” the Grammy-nominated track from his debut studio album, “For Your Entertainment,” and enlisted DJ White Shadow for the remix ... or as Lambert is calling it, the “HeMix.”

In addition to new vocals and an uptempo dance beat, Lambert changed the lyric from “it messed me up” to “he messed me up,” which was how it was originally written. “Whataya Want From Me” was supposed to be a track for a Pink album she wrote with Max Martin and Shellback. After she declined to use it, the song went to Lambert. Under the pressure of the music industry at the time, he opted to change the pronoun from “he” to “it.”

“It’s one word, but in a very subtle way signals that times have changed,” Lambert, 42, tells USA TODAY. “We’re in a different era. And in a lot of ways, it kind of illustrates all of the growth that I’ve been able to do as an artist and as a creative person.”

Lambert, who first spoke with USA TODAY about the lyric change in 2023, recalls that the “gatekeepers” of the music industry in 2009 were those in charge of radio playlists. Despite the support of his management and record label, Lambert was advised that if he sang about a man breaking his heart, radio would be reluctant to play the song. Lambert made the change hoping that he could continue his career trajectory and that his chart success would pave the way for other queer artists.