SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains the name of the winner and runner-up from Wednesday night’s (Dec. 18) season 12 finale of The Masked Singer.
It was another wild and wooly season on The Masked Singer, with the 12th go-round of the series welcoming everyone from former superstar NFL QB John Elway (Leaf Sheep) and surfer Bethany Hamilton (Macaron), to actors Yvette Nicole Brown (Showbird), Laverne Cox (Chess Piece), Jana Kramer (Royal Knight) and Drake Bell (Ice King), as well as former Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter (Dust Bunny).
There were, of course, some professional singers in the mix too, including Paula Cole (Ship), Natalie Imbruglia (Bluebell) and AJ Michalka (Strawberry Shortcake). But when the last notes rung out, it was one of the all-time-great vocal groups that won out over one of their fellow R&B crooners.
On their route to the winner’s circle, three-person masked marvels Buffalos were all over the map when it came to their musical choices, from an impressive early take on Cutting Crew’s 1986 hit “(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight,” to a soulful run through Foreigner’s ultimate power ballad “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and a no-notes, touching cover of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One.”
And though the judges were sure they were members of a soul singing crew, Buffalos kept trying to keep Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, Robin Thicke and Rita Ora off the scent with sing-alongs and sing-offs on Fall Out Boys’ “High Hopes,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and a slam-dunk semifinal torching of Toto’s yacht rock anthem “Africa.”
In the end, though, after nearly being eliminated while trying to keep viewers and the judges guessing, they pulled out an absolutely stunning take on Sam Smith’s “Too Good at Goodbyes” on Wednesday night’s finale, leaving little doubt that their old pal McCarthy-Wahlberg was right all along.
When the wooly heads came off, it was none other than Boyz II Men‘s Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris who triumphed over Wasp, fellow R&B singer Mario. Billboard spoke with the trio before their elimination to talk about how the show challenged their nearly four-decade onstage rhythm, why they kept picking such seemingly out-there songs, and how they ended up on a Christmas tune with football’s Kelce brothers.
Why Buffalos? Those costumes seemed crazy heavy and hot.
Nathan: I like the power. I like the strength, I like the unity, the whole crew, the herd. … It’s everything about who we are. Everybody had their roles, but at the same time we know what we need to do to make the pack stronger.
Wanya: Extremely [hot in there]. I’m talking about water, sweat running down every aspect, every orifice.
Nathan: I almost hyperventilated in that joint and I’m normally not like that. When you’re in there you have to give a lot more energy than you would to get the costume to have personality. You’re like a mascot. It’s hell in there, bro. Doing that, and singing and staying in key and doing routines? That sh– ain’t easy!
You all have been in sync for decades, but on the show you couldn’t see each other or watch each other’s mouths move. Was that a challenge?
Shawn: It was almost like wearing a football helmet, where you only have a certain line of sight. You had to turn your whole body to communicate and then turn around and all you saw was what the mask allowed you to see. We had in-ears [monitors], so we could hear the mix, but then the music and the crowd are going, it gets your adrenaline up and you’re trying to put on a character. It’s a lot of information in those few minutes, outside of trying to sound good and stay on key.
Wanya: The only thing you could see through was the nose. The eyes were up here [points to forehead], so it was like a cone.
We’re used to smooth R&B from you, but you really stretched out with songs by Toto, The Verve, OneRepublic, Shania Twain, Fall Out Boy — were you trying to throw people off the scent?
Nathan: We tried to trick people. We all thought, “They’re gonna know us right away,” so we had to pick different songs and each guy had to sing a different part than they normally do. So we did that and as we got further along in the battles, we almost got kicked off, so it didn’t work and we decided, “Just let ’em have it!”
Shawn: The cool thing was the irony that with the masks on we were able to be ourselves. Those songs were representative of who we are, not just an R&B group. All those songs you hear us sing are ones we listened to as kids, the genres we love and songs that allowed us to display who Boyz II Men really is.
Your voices are so instantly recognizable apart and together. Were there people who figured it out right away?
Wanya: Yeah, Jenny [McCarthy-Wahlberg] knows us. We’ve been on the road with her a few times with [husband] Donnie [Wahlberg]. She knowns our mannerisms and has heard our voices night after night when we were on a package tour with the New Kids [on the Block]. She knew right away. We tried to be less recognizable, but then we were pushed to the bottom two and were like, “Hell no!”
You’ve had some many unique experiences in your career. Was this one of the most unusual things you’ve done?
Wanya: Absolutely. It really fits up there with one of the most different things Boyz II Men have done in our career, with the closing ceremonies of the Olympics when we did the national anthem [at the 1996 Games].
What was it about being behind a mask that appealed to you? What did you want to prove?
Nathan: No expectations. When you hear Boyz II Men in your mind, you expect it to sound a certain way, but when we don’t have those expectations you can go anywhere you want.
Wanya: Watching the show last night and looking at Nate, who was the green Buffalo, I swear you would never know it was Nate in that suit because Nate doesn’t perform like that — he’s mellow, smooth. He looked like me in that Buffalo suit! He was super-animated and I was so happy to see it.
Nathan: I was just trying to throw them off. I was having fun because this is what I do when I’m around my crew.
Were you able to still do some of your patented choreo in those costumes?
Wanya: We had to switch it up for sure, the feet were big, bro. The feet… and that head!
Nathan: I stepped on Shawn like three or four times.
On the finale, you impressed with Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which rocked. But you really made Sam Smith’s “Too Good at Goodbyes” your own. It sounded like it could have been your single.
Nathan: That’s when the gloves came off.
Shawn: We knew we had to go full-out Boyz II Men on the last show, and by that time there were a lot of people who were clued in on it being us, so we were like, “Let’s do Boyz II Men things!”
Wanya: We had an inkling of who we were going against [Wasp], and that dude is no joke!
Nathan: We weren’t supposed to know, but we [could tell] who it was.
You said Jenny knew, but she also mentioned B2K, and Robin thought it could be the Jonas Brothers or the rest of 98 Degrees [minus their show mentor Nick Lachey] or Big Time Rush. Always wrong Ken Jeong went with Bell Biv DeVoe, Bone Thugs -N-Harmony or Tony! Toni! Toné! There were also guesses of Earth, Wind & Fire and Blackstreet. Your thoughts?
Shawn: Some of that was a bit off, like Bone Thugs? No offense to the Thuggers.
Since it’s the holidays, tell us about your collab with the Kelce brothers on their “It’s Christmastime (In Cleveland Heights)” single.
Shawn: They reached out to us and they felt like we were synonymous with the idea that they had for the song and it was fun. It’s always cool to do things like that because they’re unexpected and we’ve been in this business for over 30 years. At this point, we’re just trying to do things that are interesting or fun or funny or something that pushes the boundaries of what a group at this point in our lives can do. Not only that, but it was for a good cause, for charities and some of our personal charities. And, it’s the Kelces! They’re the hottest brother duo in the country right now.
We know they can ball, but most importantly: How do you rate their vocals?
Nathan: You know… they ain’t bad! They did their thing. They are really good at football and they do that really, really good and they did that well, and I think that’s what their lot in life is. No diss, but they were great.
Wanya: How about this? They did that better than some of us would run a 9 route. I’ll tell you that!