February 27, 2019: T-Pain Wins America's 1st "Masked Singer"
T-Pain as the Monster (left) and host Nick Cannon
February 27, 2019: The 1st season of the American version of The Masked Singer comes to a close, with the choosing of a winner.
The show's concept began in South Korea in 2015. Celebrities sing while wearing costumes that completely cover them, and, when not singing, their voices are disguised as they drop clues as to their identity.
The American version is broadcast on Fox, and hosted by actor and TV-show host Nick Cannon. The regular panel of celebrities who analyze the performances and make guesses as to who the singers really are have been:
* Robin Thicke, singer, songwriter and producer, son of actor-singers Alan Thicke and Gloria Loring, best known for singing the controversial song "Blurred Lines."
* Jenny McCarthy, actress, who became famous for hosting the game show Singled Out on MTV, wife of actor and former New Kids On the Block singer Donnie Wahlberg.
* Ken Jeong, physician, comedian, actor. And...
* Nicole Scherzinger, dancer, former lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls, and a past winner on ABC's reality/game show Dancing with the Stars.
Since a season usually has about 12 performers, they are broken up into groups, with Group A premiering one week, Group B the next, Group C the next, and then alternating, until they can get 6 remaining performers on, all on the same show. Performances are voted on by the studio audience, and the performer with the least amount of votes on the night has to take off their mask and reveal their identity, and leave the show.
The show has developed several running gags. Nicole's good guesses led Nick to nickname her "Sherlock Scherzy." Ken's height, only 5-foot-4, has been referenced a few times, but he has often been mocked for saying, "I know exactly who this is!" Which always turns out to be wrong. And his wrong guesses lead to Nick saying, "Sit yo' ass down!"
So many of the guesses end up as singers in "boy bands" of the 1990s and 2000s, which inevitably brought up Jenny's husband. This came to a head after he was thrown in as an antagonist, a man in a chicken suit, calling himself "Clue-dle Doo," giving wacko clues that were not only confusing, but canceled out some apparently good guesses by the panelists.
Songs have ranged from the 1950s all the way up to the present day. While songs of performers who have already appeared on the show are allowed, no song has yet been done by a performer who, once unmasked, was revealed to be the song's originator, or at least the performer of the biggest hit version.
Filming for Season 1 was done between June 4 and 24, 2018, which meant that everyone involved had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, prohibiting them from talking about their participation until the season finale aired. (In other words, legally, Donnie couldn't even tell Jenny that he was Cluedle Doo.)
The show premiered on January 2, 2019. The first performer eliminated was the Hippo, who turned out to be controversial NFL receiver Antonio Brown. On January 9, the Pineapple was eliminated, and it was Tommy Chong of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong. On January 16, the Deer was eliminated, and it turned out to be another former Pittsburgh Steeler, Terry Bradshaw. On January 23, the Poodle was eliminated, comedian Margaret Cho.
On January 30, the audience eliminated the Unicorn, actress Tori Spelling. On February 6, it was the Raven, actress and talk-show host Ricki Lake. On February 13, it was the Alien, signer LaToya Jackson. (Through February 27, 2022, some of her surviving siblings have been guessed, but none have appeared.)
The Semifinals were broadcast on February 20. One of the fan favorites was the Lion, but she was eliminated, and revealed to be actress Rumer Willis, daughter of actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. Also eliminated was the Rabbit, who drove me crazy with his constant twitching while he stood next to Nick and heard the panelists' guesses. He turned out to be Joey Fatone of NSYNC.
That left 3 performers for the Finale on February 27. The Bee probably should have won, and it had already been clear to those of us who knew her unmistakable voice that it was Gladys Knight. But she finished 3rd. The runner-up was the Peacock, and it was singer Donny Osmond.
The winner was the Monster, a light blue thing with one eye and a horn -- which, now that I think about it, made him similar to that 1958 novelty-song character: "The one-eyed, one-horn, flying purple people eater." It was revealed to be Faheem Rasheed Najm, the rapper professionally known as T-Pain. (The T stands for his hometown, Tallahassee, Florida.)
One of the running themes of the show has been renewal: The idea that a performer could do his or her thing without the audience knowing their true identity, so there were no preconceived notions. Some, such as Gladys and Donny, were trying to introduce themselves to a new generation. Others, such as Rumer, were trying to show that they were their own person, not just the relative of someone famous. Others have used the show to come back after an illness, or substance-abuse rehab, or a professional flop.
T-Pain had often been mocked for his use of Auto-Tune, and he wanted to show that he could actually sing. The songs he chose: "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen, "I Don't Want to Be" by Gavin Degraw, "American Woman" by The Guess Who (although the cover by Lenny Kravitz was cited), "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett, "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith, and, in the finale, "This Is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan.
Did his win on The Masked Singer help his career? Not really: The same day as the finale, he released his album 1UP, named for his love of video games. It only reached Number 115 on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums chart, and produced no hit singles.
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February 27, 2019 was a Wednesday. Baseball had just started Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 11 games played in the NBA that night:
* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Washington Wizards, 125-116 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Boston Celtics, 97-92 at the TD Garden in Boston. Damian Lillard scored 33 points.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 118-113 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. Kemba Walker scored 35 in defeat.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 131-123 in overtime at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Karl-Anthony Towns had 37 points and 18 rebounds for the T-Wolves, but it wasn't enough, as the Hawks got 36 from Trae Young and 34 from John Collins.
* The Miami Heat beat the Golden State Warriors, 126-125 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. For the Dubs, Klay Thompson scored 36, Kevin Durant 29 and Steph Curry 24. But the Heat won, anyway.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 109-107 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-101 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons, 105-93 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-105 at the Vivint Arena (now again named the Delta Center) in Salt Lake City.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 125-119 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. LeBron James scored 33 for the Lakers, Julius Randle 35 for the Pels,
* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Sacramento Kings, 141-140 in overtime at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
There were 5 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3 at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers trailed 2-0 and 3-1, but tied it up, only to blow it by allowing Victor Hedman to score with 1:35 left in overtime.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Calgary Flames, 2-1 at the Prudential Center.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Ball Arena in Denver.
* And the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
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