‘I was stunned': Grammy winner [spoiler] reflects on winning ‘The Masked Singer'

Yahoo

08-05-2025

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Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways
Lucky Season 13 of The Masked Singer came to a thrilling finale Wednesday night, with Pearl claiming the coveted Golden Mask trophy over Boogie Woogie, Coral, and Mad Scientist Monster. After the confetti dropped and panelists Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, and Rita Ora made their final guesses, Pearl removed her bejeweled mask to reveal Grammy-winning country star Gretchen Wilson.
"I was absolutely expecting Boogie to win all the way up to the last minute," Wilson tells Gold Derby (watch the video interview above). "We became friends and we were sort of rooting for each other. And the mom in me, not having any idea who was behind that mask, kind of wanted to share it with him. We were in the same group. We had performed side by side pretty much throughout this whole thing. So Pearl and Boogie Woogie really got to know each other as the characters."
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"I was stunned. I really was," she continues. "I was just happy to have made it as far as I did. I know a lot of people say that. But I genuinely, the mommy in me, felt almost bad. The mommy in me wanted to go, 'No, no, no, no. It's supposed to be him.' That's really what I was feeling, but I was also really proud of myself."
Despite the friendly bond their characters shared throughout the season, Wilson says she had no idea of her competitors' identities. Boogie Woogie turned out to be singer Andy Grammer, Coral was actress Meg Donnelly, and Mad Scientist Monster was none other than former Florida Georgia Line member Brian Kelley.
SEE 'How dare you!': 'The Masked Singer's' Ken Jeong on 13 seasons of wacky fun, his favorite reveal of all time, and Emmys
Here's our full Q&A with the artist formerly known as Pearl:
Gold Derby: On Week 1 you sang a Whitney Houston song ("Saving All My Love for You"), which immediately threw off the panel. Was that your intent?
Gretchen Wilson: They only have so many different songs that they can get clearances for, and you have a list to choose from. I'm an old lady, I'm not so young. A lot of these songs that were on that list, I was like, "Never heard of it. Never heard of it. Never heard of it." And so I was lucky that they did have some good old classics on there. Songs like "Saving All My Love for You," and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." I couldn't help but think to myself, 'These younger kids that are in this competition are probably looking at the songs that I'm choosing going, 'Who the hell is the Outfield?' But I felt very lucky to have choices, songs that I like, songs that I grew up with or that I've just always loved.
Even your stage presence as Pearl was completely different from Gretchen Wilson.
I can't even wear it without becoming a softer, more womanly version of myself. The moment that I saw this costume, I was just like — I thought it was beautiful. It could have been anything. They could have given me a doo-doo head. I mean, these people, they are very creative, but they come up with some bizarre costumes. And when I saw Pearl, I was like, "I love it. I cannot wait to see what this brings out in me." And what it did was it brought out all of the parts of myself that my audience doesn't know about me. The parts that they didn't buy a ticket to see. When they come to my concert, they want to see the redneck woman. They want me guzzling Jack Daniels and riding a four-wheeler and all that mess. Well, this was the other side, the side that I don't necessarily bring out on tour, but that's always been there.
The panelists guessed you were Joan Jett, Melissa Etheridge, Pat Benatar, or even Madonna. What did you think about those guesses?
A few of them were head-scratchers. A few of them were like, "What planet do you live on?" But most of them, I would say — it was humbling. These are women that paved the way for me. These are some of my heroes. Ann Wilson — are you kidding me? Who doesn't want to be compared vocally to Ann Wilson? So I thought they were good guesses.
I grew up in bar bands and people would gauge whether or not I was good by how much I sounded like the artist I was singing. So kind of being a matchy — trying to sound like the record, that's how I got my start. So this was kind of easy for me to change my voice from song to song. So with all the guesses with the rougher voiced girls, I think that they were dancing all around me. There's not a lot of women that bring that gravel and that growl to their songs, and they named every one of us, except me until the end.
Twenty Years ago you won Best Female Artist (and Best New Artist) at the ACM Awards and you are presenting that award to someone else on May 8. How does that feel?
It makes you feel a little bit old. I remember being there the first time around in my career and watching Reba McEntire get up and do that thing. And I'm thinking to myself, "I wonder what that feels like for her?" And now I'm here doing it myself. I think it's part of it. Country music is good in that way. We like to help those that are coming up after us. There's no real jealousy or anything like that. We're happy to stand there. I think all of us women will be very happy to stand there and help be a part of the memory of the career of someone else. And hopefully we'll make them feel a little less stressed than we did in that situation.
What was that like for you to go from singing in bars to being a Grammy winner and a Female Artist of the Year at the ACMs?
It all happened relatively fast, actually. Of course it took a few years, but it was kind of a whirlwind. When I look back on that, I'm just really thankful that one of my good friends that I opened for, Kenny Chesney, said, "Document everything. Take as many pictures, as much video, and just keep things because it's going to go so fast that you're going to have a hard time remembering all of it." And I'm really glad he made that suggestion because a lot of things would have slipped my mind had [he not].
And now you're helping other people along in a new reality competition series, The Road, from executive producers Taylor Sheridan, Blake Shelton, and Keith Urban on CBS. Tell me more about your role on that show.
I was hired on to be the tour manager. Most of the time a tour manager does a lot of the logistics: buses, hotels, advancing production, and that sort of thing. Obviously on this show, they had people for that. So my responsibilities fell to more of the personal tour manager responsibilities — dealing directly with the contestants, making sure that they're getting enough rest, making sure that they're hydrated, making sure that their songs are appropriate, making sure that they have the right key. "Did you speak to the band about that one change that you wanted?" Making sure that their zipper is up before they go on stage. All the little details, lipstick on your teeth, that sort of thing. The tour manager's kind of the last person that the artists will see before they hit the stage and the first person that they'll see when they get off the stage. So it is kind of a lot of roles wrapped up into one. But the kids mostly called me the tour "momager" because I think I handled it a little more like a mommy would.
But you didn't have to share your pants with anyone like Dolly Parton did for you?
No, I didn't. But let me tell you something. If one of those girls would've showed up to the stage with their shorts too short, or their dress a little too short, they would've had my pants. That's for sure.
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