Firsties and Faves: Mary Lambert

Photo by Autmn De Wilde

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to talk to Mary Lambert, just imagine talking to your best friend. She’s bubbly, unapologetically honest and preaches body love all-around. Take that, throw in some catchy pop-hooks, ballads and spoken word, and you’ve got Lambert in a nutshell. All of the above makes her the perfect for our series Firsties and Faves. Might we mention, Lambert is also not afraid to (humble) brag about her performance at the Grammys with Macklemore. Now that Lambert’s debut album, Heart On My Sleeve is finally out for ears to hear we had the chance to chat about everything from secrets to mental illness and sexuality.

Favorite song to cry to?
I have two albums that I’ll put on if I’m like, “I need to fucking cry this out. There’s this girl Courtney Marie Andrews who’s from Seattle. I’ve been obsessed with her for 4 years even before my first EP came out. This happened with my tour manager too. She was like, “I love Courtney Marie Andrews.” I was like, “What the hell?” Courtney Marie Andrews needs to be big. She has such an incredible voice. It’s just a voice that you feel on the inside sometimes. She just says things the way you wish you could say things. She’s just an incredible songwriter. One of my favorite songs of hers is “Magician’s Best Trick.” I also cry to the entire album of Bon Iver’s, For Emma, Forever Ago.” I cried my entire 21st year to that album.

First song you ever wrote that meant something?
I was writing songs about things I needed to express from a really early age. There are a lot of songs I wrote that I don’t play anymore that really got me through some really hard times. I was really glad that I had music as an outlet. Maybe one that people can hear that is in recorded history is “The Machine” from my first EP. I had lost a very dear friend to cancer. He was actually in one of the bands I was in. It was years ago and I was really glad that music was an option for me to express it. It was literally one of those songs that I wrote within an hour. It was written in the same way that “Same Love” was written: like this feels divine and universe-oriented. That feels the most soulful, I guess.

Favorite song off of your debut album?
I love them all. The one that I like to listen to—because I’m almost sick of listening to the record—is “Chasing The Moon.” It has cool production and kind of reminds me of Tori Amos. I just sat down an was like “I want to write the best fucking song I can write. I want to write a story song and capture a moment in my life.” I thought it totally captured my senior year of high school.

First love?
Gosh. I feel like before you come out you have a series of loves. When you date your first same sex partner and you’re gay, it’s like, “Oh my god, this is what it’s supposed to be like.” My very first girlfriend was very sweet and very cool. We were both in high school and in the theater program together. She was a year younger than me. In my mind, I was very supportive of gay rights, but I was like, “Oh I’m not gay, I’m totally fine.” Then, this girl walked in and I was like, "Holy shit. I’m having very strong feelings for this girl.” All of the lesbians I knew were pretty feminine. She was a tomboy and a good dancer. It was a great first relationship, but like all first relationships, it was tough; it was a hard breakup.

Favorite secret you told the world in the song “Secret?”
I actually really love that people know that I’m bipolar. I think it’s really important to help de-stigmatize mental illness. I think it’s just great for context. I think it gives people a great awareness they might not have had before. I feel like there are people walking around with mental illness that feel like freaks, and they shouldn’t because everyone has baggage.

Favorite body part?
I really like my waist. I think my waist is really cute. I like my shoulders because my girlfriend really likes my shoulders. It’s really nice when someone else likes your shoulders too.

Favorite place to play your music?
I haven’t traveled a lot internationally and I went to London for the first time in February to record, but I didn’t get to go out in the city, really. I only had one day off. When I first started going on tour and had some more downtime in-between shows, I fell in love with Burlington, VT. It felt like a Christmas town where they lived in Christmas forever. There were no billboards there., and I thought it was great that they didn’t shove advertising down your throat.

Favorite lyric you’ve ever written?
I really love the second verse to “Sum of Our Parts.” I don’t know which one to choose! It’s hard. “When You Sleep.” I really love singing that song. It feels really good in my voice. I think just the thought “is it real? Is it real?” When you meet someone and you think, “holy shit, are you a real person? Because I feel like I’ve been dreaming of you my whole life.” They just show up, and they’re an actual a real person. Then you pinch yourself because they’re not made-up in your head. I feel like I should be coming up with something more profound, but it’s something really simple like when you meet someone and you’re in disbelief.

Favorite musician you’re listening to right now?
There’s this girl I played with down at SXSW with this year named Madi Diaz. I know she has a new record, but I haven’t listened to it yet. I have her old one. I love her. I also fell in love with Echosmith this year. I really love Tove Lo. I think she’s going to blow up on the scene. I’m a huge Sam Smith fan. He’s my other baby. I think that’s what I’m into right now.

Favorite performance so far?
Well, I felt pretty damn good about the Grammys. If there was ever an opportunity to really kill it at a performance, it was at the Grammys. I feel really confident that I nailed it [laughs].

Ilana Kaplan has been on the hunt for Mary's sparkly Grammys dress. She's on Twitter.