The Masked Singer hit the airwaves on Fox just last week, and it already ranks as one of the craziest and most bizarrely entertaining competition series on television. The show puts contestants in elaborate costumes to conceal their identities before sending them out on stage to perform for judges, the audience, and viewers at home, who can only guess about the celebrity under the mask. Well, fans can rule out one method of identifying the performers beneath the masks, as the song-identifying smartphone app Shazam is already set to keep The Masked Singer's secrets.
When I decided to try Shazam -- no, not that Shazam -- on The Poodle's performance from the latest episode of The Masked Singer, this is what the app gave me:
Foiled by my own phone! Yes, Shazam is one step ahead of me and everybody else who might try to use the app to get an idea of who might be behind the masks. Based on what I've seen on social media, there's more than one of us to try this method of... well, kinda cheating. The Masked Singer has all of the performances from the January 9 episode popping up in Shazam with the artist performing the cover only named by the mask they wore.
If you go back and watch the videos with the Shazam app open, you'll get "Heartbreaker (Live) by The Poodle, "Feel It Still (Live)" by The Alien, "Livin' La Video Loca (Live)" by The Rabbit, "Chandelier (Live)" by The Bee, "I Will Survive (Live)" by The Pineapple, and "Rainbow (Live)" by The Raven. What an A-list roster of singers!
In all seriousness, not all of the performances were exactly what I would qualify as "A-list." Some of the performers clearly belong on stage, and I'd be willing to watch a limited series of just The Bee belting out Sia songs from behind her mask, but there were some numbers that didn't exactly work. I can't say that I disagree with the call to eliminate the person who got knocked out of competition this week.
Spoilers ahead for the identity of the person who joins Antonio Brown as a Masked Singer contestant to get the axe.
This week's elimination saw The Pineapple voted out after a lackluster performance of "I Will Survive." The cover was technically of the famous Gloria Gaynor version of the song, but it was far more along the lines of the Cake cover, which is really for the best. The Pineapple struggled to sing-speak the Cake version; I don't think I would have wanted to hear him try to imitate the unforgettable Gloria Gaynor.
As the loser of the week's competition, The Pineapple was unmasked, and viewers learned that it was none other than Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong beneath the fake fruit head. Although the performance was not one that will be remembered for any especially positive reasons, he has no reason to be embarrassed. Chong is no singer, and he appeared to have had a lot of fun on the show. I know I had fun watching!
Tune in to Fox on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of The Masked Singer. For some less bonkers primetime options, check out our midseason TV premiere guide.
