[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 12 Episode 3 “Group A Finals: Soundtrack of My Life.”]
We wouldn’t have minded waiting for the latest Masked Singer unmasking!
The Group A Finals saw Ship, Woodpecker, and Buffalo take to the stage and ended with a double elimination. Woodpecker was actress Marsai Martin, and Ship was singer-songwriter Paula Cole—who performed her iconic song “I Don’t Want to Wait” from Dawson’s Creek.
Below, Cole opens up about her time on the show, talks about her music, and more.
You talked about how doing this made you uncomfortable and it pushed you out of your comfort zone. So talk about saying yes. And was there a point in the experience that you felt comfortable?
Paula Cole: Wearing a mask gave me great agency and freedom. I loved having an alter ego and I loved dancing. I loved having choreography and dancers with me. So I was really comfortable with that and I was really comfortable with my anonymity. I loved it.
Did you have to change any of your performances because of the costume?
It was tricky getting me out of the boat in time to hit my mark off the cannon on “Pompeii.” So we had to kind of reconfigure that jump, if you will, because I had to walk up some little stairs inside the ship and then jump and fall into the arms of the dancers who caught me. So we had to kind of work with that a little bit. And I needed a lot of head room and a wide berth. Anytime I’d walk through hallways or curtains, but I got used to her. I miss her actually.
What went into your song choices?
Really only one was my song choice in the end, which was “Because the Night,” the Bruce Springsteen song made famous by Patti Smith, and I love them both so dearly and I wanted to honor them and I love the song. It’s just such a great song. That was my choice. “Pompeii” was not my choice. That was suggested to me by, I think it was the executive producer who thought of it, and I didn’t even know the song. I had to learn it and I wasn’t sure. I was a little reluctant. And then I finally had my aha moment and thought, I can make this mine. I know what to do with it. I literally had never heard that song before, so I learned it before we did the show. And that ended up being probably the best performance of them all, I think. And then “Almost Paradise,” we just had the limitation of choosing songs from the Footloose soundtrack. So you work with that. And again, to me, in my mind, I’m honoring Ann Wilson. I love her. And she sang that song of course in the eighties with Mike Reno.
Talk about the panelists’ guesses, because Jenny [McCarthy Wahlberg] did figure you out.
Jenny knew. She knew. She knew. Not from the first, but very soon after. Nobody else knew. But Jenny knew. She was onto me. She gave me that look. I actually really came away loving Jenny.
Had you come into this expecting anyone from the panel specifically to figure you out?
No idea. I mean, people tend to know my songs more than they know me. I’m pretty shy. I don’t love the spotlight necessarily, so I think I might’ve been a challenge to people who only heard my songs but don’t connect with dots to me. I just didn’t know. And Jenny’s closer to my age than say Rita [Ora] and her being American. She was there at Lilith Fair. So she knows me.
And then talk about performing “I Don’t Want to Wait” at the end because it’s so iconic.
It’s the song of my life. I’m just so lucky to have a song like that that touches people and makes people think of memories. I have my own reasons and my own memories of that song. I wrote it for my grandfather. I wrote it for him because he came home from World War II. He fought in the Battle of Okinawa in World War II, and he came home with PTSD and it affected my whole family. And I’m just writing about generational trauma and wanting to do better in my life. That’s what “I Don’t Want to Wait” is about. But people have their own associations, of course. And it’s beautiful to see what happens with an audience when I sing that song—everybody sings along. So it is the song of my life. I feel lucky for that.
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What are you going to take away from the entire experience?
I am going to take away that I was a snob. [Laughs] I was a snob about it at first. And I think it’s healthy to kind of deconstruct yourself and see what your own issues and boundaries are and see how you can grow beyond them. And I came away having a really fun time. I have old folks, really old folks now who watch a lot of television. This brings them joy, my kids, it brings them joy. So it’s not about me. It’s rather, it’s about giving some joy.
Did your family know you were doing this or are you surprising them with it?
Well, the thing is, nobody in my family would watch the show otherwise. So I had to tell them. [Laughs] I had to tell them, you might want to watch this show. And then of course, they all know when they hear my voice. So it’s been great fun. It’s such a family. It’s such a family show. It appeals to my old folks and my kids. It’s great. It’s cross-generational.
What surprised you the most about being on the show?
I think just the inner workings of a television show, that was fascinating and surprising. It’s much smaller than it seems and it looks when you’re on the other side of watching the show on television. When you’re in it, it’s intimate and there are intricate working parts and I’m just so deeply impressed with the crew, those costume designers and sewers, my costume team, they were incredible people. It’s such, I don’t know, a wonderful constellation of working people and artists. So I was impressed with the machinery of the show. Being on the inside was fascinating. So I came away with the respect for those people putting on this television show. And it’s a little more intimate than you’d think.
And we recently got that album from you. Is there more new music on the way from you?
Well, I consider myself a writer first before I consider myself a singer, and I am winding down my touring the end of the month. I’ve had a year of touring and come November I’m going to be launching into some writing projects, so working on musical and working on a book. That’s next.
The Masked Singer, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox
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