Bryan Adams is one of the most peculiar musical superstars in history. Supervent artist, especially during the 80s and 90s, their global sales are estimated – of discs and singles – around 100 million copies. If you have not heard their torn ballads ‘Heaven’ or ‘(Everything I do) I do it for you’, you have lived in a cave or you have not been born yet. At the same time, Adams has developed a prestigious career as a celebrity photographer, and for their lens they have passed from Queen Elizabeth II of England to Lana del Rey. Friend during a brief era of Amy Winehouse or Princess Diana, Adams is probably the person with the greatest share capital that I have interviewed.
Adams is cutting when talking about Lady Di in this interview; Of that friendship “a long time ago” and is right: they have spent 30 years. His new album, ‘Roll with the punches’, the sixteenth of his career, the music industry or his rock identity (never tell Adams that pop) form, form the bulk of this conversation. Adams greets a nice Spanish – although he acknowledges not mastering the language – and is generous remembering Amy, but 15 minutes of talk give little. The ADAMS tour of Spain is composed of the following dates:
Wednesday 4/6/25 – Alicante – Area 12
Friday 6/6/25 – Pamplona – Navarra Arena
Saturday 7/6/25 – Ávila – Musicians in nature 2025 (Fest)
Sunday 8/6/25 – Mérida – Roman Theater
Tuesday 10/6/25 – Málaga – Cortijo de Torres Auditorium
Thursday 12/6/25 – Santiago – or are Do Camiño (Fest)
This is the first complete album that you publish through your own seal, Bad Records. You have not even resorted to an independent record. Are you not interested in working with stamps?
I have investigated many stamps, my instinct told me that this album had to edit a multinational record. However, all the contracts I have read are very bad; None favors the artist. So I have decided to do it on my own. I created Bad Records in 2013 and I have seen that now it is the right time to use it. In addition, lately I have ended up in possession of much of my old albums, which were under old contracts, and needed to shelter them somewhere. So it makes sense to make all my music in a single place.
You have said that current contracts are horrible. What differentiates them from the contracts that you signed in the 80s or 90s?
Many factors are given. When you have been in the music industry for a long time, you don’t want to give control of your music as well as. Current contracts are focused on digital music and streaming, but do not benefit the artist. Unless you are a young artist in which the record company invests in a special way, a seal is like a bank with unfavorable rates.
The album proposes a purely pop-rock sound. Have you looked for a refined sound of melodies and guitars? Are you not interested in the merger of styles?
I am a rock artist. I have grown up listening not only heavy rock, but also to the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Blues-Rock … the album simply reflects the music that I have heard all my life. I do not consider it pop at all; It’s pure rock. Today guitars are no longer heard on the radio, and this is an album made with guitars and batteries. The music that sounds on the radio is now created on a computer.
Do you miss that rock has a radio presence?
I don’t keep fashions, I just do what I know how to do. This album is made up of the ten best songs that I have been able to write in the last year and a half.
Are you aware of musical novelties? Do you perceive that rock is still present in the underground?
Without a doubt, there is an underground scene, but it has always existed. I like to be an independent artist because I know that I no longer fit in the mainstream. I care about a slum.
‘Be The Reason’ or ‘A Little More Understanding’ promote an empathetic message, respect for others. Have you inspired you the latest political news or rather loneliness on social networks?
The latest political news has undoubtedly inspired me. The albums of the disc add those songs. The starting song talks about receiving blows but moving on, and ‘A Little More Underestanding’ is about seeing things from the perspective of another person. All issues are inspired by personal circumstances, but also in what is happening in the world.
Taylor Swift, with which you have acted, inspired you to re -record your music. Now that you have recovered your masters, how do you see the current panorama for artists regarding the property of their work? Do you think it is a path that more musicians should follow?
I do not know if Taylor Swift will change the panorama for all young artists because the stamps are not interested in giving control of music. Records are interested in maintaining property. If you are a young artist, you will have to fight a lot to recover control over your music. When you are independent, you don’t have to deal with that. On the other hand, a young artist must understand that if the industry does not support his proposal, he may not reach where he wants. You have to be willing to give control to get somewhere. Taylor Swift has been able to buy its masters paying an amazing sum, but it is their particular situation, most artists cannot afford it.
“I do not consider myself a pop artist at all”
Other young artists have defended their decision not to control their music because they know that, by signing with a record, they become an investment that can work or not.
It is a risk that you take: you can give control and expect it to work, or not. It is a dice game.
Your career as a photographer is amazing. You photographed Amy Winehouse and passed times with her. Do you remember any anecdote or conversation?
I photographed Amy three or four times and we spend time together in the Caribbean. It was very difficult to see someone with so much talent throwing everything through the board. When I think of Amy, I am full of sadness; Many of the things they dealt with had to do with their upbringing and surrounding themselves with the wrong people. Amy just wanted someone to love her.
Did you worry about media exposure?
Don’t know.
You were a friend of Princess Diana. Did she listen to your music? Do you remember what I heard?
Yes, I listened to my music, but I don’t remember what your favorite song was. That was a long time ago.
You say that you are a rocker and that you do not make pop, but your single with Melanie C, ‘When You’re Gone’, was very pop. What do you think of her now?
It is a very good song. It is rock and pop at the same time, what’s wrong with that?
Nothing at all. I just wondered what place that song occupies for you in your discography.
It is a very good issue. It is a mixture of pop and rock because Melanie is pop and I am rock. It was a good union.
You have 6 dates in Spain. Does the live focus on your new album, will you play the complete album, or is it rather a review of your discography?
This is the third time I come to Spain in a year. On the ‘Roll with the punches’ tour we played three songs from the new album; In the rest of the concert we review the songs that everyone knows and has been playing hundreds of years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzbyfpqpjhw
