There are many singing competition shows out there, but The Masked Singer is so weird and genius that you should start watching it right now.
With television saturated with singing competition shows, each one a little bit different from the others, but ultimately all the same thing, it’s no surprise that the most we usually see of them are little clips on social media. We’ve become weary of the same formula. But Fox has found a new way to captivate our hearts.
Enter The Masked Singer, which is based on the South Korean King of Mask Singer, and was clearly thought up by clever people who recognized this problem. If people are tired of discovering new artists through competitions… what about challenging them to discover artists they know through the silliest competition ever?
The Masked Singer brings together celebrities from many different backgrounds to compete against each other in a singing competition, where no one knows who they are. And, so far, we don’t really know what backgrounds there are, everything is so new. So, we can only guess that actors, singers, models, athletes, magicians and comedians are present because the judges do… but even they don’t know, so this first season really is a mystery!
How do they hide each artist’s identity? Some of the most over-the-top costumes you will ever see on television. They’re truly stunning pieces of art, but paired with some really weird “clue” videos, and voice modification for each artist, the masked singers are a very unusual group of competitors that are really fun to watch.
Each singer goes by their costume name, such as: The Hippo, The Bee, The Pineapple, The Rabbit. During each episode, they provide a video that’s full of clues about their identity, and even offer some hints when interviewed by the judges after their performance. So far, their songs have all been very catchy, from different time periods and different famous artists, with fun backup singers and dancers to spice things up.
In each episode, six singers face off against each other in pairs, with the audience voting on a winner for each round. The audience then votes for their favorite among the three losers, leaving one of them out of the competition forever… and forcing them to take off their mask.
What’s nice about this setup is that, since we know that the competitors don’t really lose anything — they’re already famous! — we can just enjoy the suspense of seeing them unmasked. And once their identity is revealed, they get to perform as themselves, which is in itself very exciting (especially when the celebrity in question isn’t someone we’ve ever seen sing before!).
Judges Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy (often featuring a fun guest judge as well), along with host Nick Cannon, provide really good guesses and a lot of comic relief as they try to figure out who the competitors are, basing themselves on a knowledge of pop culture, their personal friendships with celebrities, and just wild conjectures. And yes, sometimes they do guess correctly, and for insanely specific reasons!
I obviously won’t spoil who has been unmasked so far, but there have been some well-known figures, and I think the people will only get more famous as the show continues. Some of them are definitely famous enough that they keep mentioning how rare it is to not be immediately recognized, so there are bound to be some exciting reveals later on.
The Masked Singer is a genius concept, because it takes the era of social media and constant exposure to celebrity culture and turns it into a guessing game. It has some gratification in the reveal at the end of each episode, but also mounting excitement as the best of the best remain masked. Finding out who wins this contest will be really fun to watch — but it will be even more fun to find out who they really are.
And let’s face it, people in elaborate costumes dancing on a stage is always kind of funny to see, so it’s a perfect show to watch with friends, and make conjectures about who everyone is while enjoying the great performances. I’ve never watched a competition show from the very beginning of the first season before, and there’s something very exciting about not knowing what to expect.
So you should catch up on The Masked Singer now, and start watching it weekly. And do it now, because it’s not fun if you already know who everyone is — and you’re going to find out immediately if someone like Beyoncé or Lady Gaga shows up, through the news. Since we’ve never seen a show like The Masked Singer, this season is the ultimate opportunity to watch a singing competition like no other.
The Masked Singer airs on Fox Wednesdays at 9 p.m., and you can stream all episodes on Hulu.
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