There’s no playing around with the Queen of Hearts. Jewel was revealed as the Season 6 winner of “The Masked Singer,” after wowing the show’s panellists and fans while posing as the Queen of Hearts. Jewel defeated runner-up Todrick Hall, also known as the Bull.
Jewel told Variety that she agreed to join “The Masked Singer” for a variety of reasons, the first of which was to preserve a work/life balance: “Being a single mom in the music business is really difficult” she said. “And so I’m always looking for opportunities that helped me creatively and allow me to be a mom. I thought this show really fit. It didn’t require so much of my time that it would disrupt my son’s life .”
The singer also enjoyed the challenge of experimenting with different performance styles, which she took full advantage of with her song choices, which included Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose,” Bishop Briggs’ “River,” Patsy Cline’s “She’s Got You,” Sia’s “Bird Set Free,” and Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” which she sang with panellist Nicole Scherzinger.
Jewel sang two more songs as the Queen of Hearts in the finale: Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin On” and Katy Perry’s “Firework.”
“I don’t tend to show off my technical ability as a singer,” she said. “My heroes are like Sarah Vaughan, who inspired to sing and Edith Piaf and Patsy Cline. And so this show gave me a chance to focus on my vocals, on pushing myself technically as a singer.”
The Grammy-nominated artist will now release a “Queen of Hearts”-themed covers EP of tracks performed on the show.
Meanwhile, Jewel stated that she believes her appearance on “The Masked Singer” demonstrated the importance of self-worth. “I do a lot of work in the mental health space, and I say that our self-worth cannot be tied to anything outside of ourselves. We’re not our name, we’re not our job. And so what if all those things went away. Oddly, that’s what this show allowed me to do. It wasn’t focused on my stories, my name, it was just really based on my heart.”
That’s why Jewel chose the Queen of Hearts outfit, she explained. “Because I consider my heart to be one of the most important aspects of my life and what I stand for, and in a strange way, this stupid, lighthearted performance allowed me to share an essential part of myself that was truly true.” First and foremost, it’s a dream come true for me because I despise hair and cosmetics. Being an Alaskan girl, the most annoying part of my work is constantly being made up. Extremely just getting to put a mask on my head quickly and efficiently is so efficient!”
Jewel was correctly guessed by Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke; Ken Jeong chose Renee Zellweger.
Her Queen of Hearts attire, with its jewel-shaped design, was a tribute to her name, while other clues alluded to events from her life. She described growing up in a cold house, referring to her early years spent in an Alaskan cabin. Then, in a subsequent video, Jewel’s portrayal of Dorothy in 1995’s “The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True” was linked to the tin man from “The Wizard of Oz.” Jewel’s sixth studio album, “Goodbye Alice in Wonderland,” was titled “Goodbye Alice in Wonderland” in 2006, and featured graphics of a “Goodbye Alice in Wonderland” tea party.
Britney Spears, Kellie Pickler, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Fergie, Renee Zellweger, Ireland Baldwin, Ashley Judd, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Kacey Musgraves, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lawrence, Jewel, Kristin Chenoweth, Kelly Clarkson, Sia, Christina Aguilera, KT Tunstall, Paula Cole, and yes, Jewel were among the previous panel’s Queen of Hearts guesses.
Jewel said she used an exaggerated Southern accent in her clue packets to fool the judges. “You have to find a way of being really sincere and only throw them off in ways that are not as important,” she explained. “So for me an accent felt really doable. And I’ve also played June Carter Cash in a movie. And I’ve lived in the South a long time. So the Southern accent was really easy for me. And hopefully enough to throw for people.”
According to Hall, “The Masked Singer” helped him overcome his fear of singing live in front of an audience. “Even though I’m a Broadway kid, and for some reason when I’m on Broadway, it doesn’t make me nervous because I’m playing a character. But when I’m thinking just having to perform I get so nervous .”
The pandemic, according to Hall, pushed him to step outside of his comfort zone and attempt things he would ordinarily pass up. “So when they called me, I was like, I can’t live like that anymore. I’m not going to be scared. I’m going to go and try it. I would have never thought that I would get that far. I think in my 30s me doing this show has given me so much confidence to be able to say yes to things that might scare you because you can actually make it really far and change some people’s lives, touch people’s lives with your story.”
