Christina Aguilera brought some extra sparkle to New York’s LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations this weekend with a little help from Adam Lambert.
Lambert made an unannounced guest appearance at Aguilera’s NYC Pride Island concert on Sunday, joining the “Dirrty” diva onstage at Brooklyn Army Terminal for a high-octane rendition of “Lady Marmalade.”
The performance even came as a surprise to Lambert, who said Aguilera had invited him to join her onstage only after he’d wished her luck on her performance.
“Who knew that a friendly ‘have a great show’ text would turn into an invitation to perform with the iconic diva Xtina?!” the “American Idol” veteran and Grammy nominee wrote on Instagram. “Like many of you know, I’ve been a stan for her since like…. ’2000!!! I learned how to truly wail listening to her.”
He went on to add, “Thank you Xtina for this surreal moment to celebrate NY Pride!!! I adore you!”
Watch Christina Aguilera and Adam Lambert sing “Lady Marmalade” below.
Lambert’s appearance came toward the latter half of Aguilera’s 13-song, hit-packed set. Other highlights included “Can’t Hold Us Down” and “Fighter,” both off of her 2002 album “Stripped,” as well as a tender “Say Something,” performed in duet with Ian Axel of the band A Great Big World.
Aguilera and Lambert had been hoping to collaborate for some time. In May 2020, Lambert shared that the two pop stars were planning a joint tour before arenas and other performance venues shuttered to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“You know what’s funny? There was a whole plan to tour w [Aguilera] this summer around the US,” he tweeted at the time. “Big venues too! But unfortunately everything went into Lock Down before we were ready to announce … waiting time see if we can reschedule it!”
Sunday marked Aguilera’s second New York performance this past weekend. On Friday night, she sang three of her classics ― including her seminal 2002 hit “Beautiful” ― at Stonewall Day, a fundraiser for the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, slated to open next year.
In March, Aguilera received GLAAD’s Advocate for Change Award in recognition of her advocacy work on behalf of the LGBTQ community.