the masked singer

Spoiler alert: This story contains the identity of the contestants eliminated on Wednesday night’s (May 10) episode of The Masked Singer.
You’d think that having five singers would give you a distinct advantage when going up against just one disguised vocalist on The Masked Singer. But on Wednesday night’s semifinal episode of the season, even after California Roll left it all on the stage with a killer version of Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” and then went head-to-five-head against Macaw and Medusa in the Battle Royale round singing Bruno Mars’ “Runaway Baby,” it was time for the nori to meet the road.

Once again, the panel was split on who was under the adorable sushi getups, which had intrigued the panel for weeks as the group of singers showed impressive versatility, with a haunting take on Radiohead’s “Creep,” an epic cover of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi,” and perfect harmonies on Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” As usual, panelist Ken Jeong was way off, suggesting Miami Sound Machine and the cast of In the Heights, while Nicole Scherzinger thought they might be the cast of Spring Awakening or Hamilton. Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg was on-target again by voting for chart-topping vocal group Pentatonix.

As it turns out, she was right, and before the group’s elimination on Wednesday, Billboard caught up with members Scott Hoying, Kevin Olusola and Matt Sallee (the group also includes Mitch Grassi and Kirstin Maldonado) to find out how they got rolled into participating and why hitting their signature vocal harmonies was so hard with zero eye contact.

Were you fans of the show before you were booked, and why did it take so long to get you on there, because it seems like a natural fit?

Hoying: I love the show. I think it’s such a fun idea… totally over-the-top and the costumes are so beautiful. I remember watching it and seeing how moved the people were that were on the show because when you’re hidden behind the mask, you can change your voice and sing any way you want and express yourself in ways you don’t normally get to. People actually get emotional because they feel the freedom. We definitely had that [experience], and it was the least nervous I’ve ever been performing on a television show because it felt so cozy behind the mask and we could really unleash new parts of ourselves.

Matt, what were you able to do what you typically can’t onstage, or things you lean on when you perform?

Sallee: I thought it was really cool when we were going through the arranging process and we were really excited to try new sounds and instrumentation because we’re a cappella. We were thinking, “How can we make this as enjoyable as possible because of all the instrumentation we could use?” That’s something we’ve dabbled with in our more recent music, and we wanted to show an evolution of how we can be not just an a cappella group, but can also use other instruments and sounds and still have the same Pentatonix sound.

There’s something about being under those masks. Were you able to physically express yourselves in ways you normally wouldn’t?

Olusola: That’s one of the most fun parts of this. Normally, when you’re onstage and everyone sees you, not to say you’re self-conscious, but you’re very aware of how your body moves and your angles, how your face looks because the cameras are on you. It’s all part of the presentation. When you’re behind the mask, you can really go full-out because there’s a levity to the mask — it’s an interesting, funny character — so the fun and joy that you bring the more extra moments you have onstage lends really well. So if we’re kicking onstage, if we’re jumping around, if we’re having fun with the audience doing something that would normally look outlandish, it lends super well to this show. We really went full out and we would talk about it so much afterwards: “Did you really do that on stage!?” “Yeah, I did, and I’m happy about it!”

Anything that scared you about slipping into the sushi?

Hoying: Oh man, so many anxieties. I was worried at first because our sushis were so boxy when we were in them. I was afraid we were going to be echoey. I was literally being a nerd about the acoustics, and I was also worried about being really, really hot. I get hot really easily and I worried I wouldn’t be able to sing or perform. I was also worried about falling off the stage, because I couldn’t see through the mask super well peripherally.

With a vocal group, I imagine being able to see each other and make eye contact while singing is a huge deal. How hard was it to pull that off in these ridiculous costumes?

Sallee: I was really proud of us, because we sing together — we’re together a lot, more than with our families — so we know each other really well and there is this big trust built and natural cohesiveness when we sing together. I was really proud of us for doing that apart from each other. For one of the songs we were spread out throughout the studio and not even by each other singing together. Being able to hear each other and know in our in-ear monitors that we’re all there, it was not so terribly different when we’re not having giant sushi rolls on top of us.

It’s hard enough to do choreo on a good day, but how much harder was it when you can’t see each other? Were you counting steps, worried that you would knock each other over?

Olusola: That was my main fear. You’re looking through a very limited hole, and so because of that, it limits your ability to see and your visibility is lower. That’s something I had to be extremely aware about, but also knowing that I wanted to go full out because the character I got to play. That was one of the things where my brain and body had to be in synchronization in a completely different way. At the same time, we still had so much fun and we still went full out! At some point, when you got to the actual show, we had rehearsed it enough to kind of trust our bodies, trust our ability to perform and not make any mistakes that will cause bodily harm.

Medusa seems pretty formidable. Any idea who she is?

Hoying: We have no idea, but she is sooo good! Just one of those undeniable voices, just oh my gosh.

Will you be adding any of the songs from your Masked run to your upcoming summer tour?

Hoying: I think so. I think we’ll definitely do a couple of them.

Spoiler alert: This story contains information about contestants eliminated on Wednesday’s (Feb. 22) episode of The Masked Singer.
The latest episode of The Masked Singer‘s ninth season had way more drama than viewers saw onscreen Wednesday night. Not only did returning champ Medusa absolutely crush it again on the ABBA-themed night, but Night Owl also flew in and wowed the judges with her killer vocals and moves while rocking “Fernando” after getting the call less than 24 hours earlier to fill in for a sick contestant.

“I literally did the math and I had 16 hours’ notice… so I decided not to overthink it,” the veteran singer, actress, Broadway star and reality competition judge/contestant tells Billboard about the eleventh-hour invite to save the day. The judges had some pretty good ideas about who she was, guessing everyone from Sarah Jessica Parker (Ken Jeong, wrong, wrong, wrong, of course) and Paula Abdul to The Go-Gos’ Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper or Kylie Minogue.

The Night Owl impressed, but she would have to soar even higher in the Battle Royale showdown with Medusa, during which both had to tackle “The Winner Takes It All.” She put some serious emotion into the ABBA favorite from a vocalist who the clue package told us was a “pop princess OG.”

Well, that was all you needed to know to figure out that panelist Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg was right all along: Night Owl was, indeed, OG pop royalty Debbie Gibson.

Billboard spoke to Gibson before her elimination and found out how her mother’s death inspired her to get in the game, what a 17-year-old Debbie would have thought about her being on a reality singing show, and what fans can expect on her upcoming The Body Remembers Tour.

Had you ever seen the show before you signed up?

I’ve had so many friends on the show — Joey Fatone, Donny Osmond, LeAnn Rimes — and when they called, I ended up filling in for somebody. I knew [someday] I would possibly do the show and that I could say no and properly prepare and do all that and still only last one episode. [But] I decided this would be my moment and this would be my way to do the show and, to quote P!nk, do a trust fall and be rock ‘n’ roll and show up not knowing anything about what I would be doing. I took a flight from New York to Las Vegas and I was on the plane when the call came in, I came home and unpacked and repacked and the driver in the car heard us making arrangements and said he could drive me to L.A. During the ride I got calls from wardrobe and they were like, “How about ‘Fernando?’” I just kept saying yes and laughing because it was so ridiculous.

Were you scared, excited?

I was so amped up and I had no idea how my voice would present itself. It was the one-year anniversary of losing my mom and I was in the Newark airport and I honored my Italian heritage and my mom by having pizza for lunch — I was done singing for the year and wasn’t going to start up again until [my upcoming] tour — so I was a vocalist letting her hair down, having pizza and a Coke, getting on a dry airplane and just crying. Just letting myself so far off the hook and [saying] “whatever happens happens.” I was here to fill a niche because someone fell ill on this multimillion-dollar production and I will be that go-to girl and giggle my way through the day and do my best.

And why the Night Owl?

She is nocturnal and I’m normally in bed with my dogs by 7 p.m. I have a song “Who Loves Ya Baby,” and in that song I wing “Who, who, who loves ya baby?” and that was reason enough to be Night Owl. I pieced it together and the metallic body suit reminded me of my Liberace piano and the Thierry Mugler bodysuit Madonna wore. I was in Beauty and the Beast [on Broadway], and I had this giant dress and wig, and this costume was way heavier because all the weight was on the shoulders.  

You’ve done music, acting, Broadway and some reality TV (The Apprentice, Dancing With the Stars, Skating With the Stars), but is it safe to say this was one of the more unusual gigs you’ve had? 

That’s what was so fun about it! I’ve made a deal with myself to be super present in this chapter of my life. I’ve been a mentor and a judge on American Juniors. I’ve sat where the judges sat, but in this moment, in this costume, I was thinking every reason I wanted to get into showbiz is happening right now: I’m playing dress-up, there’s a mystery involved, I’m singing and dancing and surprising people. People love the show because it has magic to it and it’s very wholesome. It’s like being a child and playing dress-up. It’s one of the more refreshing gigs I’ve done.

Do you think 17-year-old Debbie would ever imagine you’d be singing ABBA in an owl costume at this juncture in your career?

[Laughs] Coming from the theater, I didn’t rule anything out. Coming from the ’80s pop music scene I didn’t have these kinds of reality shows, so never in my wildest dreams would I think that these shows could be a career game-changer. You have to get over the idea that you have to be a rock star at all times. It’s fun, why not?

Did you want to win though?

I didn’t have time to think about wanting to win. I honestly really wanted to get through the day. I didn’t know how I could stand, let alone sing, at the end of the day coming from the day I had before. When I saw and heard Medusa and her lovely energy, she was just super respectful and we were rooting for each other — I wanted her to have it. Whoever this is has been preparing for a long time.

It felt like Jenny was on to you pretty early, but they also threw out Sarah Jessica Parker, Paula Abdul, Belinda Carlisle, Kylie Minogue and Cyndi Lauper, all of whom are nothing to sneeze at.

I thought the Kylie one was the best, because with Kylie, I do feel like we are separated at birth, like sisters from across the world. I always jokingly say that what the world needs to do is find Carrie Bradshaw’s long-lost sister — Sarah [Jessica Parker] and I are long-lost sisters as well.

I don’t know who Medusa is either, but that Battle Royale on “The Winner Takes It All” was super intense. What was your strategy?

My strategy is always to just be me. I was going to sing that pretty straight ahead and didn’t have time to figure out how I would finesse it. One of the things that always connected me to my audience from the time I was young was I open my mouth and sing and I don’t overthink it. Sing the lyrics, tell the story and open up and let it come out. That’s what I felt like I did.

You announced that you’re going on an encore run of The Body Remembers Tour. Talk to me about the fan reaction to that and what they can expect. 

For people who haven’t seen me perform in a long time, I’m a very raw performer and I play for a long time. I get the curfew-time hook a lot, and that’s what I did — I really poured myself out onto the stage — and that’s what I will do again. I released this album [The Body Remembers] a year ago, and I watch contemporaries like Shania Twain and Janet [Jackson], who are on major labels and doing Live Nation tours, and I haven’t done it that way. I’m so specific on how I like to use my energy. I don’t want creative input. I’ve done it my way and I’m so proud of that. This tour is such a reflection of that. It’s nostalgia, you’ve got old and new, and it’s my audience, my generation, and everyone is experiencing a renaissance — people are vital and vibrant at 40-50 — and they want their artists to be like that and to experience that energy in the room.