‘The Masked Singer’: How Lamp’s Costume Was a Callback to Her ’90s Show
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 9 Episode 9, “Masked Singer in Space.”]
The Masked Singer was out of this world with its latest theme night, in which two more contestants were eliminated.
Dandelion returned and faced off against Lamp and UFO. After Dandelion was sent home (and unmasked, revealed to be actress and singer Alicia Witt), the other two faced off in the Battle Royale. Then, UFO moved on, while Lamp was eliminated, and under the mask was actress Melissa Joan Hart.
Below, Hart opens up about her experience on the show.
What made you say yes to doing The Masked Singer?
Melissa Joan Hart: My whole life, I’ve always kind of run into a challenge. If there’s something I really don’t want to do and I feel like I shouldn’t do it or it’s too scary, I immediately have to do it. I learned that young, I learned that in my teen years. I was on a rafting trip, and there was this chance to jump out of the raft and climb up this hillside and jump off and into the river, but you had to do it at the right time, or at the raft would float down the stream without you. I just remember feeling like, “I will regret this the rest of my life if I don’t do this.” And I did it, and I was so proud of myself. I always think of that, literally jumping off the cliff, as my moment of, “I have to do it. I don’t want to regret it.” I feel like you only regret things in your life you don’t do.
Singing in front of people is literally my worst nightmare. So when this came up, and I’d seen all my peers do it, I was like, “I gotta do this.” The mask really sealed the deal for me. The fact that I would be completely anonymous until it was over was a huge relief and probably the only reason I ended up doing it.
Speaking of the mask, what appealed to you about the Lamp?
I was so excited. They apparently had this costume in the works for a little while and were trying to find the right person to wear it. I thought it was beautiful, a little sexy with the corset and stuff. And it spoke to a piece of Sabrina, where on set, there was a Tiffany lamp on her bedside for seven years. So it had that little bit of nostalgia, almost like a little Easter egg clue. And it just was so fun.
But it was very difficult to wear because of how big and heavy the headpiece was. I had to have a beam down my back. The wardrobe team did an amazing job making me feel comfortable and safe. But there’s so many layers, and you get so claustrophobic because you’re wearing a balaclava, and then you have all the pieces in your face so they can’t see your face. And then you have the back brace and the corset that goes over, and then there were these additional pieces on my hips and my legs and big old, uncomfy shoes. You’re out there trying to move, and you just feel a little stiff because if I moved, the lamp piece would go with me. So basically, my whole thing was, “Don’t make a fool yourself, and don’t fall.” Those were my two goals for myself.
Michael Becker/FOX
How much could you see?
Not at all. I couldn’t really put my head down, so I had to keep my head level, and so I had maybe a four-inch window where I could see. I would just try to mark my steps. There was only one place on the floor I was worried about. There was a gap in the floor where the camera goes through. And I was just worried about tripping on that because I had done that in rehearsal. I think you can see the one place where I sort of stutter-step a second to just make sure I get over that. Then I just tried to get to the middle and not move too much.
Before I agreed to do this show, I thought the stage was a regular stage, like a theater stage where you have one side that goes to the audience. I didn’t realize it’s a round stage. I was like, “I could fall off at any point.” [Laughs] So I tried to keep my movements kind of minimal. And luckily, they have big security guys that come and take your hand and help you. I knew they had me, so all I had to do was make it through my song.
What went into your song choice [“Venus” by Bananarama]?
Because it was Space Week, I wanted to do Katy Perry’s “E.T.,” and I had been working on that, but then I guess they couldn’t clear the rights to it. I just thought that would be funny, even though Katy Perry is an incredible voice, and nobody wants to be compared to her. I thought that one, I could kind of do some breathy talking and have some fun with it being sexy.
Then I just started digging through all the Spotify songs that were about space. My husband [Mark Wilkerson] is a musician and singer, so he helped me find something in my range — I just learned all these terms — that I could make work for me. “Venus” just seemed like the most fun because it was something from the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, and just fun, campy, silly. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. I don’t have to be too melodic with it. I think it was a perfect choice for me.
Talk about the panelists’ guesses. Three of them did guess you.
I know! Maybe the clue package was a little too easy, but I think it was interesting to see how many people they chose, too. They all just kept throwing out names of different people. I thought it was interesting to say Jennifer Love Hewitt or Alyssa Milano because she also played a witch in Charmed. I thought that there were some good guesses there, for sure, and I loved hearing that, just who else I could be.
So did you come into this expecting anyone from the panel to figure you out?
I don’t know. I feel like there was a good chance. I get recognized by my voice a lot actually in public. People will hear my voice and kind of follow me down a food aisle at the grocery store, or one time I had someone turn around on horseback because they heard my voice. So I was kind of worried that my voice would give me away. But I think the clue package was helpful enough to distract them in different directions. Honestly, I probably was so concerned about the singing I couldn’t even think about that. I didn’t even care if they guessed me. Because I was like, “I just don’t want to fall or embarrass myself by singing completely offkey.”
Michael Becker/FOX
What was your approach to that Battle Royale against UFO?
It’s funny, I probably never really ever wished to be voted off anything before or lose, but at that point, I was like, “I’m so embarrassed.” I don’t think anyone should sing “Rocket Man” except for Elton [John]. That is such a hard song to sing. It was completely opposite of “Venus.” I could not figure out how to sing that song where I made it my own. I just think I’m not a trained enough singer to know how to make something their own really, and so I was trying to do it Elton, which is a huge mistake. But once it was over, I was like, “OK, I’m ready to go home.” [Laughs] As much as I want to win and I’m a competitive spirit. I was like, “I don’t think I can learn another song and try to do this again.”
What are you going to take away from the entire experience?
My husband went out to LA with me, kind of held my hand through the whole thing because I was so petrified, and he said the best thing to me. I was leaving to go to a rehearsal, and he said something like, “Have fun,” and I said, “I’ll try.” And he goes, “Well, if you don’t have fun, then what the hell are we doing here?” That just spoke to me in a way that let me know, when am I ever going to dress up like this again and sing this song, belt it out in front of hundreds of people and eventually millions on television, and just have fun with this? I just had to embrace the whole experience and take it for what it was worth, which was just to have fun. It was for me to overcome a fear, for my kids to see me just be silly and not take myself too seriously.
So do your kids know that you did this yet?
My little one heard me singing in the shower, and he comes in, and he goes, “No, just no, Mom,” telling me, “You can’t — why are you singing?” While hearing conversations with my husband, he came around to it and figured it out. And I was really proud of him. He kept this secret with me the whole time, and he was probably the only one that knew what my song was. It was just a fun thing for the two of us to have as our little secret. He’s super excited to watch it tonight. He hasn’t seen it, so all he’s heard is me singing in the shower. [Laughs]
What are you enjoying most about your podcast?
I love doing it. It’s such fun. It’s such a great place to go, just be me, talk to my friends, [and] have fun guests on. I never really watched TV before, so to be able to watch TV and movies and read books and then review them and talk about them has been really fun for the last year. We’re going to launch one tonight, right after I’m revealed on the West Coast, a special Masked Singer episode. I get to dive into the details of what happened [and] the prep leading up to me being on [it].
The Masked Singer, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox
