The Season 12 Finale

After four months with an amazing Twelfth Season, it was time for it to come to an end with The Finale! I was looking forward to this episode a lot, like I always do with the finales of other seasons, because I know that we would probably be in for four of the best performances of the season. I also felt like this would be the closest finale the show had in a long time, as while other finales have been great with amazing performances from all the contestants involved, there has always been one contestant that was clearly the frontrunner compared to the other ones. This time, Wasp and Buffalos were both equally strong, so it could have gone either way. And, when I found out what songs they were going to perform, I still knew that it could go either way because of how strong all four of their songs were.

The episode started in a very unique way, as it opened with a guest performance from a past contestant. While a past contestant coming back for a guest performance to open the show is nothing new, they have only done this one other time in the finale, which was in Season 5 with LeAnn Rimes, and even then, it was still a performance with the final three contestants. This episode brought back Nick Lachey, who won Season 5, to give a holiday performance of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams, which I thought was a great way to start off the show, and it was nice to hear him sing again. 

After that, it was time for the first performer of the night, which was The Wasp. In his clue package, he said that making it to the finale meant more to him than he could explain and that the experience felt like it was made for him, like he was finally getting the recognition he had been craving. He then said that for a long time in the industry, he has felt underrated, and then went on to say that he started building his empire at a young age, dominated the Billboard charts, and collaborated with the best in the business, including past contestants like Lil Wayne, Vanessa Hudgens, and his Ambassador Ne-Yo, who he has been hitting up for advice the whole time, but he still feels like the industry hasn’t known how vast his talent is. He then said that he feels like he’s constantly being overlooked at times and like people still see him as that cute little kid with that song, but they don’t know the depths of his talent. He then said that being on the show, he felt the opposite, as he felt appreciated, validated, celebrated, all while being anonymous, which somehow makes it feel more real, and it’s also something he will take with him after the show. He then said that he felt his mom with him that night in spirit, and that she had given him wings for his last two performances. He then said that it was time for the biggest clue of the season, as he then spoke in his unfiltered and unaltered voice, which is something that I don’t think the show has ever done. He then went on to give an amazing and beautiful performance of “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars, during which he showed off all the power and emotion he has in his voice. After that, Nick had the panelists go over all their guesses for Wasp throughout the season, and only Rita said the correct answer, which was R&B singer Mario. I was curious as to whether she would be able to convince any of the other panelists by the end of the episode, as while they were all unsure of who it was, Rita didn’t seem as confident as the panelists usually are when they know who someone is.

After that, it was time for The Buffalos to perform. In their clue package, they said that they were feeling kind of emotional making it to the finale, saying that it had been an opportunity to rediscover themselves and their bond in a really cool way. They then said that they felt they had to adapt a lot in their career, but adaptability has been the name of the game since the beginning, and then they said that they had to fight their way out of the hood, they had to overcome the passing of one of the most important people in their lives, and they even had to change their entire sound when they lost a member. They then said that it had been for their fans, for their kids, and for everyone who had stuck with them, and they then thanked Nick Lachey for vouching for them as their Ambassador. They then gave the biggest clue of the season, as they each said one word with their unaltered voices. They then went on to give an amazing performance of “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye, during which they showed off the power they have in their voices and their amazing harmonizing abilities. After that, Nick asked the panelists to go over all their previous guesses for The Buffalos, and Jenny once again confidently and correctly said that they were Boyz II Men, and it seemed like she was beginning to convince Rita as well. At this point, I was wondering how many panelists would guess correctly by the end of the episode.

After that, it was time for Wasp’s second performance of the night, which was “I’m Your Baby Tonight” by Whitney Houston, which allowed him to show off the power in his voice and his amazing dance moves. At this point, I realized that the competition really was closer than I thought it was, as everybody was bringing their all, and my family members who were watching the show were divided on who they wanted to win and who they thought would win. After that, Robin then said that it was the holidays, and he was blessed to have his mom Gloria Loring in the audience for the episode and sitting right behind her was Rita’s husband director Taika Waititi, which I thought was cool.

