‘The Masked Singer’: Royal Knight Reveals Last-Minute Song Change

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 12 Episode 9 “Group C Finals: A Peanuts Thanksgiving.”]

What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family than by watching a show that everyone can enjoy? An episode of The Masked Singer aired on the holiday.

In the Group C Finals, two celebrities were eliminated and unmasked: Actress and singer Jana Kramer was Royal Knight, and baseball player Bronson Arroyo was Sherlock Hound. Below, Kramer opens up about her experience on the show, a last-second song change, and more.

What made you say yes to doing The Masked Singer? Did you have any hesitations?

Jana Kramer: No, I didn’t have any. It was a show that I’ve always watched as a fan, and my kids love the show as well, so I think they screamed louder than I did, but I was so excited. I remember sitting on the couch getting a text from the casting director and the producer asking if I wanted to do the show, and I got up and screamed and my husband was like, wait, what show is it? He had never seen it, but me and the kids love it.

Talk about that costume and the appeal of it. You talked a bit in your clue package about your reaction to it, but also looked like it may have been not as difficult to move in, I imagine, as others.

I think any of those costumes are hard to move in. Mine was definitely easier to move in, but you can’t see anything out of those masks, so you’re looking through a coffee filter lens, so it’s definitely hard to see. But the costume designers do a really good job of trying to make you as comfortable as you can be for alterations and stuff. But I loved the message behind the Knight, just with everything that I’ve been through in my life. So it’s just that part fit at least to the storyline.

Were there any major alterations that had to be made to the costume for your performances?

No, I mean, they had all my measurements. They kept adding on things last minute. But no, I mean, they’re so talented, that team. So I mean, they had it down to, by the time I got to Los Angeles for the wardrobe fitting, it was just minor things they had to kind of fix. And then the ponytail was a bit heavy, so they had to just kind of adjust that in the mask.

What went into your song choices?

Honestly, that was one of the hardest parts because you’re not allowed to repeat songs. So there’s a lot of songs and I’m like, oh, I want to sing this song and that song, and I couldn’t because they had already been sung before. So that definitely made it a little bit challenging. But again, the song supervisor producer on the show, he was fantastic with a kind of finding songs that fit well with my voice, and I was like, there are certain ranges I definitely can’t do. So I mean, the whole experience was so just easy and everyone was just wanted you to enjoy your time and that was what it was. But for the songs, I wanted to come out with an upbeat one, and I love Lady Gaga, that version. And then for Miley Cyrus Night, “When I Look at You” was not a song that I was familiar of, but now it’s one of my favorite songs.

And then “Holiday” by Madonna. I like how you said that the performance was for your kids. That was really sweet.

Yeah, I mean, they’re the best. And so I knew how excited they would be if they got a little shout-out.

Talk about the panelists’ guesses and listening to them because Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg did figure you out.

She did. It’s so crazy though. There’s so many people that slid into my DMs after the first episode I was in aired, and they were like, oh my gosh, we knew you’re the Royal Knight. And obviously I couldn’t say anything, but I was actually surprised how many people guessed me. I don’t know. But I guess if they’ve listened to my music before, they saw any of my shows, I mean, I guess that’s how they figured it out. But I’m quite shocked. I mean, the people that are diehards for The Masked Singer, too, I mean, they were also saying it was me, too. So I mean, they do some great guesses, but I also think, yeah, Jenny eventually got me for sure, but they had some other good guesses in there too with the clue package.

Had you come into this expecting anyone from the panel to figure you out?

I had a feeling Jenny would just because she was just on my podcast and we had a lot of conversations about relationships and hardships, and so I had a feeling once they did that podcast clue that Jenny was going to get me for sure.

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You talked about people DMing you, but have you been hearing from friends, family, co-stars about you recognizing it was you?

Yeah. So you sign an NDA and all that stuff, and to not say anything and not tell anybody. So truly the only people that knew was my husband, my kids, obviously my ex-husband, because I was FaceTiming with the kids when I was on the show and he was like, what are you doing and why are you dressed up like that? So those are the only people that knew. And then my husband’s son. But besides that, I mean it’s funny because I got a text message from my sister-in-law and she’s like, Hey, were you going to tell me you had an alter ego named the Knight, the Royal Knight? And I was like, oh s**t, sorry, I forgot to tell you. Yeah, that that’s me. Yeah, so it was funny. They had no idea.

What are you going to take away from the entire experience?

I think just the fact that you could really—I just went out there and I had so much fun, and I think sometimes we take things a little bit too seriously at times, and I think with that show, it’s just a reminder to have fun and not take everything so serious and to just have a good time with things.

What surprised you the most about being on the show?

Probably how much I just enjoyed going out on stage, not worrying so much. I feel like when I go on stage other times and I’m not masked, I’m more cautious. I’m more worried about what people think about me or if my voice sounds okay. And on the show, I just really just went out and had fun and it didn’t matter who I was or who was under the mask, it was just that I put on a good show, and I think that was something that I definitely am taking with me.

Did you have a genre of music that you would’ve liked to tackle if you had continued on?

I really wanted to do a Lauren Daigle song. I wanted to do “Rescue” by Lauren Daigle. That was something that I thought was going to be cool because the whole Knight thing. But no, I mean, honestly, just the ones that would connect with the fans. We actually had a last-second change. I was supposed to be doing an Ariana Grande song this Thanksgiving episode, but we changed it just because we just weren’t vibing on the song. So that last episode was a last-second change. I was learning, even though I knew the “Holiday” lyrics. I mean, it was pretty much the day of we changed the song.

Which Ariana Grande song?

It was one of her new ones. I honestly didn’t even know it at all. I love Ariana Grande, but I was like, I don’t know this song.

The Masked Singer, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox