TV/Film

[Spoiler alert: This story contains the identity of the winner and runners-up revealed on Wednesday night’s (May 7) season 13 finale of The Masked Singer.]

In a season that has featured the unmasking of a mess of music stars — including Edwin McCain (Nessy), Method Man (Stud Muffin) and Flavor Flav (Space Ranger), plus actors Matthew Lawrence (Paparazzo), Candace Cameron Bure (Cherry Blossom) and James Van Der Beek (Griffin) and boxer Oscar De La Hoya (Fuzzy Peas), among others — when the confetti rained down on Wednesday night’s (May 7) Masked Singer finale, it was no surprise who came out on top.

Pearl shone the brightest on a night when she reigned supreme over the other three finalists — Boogie Woogie, Coral and Mad Scientist — after a season of dominating the competition with a perfectly executed mix of pop, R&B, rock, Latin and soul songs.

If you were really paying attention to the clues this season, Pearl’s identity was plain to see. There was talk of a “tough exterior” you had to break through to find the treasure inside, making her own way by playing shows in discount stores and dive bars, Elvis, a bowl of cherries and Aphrodite, goddess of love. She also noted she grew up in a tiny town, split before finishing high school to work in a bar and said that when she started doing what she does, it launched a movement that opened the doors for many others. 

The guesses were all over the place, with judge Robin Thicke thinking Melissa Etheridge, to Rita Orr tossing out rockers Pat Benatar and Joan Jett and always-wrong Ken Jeong wildly swinging with certainty that Madonna was under the mask (she wasn’t). Meanwhile, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg’s guesses over the season leaned country, including Shania Twain, Faith Hill and Kacey Musgraves — which turned out to be the right kind of lean.

There’s a very good reason Pearl came out on top, beginning with her gritty, emotional cover of Lesley Gore’s 1963 empowerment anthem “You Don’t Own Me,” which Thicke praised for being “sultry and swaggy,” with a touch of soul and grit. Proving her versatility, she also spread that grit on The Outfield’s 1986 rock anthem “Your Love,” then pivoted again with a hip-swiveling take on Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine’s 1985 classic “Conga.” Other highlights included a killer cover of Dolly Parton’s 1977 pop country No. 3 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Here You Come Again,” a rock pivot for Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and an impressive run through the Whitney Houston ballad “Saving All My Love For You.”

She secured the win with Wednesday night’s cover of KT Tunstall’s 2004 rocker “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” which sounded so much like it could have been one of her own songs that Jeong called her the “Meryl Streep of Masked Singer.” Her final song, The Pretenders’ epic ballad “I’ll Stand By You,” soared and, seemingly, locked in the season 13 crown for none other than country star Gretchen Wilson.

Her victory came over Boogie Woogie (Andy Grammer), Coral (Zombies‘ Meg Donnelly) and Mad Scientist (Florida Georgia Line country star and solo singer Brian Kelley).

The singer — whose breakthrough, Grammy-winning 2004 single “Redneck Woman” sat at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks — spoke to Billboard before her win about why now was the right time to do the show, how the flashy costume switched up her public persona and why she didn’t sing a song from her all-time favorite rock band.

This show had you doing more choreo than I imagine you’re used to, so much hip shaking and gyrating. Was that weird to you, or did the costume help alleviate any nerves?

The costume helped with everything. When I stepped into the costume, I was transformed, I became Pearl. All of the different sides of Gretchen Wilson that I’ve never felt comfortable enough to show just took the forefront in the costume. I saw it as an opportunity to show the world there’s a lot more to me than this redneck y’all keep talking about.

What as it about that sparkly costume that appealed to you? You usually are a black T-shirt and jeans kind of woman, and it’s so girly. [For the record, Wilson was wearing a black T-shirt and one sparkly, rhinestone-studded blue glove during our Zoom.]

It was just all of the things I’ve never felt comfortable to do as a grown woman. I took it and ran with it. It’s an uncomfortable costume. You don’t feel all that pretty in it because you’re mostly just sweating. But when you happen by a mirror and see it you’re like, “ooh!,” you just can’t help yourself. I thought it was really good exactly because of that: Everybody just thinks of a plain Jane, girl next door type of thing, and I thought this costume was perfect because it was so opposite of what anybody would ever think they’d see me behind.

You’ve had a wild ride in the music biz, scoring five top 10 singles on the Billboard country charts and then jumping to your own label, so I’m curious: What did you want to prove on the show?

I had some post-COVID health stuff, I’m a long-hauler. I’ve got medications I’ll have to take for the rest of my life — high blood pressure, asthma — these are all things I didn’t have right before COVID. I also was dancing with a 6-year-old boy at a wedding, spinning, spinning, spinning, then I lost myself and I shattered my ankle and my leg, so I spent eight months in a wheelchair in a cast. So all of this was happening to me the last couple of years and it really got me to the point where, health-wise, my weight, I was thinking, “I might be done. It could be over for me because I’m not sure I’ll be able to breathe out there and do this thing as a living anymore.” So when this opportunity came, it was a moment for me to go, “All right, I’ve struggled, I’ve got the weight down, the medication is helping and if I say yes to this and I can go do this then I can do anything.” If I can do this, I can do a 75-minute show in Yuma, Arizona, in August outside.

Your sound was so versatile on the show, from rock to country, pop, Latin and R&B. Why was that a priority for you?

First of all, because I could. I grew up in bar bands. When I was 16, I was in three to four bands all at once, and it was always covers, so I got my start like, “How much can I sound like this one?” That was sort of a hidden gem in my pocket that I had, being able to transform my voice.

You didn’t do a song by your favorite band Heart, though. Why not?

Like any show, only a certain number of songs they have clearance for, so it wasn’t like I could go in there and say, “I want to sing ‘Barracuda’ by Heart.” There was a very good chance they wouldn’t have been able to clear it. Also, had they brought me a Heart song, I would have said no because it would have been a dead giveaway. I felt we got really close with show opener [Big & Rich’s] “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” — those are two of my very best friends. How do they not know that that’s me? I tried to pick songs I love, but also songs my audience would not typically think it would be me singing.

Speaking of which, was it fun to sing “Pink Pony Club” with Rita Ora on the finale?

There’s a song I’ve never heard! Never heard it [before I sang it] and never heard it since. Let me just say [throws up prayer hands]: Nothing against the song, it’s just not my thing.

How cool was it to get that message from your daughter on the last night? Did she know it was you on the show?

In the beginning, I told almost no one. I told my publicist, I had to tell my mom because I have four dogs and she had to come take care of them. The show decided to involve my daughter and her new husband, so that’s how she got on it, otherwise she wouldn’t have known. I’m really glad they did because keeping this secret from her felt wrong not having her involved in the moment.

Your Pretenders cover tonight made Ken cry! That must have felt good, right?

I didn’t remember that! I haven’t seen the final episode yet. I don’t know what my favorite performance is because I haven’t seen them all yet. I was impressed with the “Conga” because that was so far outside of what I normally do, but my friends are all liking “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” and that was my least favorite. I was thinking, “What did I just do? I just chose a song that is going to lose me the competition. Where do I go with this vocal?” I had to be creative and jump an octave, or two, because this song doesn’t go anywhere! I think I did go three octaves in that song.