Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Season 10 finale of The Masked Singer.
The Season 10 finale of Holy Cow: The Masked Singer delivered.
From the opening moment, when all four finalists sang “What I Like About You” by The Romantics together, to the final performance of the evening, Sea Queen, Gazelle, Cow and Donut gave their best. But there could only be one winner, and Cow really nailed it with his performances of Janet Jackson's “Rhythm Nation” and Rihanna's “Take a Bow.”
In the end — after Donut was revealed to be John Schneider, Sea Queen was revealed to be Macy Gray, and Gazelle was Janel Parrish (and not Constance Wu, sorry Ken Jeong) — Cow was crowned the Season 10 winner. Two panelists, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke, correctly guessed that beneath those beads and apron was Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Ne-Yo, while Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg and Jeong weighed in with their guesses about Billy Porter and Usher, respectively were wrong.
Ahead of the reveal, EW spoke with Ne-Yo about why he chose the UK version of The Masked Singer over the US version, why he chose the female version of Cow Mask, and his top-secret upcoming projects.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congratulations on winning The Masked Singer!
NE-YO: Thank you. I feel good. I feel really good.
You previously starred in the UK version of the show as The Badger and were a finalist but didn't win. Is that why you wanted to do the US version – to try again?
It wasn't so much about winning the British version. Well, primarily I did the British version before the American version because I felt like I would get caught quicker in the American version. People would recognize my voice a little quicker. So I did the UK version because I thought I had a better chance of winning, and it turned out I didn't win and came second, but that was fine. That was completely fine. I had a lot of fun with it. And the same goes for this one too. I had so much fun. Even if I hadn't won, I still would have totally enjoyed the experience. I never imagined that one of my funniest stage performances would involve dressing up as a female cow. I would never have imagined that.
Cow on “The Masked Singer.”
Michael Becker / FOX
Speaking of which, you really empathized with this female cow character. Was this just to throw off the jury?
It was purely an attempt to fend them off. I have a million speaking voices. I can change it, I can do accents, I can do different tones and everything with my speaking voice. But my singing voice is kind of what it is. There's no way around it. So I knew that as far as talking and stuff like that, I could potentially scare off the jury that way. But as soon as I started singing, someone would catch me. I have personal relationships with Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger and Nick Cannon. So those were the three that really tried to deceive me the most. I think once they hear me sing, they'll know it's me. When the producers came to me with the costume, they gave me the option. She [said] We want you to be the cow, but you can be the male cow or possibly maybe the female cow? And I thought all day, oh, female cow. Let's go.
So let's get to the costume and the costume, it's kind of a bulky costume. It's a female cow, so she's curvy, she has humps and so on… I grew up in a house full of women – my mother, my sister, my grandmother, five aunts and me until I was 16 – So the female mannerisms , which you couldn't acquire at all from the walk and the whole nine meters. That was the easy part. But I just tried to do whatever I could to distract attention from my singing voice. Robin was actually the only judge who agreed with “I really think that's Ne-Yo.” Nick even said it. He said, “I know it's not Ne-Yo.” He said it out of his mouth and I thought, “Okay, I got it from here.” If I'm that close to him and he doesn't know, that this is me, I'm home free. Even after the show he was like, “Bro, you really shocked me. I really didn't think it was you. I really didn’t know.”
That's funny considering you've been playing around with him on stage all season.
I did it on purpose. I was having so much fun that he had no idea. I think I can't believe he doesn't recognize me. Okay cool. So now I'm going to mess with him. I kept tapping it and playing with it. It was a lot of fun.
How did the UK and US versions compare? Were they different at all?
Not a big difference at all. That's why I have to give great credit and respect to the production of “The Masked Singer” because the security in this place, and I'm talking about the UK and the US, is presidential. They make it a point to ensure that no one knows who anyone else is.
In your last clue package you said you did the show for your mother. Does she already know you did the show?
I didn't tell anyone, but my mom and kids said it right after the first show. They said, “When did you do that?” And I’m like, what are you talking about? They say, oh, come on. We have listened to your voice all our lives. We know you when we hear you. I held on as long as I could and took on my daughter. She says, “So you're the cow, right?” I'm like, “No, what are you talking about?” I've never done The Masked Singer before.' And she says, 'Dad, let it be real.' So yeah, they picked up on it straight away. Many of my friends didn't notice. They were deceived, but yes, the family, the immediate family, knew immediately that it was me.
Ne-Yo.
Phillip Faraone/Getty
So what's next for you?
Well, I have an international tour planned for March this year. We will start in the UK and then work our way around the globe. I'm literally in the process of putting together a new album – probably around the time the tour starts in March. And I'm really excited to just do more of what I love. Again, music is something that is anchored in my DNA. Even if there was no money and people weren't interested in ever hearing Ne-Yo songs again, I would just annoy everyone because I can't stop it. I'm not going to. So yeah, man, I'm excited for the album. I'm looking forward to the tour and just continuing to do what I love. And as long as people pay attention, even if they stop like I just said, I'll keep doing it because I love it.
I also have a few things in the works for both big and small screens. I won't go into too much detail about this because I don't like counting chickens before they hatch. But expect to see me on the big and small screen relatively soon, in a way you've never seen me before, what with the fact that we're sitting here talking about me in a female cow costume , definitely has something to say. Yeah man, I'm busy and loving every minute of it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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