WARNING: Spoilers ahead for the season 10 finale of “The Masked Singer”
Walking into the competition of “The Masked Singer,” Cow knew he wasn’t going to be able to disguise his singing voice. That’s part of why, when he was offered the choice by producers, the singer opted for a female-presenting costume — to throw people off just a little bit.
Cow was crowned season 10’s champion on Wednesday night, revealed to be Ne-Yo, which surprised very few fans. And really, he knew that would be the case. It was his biggest concern heading into the season.
“I can disguise my speaking voice to the point where you would not know that it’s me. But my singing voice, not so much,” Ne-Yo told TheWrap. “So, even going in, I was like, I’m probably not gonna last real long, because, first song, they’re probably gonna catch me. But I was 100% excited about doing it and ready to go.”
The singer concedes that it “feels amazing” to have such a recognizable singing voice, considering all his musical heroes are people who, “from the first note, you know who’s singing.” But, for “The Masked Singer,” that proves to be “problematic.”
So, he tried to throw people off at least a little with his costume.
“When they came to me, they knew for a fact they wanted me to be a cow, but they gave me the option to be a male cow or a female cow,” Ne-Yo explained. “I went with the female cow just because I figured, OK, me as a male cow, with my voice, they’re probably gonna catch me really quickly. But me as a female cow, you know, if I changed my mannerisms a little bit, maybe it’ll throw them off my scent just that much more.”
Of course, choosing a female cow did make for some unique challenges in terms of performing in the costume.
“So I’m a cow, and a female cow — so they had to make her curvy,” he explained with a laugh. “So I have on this huge bra full of padding, and these padded hips, and the whole nine, which made it very, very difficult to move the way I would normally move.”
He continued, “But [it] also helped out because I couldn’t move like Ne-Yo, because that would have gave me away. So yeah, I really had to step out of my comfort zone, and step out of, you know, my wheelhouse of movement and whatnot, and become somebody else. I had to become this female cow. It was not easy!”
All that said, Ne-Yo admitted that performing and competing on “The Masked Singer” really “revitalized” his love for what he does.
“The music industry will kill some of the joy of music for you, if you let it,” he said. “Because it’s just so competitive, and, you know, they take something that’s artistic and they make it about commerce, which kind of makes it hollow and shallow. And that was happening to me a little bit.”
He continued, “And I gotta say, doing this show, and just stepping outside of myself for a minute, and becoming something else, it kind of reminded me of why I became a songwriter in the first place. Because there’s a joy and excitement for me being able to step outside of myself, step outside of what I would normally do, what I would normally say, how I would normally sing, and just be something else for a minute. So this show kind of kind of revitalized that joy for me a little bit, so I gotta I gotta give much props to ‘The Masked Singer.’”
“The Masked Singer” returns for season 11 on Fox on March 6, 2024.