After that, it was time for the final performance of the season from The Buffalos, who gave an amazing and beautiful performance of “Too Good at Goodbyes” by Sam Smith, during which they showed how much power they have in their voices, their amazing harmonizing abilities, and their ability to sing acapella. After this performance, my dad said to me that they had just won. 

After that, it was time for the studio audience and the panel to vote for the final time this season in order to determine the winner. Nick then announced that the winner of Season 12 of The Masked Singer was The Buffalos, which I thought was very well deserved, and it was also funny that after they were announced as having won, one of them started doing a snow angel on the stage, and they also made history by being the first group to ever win The Masked Singer. This meant that it was time for Wasp to unmask, and as I expected, Rita managed to convince one other panelist to go along with her correct guess, and in this case, it was Robin who agreed with her, and he was then revealed to be R&B singer Mario. What I found funny was that when he was unmasked, he was shown to be wearing a hat that looked similar to the one Ne-Yo had on when he was unmasked. He then said that the reason he did the show was because he has a wild imagination, he has always been into sitcoms and cartoons since he was a kid, and he thinks that as we get older, sometimes we lose that secret of imagination, so this gave him a chance to tap back into being a kid, as he didn’t get a chance to be a kid with his career starting when he was fifteen years old, and before that, he was going from home to home and got adopted when he was thirteen. He then said that it was an amazing experience being on the show, and then he pointed at The Buffalos and told them that he thought he knew who they were and that they were amazing. He then performed his unmasked encore, which was his signature song “Let Me Love You,” which was great because he showed off his vocalizing ability again, and when I wrote about how Mario would be great for the show back in February, this was the song that I said he should perform after being unmasked.

After that, it was time for The Buffalos to be unmasked, and they started with Jenny explaining how she got to her guess, and then the other panelists weighed in on how they agreed with her guess, with Robin saying that what convinced him was the acapella in their final performance, and then all four panelists correctly guessed at the same time that The Buffalos were Boyz II Men. When they unmasked, the panelists, the audience, and Mario, who was off to the side of the stage, were so excited to see them, with the panelists standing on their desk and Mario saying that he knew it. When Nick asked why they did the show, one of the members, Nathan Morris, said that they were excited because when you’re an artist for 30 years, people tend to try to put you in a hold of what you can do and what you can’t do, so they huddled up as they always do and said they are going to start these songs and slide this way and push them that way, try songs that they have never heard them sing before, switch parts around, have people doing stuff they don’t do, and then when the competition got stiff, they had to turn it up. It was then funny when Wanya Morris said that they knew they had to turn it up when in his words, they heard “that,” which he said while they were all pointing at Mario, and then it became a nice moment when Mario said that he wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for them, and Rita then said that this was a moment she would never forget in her whole life of entertainment. When Nick asked them if they had any last words for everybody, they said that they appreciated everyone for allowing them to show their personalities, as they love to have fun, and they show allowed them the opportunity and the platform to have fun, and Wanya then said that they were so grateful to see Nathan smile, as he never smiles. After that, they performed an unmasked encore of their song “Motownphilly,” during which they invited all the panelists on stage and Mario as well, which was also three amazing moments at once for me, as Shawn Stockman was on my list of celebrities I thought would be great for the show, I wrote about how Wanya Morris would be great for the show last November, and in that same post, I wrote about how it would be great to hear them sing “Motownphilly” as their unmasked encore. Shortly after that, I found out that they were originally going to be on Season 9, and their costumes were going to be French Hens, but they had to back out when Wanya got Covid at the last minute. I think it’s better that they were on this season, as if they were in Season 9, the format meant they would have had only one performance or a few more, or we would only get one performance from Bishop Briggs.

Overall, this was another amazing season of The Masked Singer! Season 13 is going to premiere on February 12, and until then I will be making more posts about celebrities that I feel will be great for the show!