Nicole Scherzinger got Todrick Hall just right for the Bull. Sisqo was chosen by Thicke, Ken Jeong by Taye Diggs, and Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg by Adam Lambert.
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” Hall said of Scherzinger. “She’s been one of my biggest cheerleaders and one of the people that gives me so much confidence to keep pursuing things that I’m doing with my career. She’s incredible. She’s a master of singing live and dancing at the same time and looking fierce while doing it. It felt like a really nice safety net to be able to perform and know that she was going to have something nice to say at the end and it also helped make me step it up.”
Hall performed “You Gotta Be” by Des’ree and “Invisible” by Hunter Hayes as the show’s finale.
Hall’s previous performances included “Drops of Jupiter,” by Train; “What Hurts the Most,” by Rascal Flatts; “Circus,” by Britney Spears; “Make You Feel My Love,” by Bob Dylan; “Rain on Me,” by Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande; “Straight Up,” by Paula Abdul; “Breakeven (Falling to Pieces)” by The Script (with guest Jesse McCartney).
“I can’t even express in words how shocked I was that I made it that far and to be up there with people who are legendary and Grammy Award winners — Faith Evans, Natasha Bedingfield, Toni Braxton, Katharine McPhee, David Foster. I mean, I was up there with legendary people. So it was just incredible and further proof that you should just believe in yourself because I come from a very small town of Plainview, Texas. The fact that I even live in LA alone is huge. The number one show in America, competing against people that I grew up listening to, is mind boggling. But it’s just proof that if you work hard, you believe in yourself and you have great work ethic, anything is possible.”
Other names for Bull that had been brought up over the season included Hunter Hayes, Lance Bass, Brian Littrell, Sisqo, Dwayne Johnson, Darren Criss, Justin Timberlake, Brandon Flowers, Rufus Wainwright, Kevin Jonas, Zac Efron, Donald Glover, Anthony Ramos, Leslie Odom Jr., Taye Diggs, Cheyenne Jackson, Lil Nas X, Billy Porter, Usher, Jason DeRulo, Ne-Yo, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Adam Lambert, Jaden Smith, Jeremy Pope, Tituss Burgess, Neil Patrick Harris.
“I know that I have a very specific voice and that I am in a niche audience,” he explained. “So if you’re not a person that like loves to like go and hang out with the gays on the weekend or you’re not a big Broadway person or super huge like Disney or YouTube fan, you might not have ever heard it. That’s part of the reason so I did this show, because it was a way for me to introduce myself and my brand and my storey and my message to an entirely new audience.”
Jewel (Queen of Hearts) and Todrick Hall (Bull) joined David Foster and Katharine McPhee (Banana Split), Faith Evans (Skunk), Willie Robertson (Mallard) and Bobby Berk (Caterpillar) joined Natasha Bedingfield (Pepper), John Lydon/Johnny Rotten (Jester), “Mama June” Shannon and Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson (Beach Ball), Rob Schneider (Hamster), Ruth Pointer (Cupcake), Larry the Cable Guy (Baby), Tyga (Dalmatian), Toni Braxton (Pufferfish), Vivica A. Fox (Mother Nature) and Dwight Howard (Octopus) as the celebrities unmasked on Season 6 of “The Masked Singer.”
For the first time since the pandemic began, “The Masked Singer” began Season 6 with a studio audience. Season 6 contestants had 85 Grammy nominations and 27 wins, three Academy Award nominations, 12 Emmy nominations, 12 Razzie Award nominations, two Super Bowl appearances, and two Lifetime Achievement Awards between them.
The show’s panellists competed for the “Golden Ear” trophy once again, this time based on their first impressions of each masked act (which McCarthy has won the last two seasons). Jeong and Scherzinger had two points each going into episode 13, while Thicke and McCarthy Wahlberg just had one.
Thicke’s first option for the Bull was Lil Uzi Vert; Jeong chose Ne-Yo; and McCarthy Wahlberg’s first choice was Brian Littrell. Todrick Hall was Scherzinger’s choice, and he was correct. Scherzinger gets the third point.
McCarthy Wahlberg chose Fergie as the Queen of Hearts. Idina Menzel was Thicke’s initial choice; Jeong chose Renee Zellweger; and Scherzinger chose Carrie Underwood. Here, no one has a point.
Scherzinger, however, dethroned McCarthy Wahlberg as the show’s new “Golden Ear” winner with three points. We’ll see you again next season!