Masked Singer Reveals Face from Massive Music Act

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After a holiday hiatus, “The Masked Singer” returned to wrap up its fourth round of competition, pitting the four remaining contestants against one another in head-to-head combat.

That meant we got to see two performances from a couple of them, and at this stage of the competition every new opportunity to hear them sing is music to our ears, and hopefully clues for our brains.

So many of these contestants have us totally stumped. This week saw Butterfly, Fox, Thingamajig and Tree hit the stage, and there’s only one we’ve felt remotely confident in our guesses. Remember how easy this was last season?

As expected, no one disappointed vocally tonight, with one battle the closest we’ve seen yet. Even worse, it wasn’t the worst singer who got the boot tonight, proving that popularity of character and personality are having as much to do with vocal ability when it comes to advancing.

The panel, as expected, was all over the place, but Ken Jeong actually pulled off one decent guess on the night, even though the unmasking ultimatley proved him dead wrong. Still, it was nice to see him trying.

Oh and out of nowhere, Nicole threw some serious shade at Nick while flirting with Thingamajig, calling him “a narcissist like all of my exes.” The show quickly threw up a shot of Nicole and Nick together, because they weren’t going to let something that juicy slide, while Nick took it in comedic stride.

In other words, it was a wild night with some great performances and Joel McHale back to try and keep Ken’s artificially inflated ego in check. Trust us, he does not know exactly who this is.

Tonight, the weakest performer got the boot, but we’re going to make you power through the terrible (and occasionally good) guesses made by our illustrious panel of Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger first. We do this because we love … to torture you.

BUTTERFLY v FOX

Butterfly was a little shaky vocally as this one kicked off, but found her confidence as it went along. She also got a little off-pitchin her high notes, but really brought a great vocal performance overall. It’s interesting because she has the chops for this, but seems to lack the belief in herself, so if she is a pro singer it’s hard to imagine her as a lead vocalist or solo star.

Guesses: She admitted to voice insecurities and her latest package had Broadway hints, leaving Jenny still convinced this is Michelle Williams. There was also a clue about sharing the stage with giants (which could mean Beyonce), as well as an image of a football, which could then mean the NY GIants.

Ken took that and ran with it, though not the Giants in particular and thinks this is Kerry Washington showing off her singing side. But the Internet was still feeling pretty confident that this was Michelle’s destiny to do this show, though there were a few very confident outliers.

Fox stripped down his performance to just vocals on Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” and it was absolutely beautiful. His voice is so tender and polished, he had the audience eating out of the palm of his paw with total command.

Guesses: The problem is that when he stripped it all down, he sounded even more like Jamie Foxx than ever before — so if it’s not, kudos to this copycat singer.

He dropped an epic clue on the panel saying he was so glad to be working with his friends, even if his friends don’t know they’re working with him. Could it be Donald Glover, who shared “Community” with both Ken and Joel … except he hasn’t had a 30-year career?

And yet, while Ken thinks it is Jamie Foxx, the others think the costume is too on the money, so Jenny went with Taye Diggs (huh?) and Robin stuck by his AJ McLean guess … which doesn’t sound right at all. The internet, though, is still feeling a Wayne Brady vibe, which remains the best non-Jamie-Foxx guess.

WINNER

This one seemed pretty obvious with the vocal command and confidence from the first note. Butterfly didn’t have that, so Fox had to take this first round, and so it was.

THINGAMAJIG v TREE

Thingamajig leaned into Nicole’s crush throughout his package and even in his adorable performance, which continued to show a very rich and thick vocal talent. We’re still not sure if this is a professional singer, but he has professional-grade ability and an even more impressive range.

Guesses: Going on height alone, Robin thinks Montell Jordan, but we think the costume is making him deceptively taller than he really is. He’s tall, but maybe just a bit over six-foot, we think, with padded shoulders and a tall fake head.

Based on the new clue showing him marrying himself, Jenny again thought of Dennis Rodman as someone who famously did just that. Has he been hiding a voice that strong this long?

Out of nowhere, the internet suddenly started looking at Indana Pacers star VIctor Oladipo after a radio show claimed insider knowledge. Could it be? Would Nicole be ready to date him? There were still a few other guesses, including Kardashian men Blake Griffin and Tristan Thompson.

Tree really came out for a battle with so much grit and power in her voice, she absolutely sounded like a professional singer on that one. She doesn’t give much in stage performance, but it’s clear the show is giving her confidence as she keeps growing week after week.

Guesses: This week’s clue package leaned heavily on “Friends” references, even throwing in a “Smelly Cat,” but would one of those three women do this show? At this point, they all seem to have relaxed a bit with themselves, so it’s possible.

Nicole jumped on that train and went with the obvious guess from those packages by guessing Lisa Kudrow, while Jenny worked her way through “SNL” ladies to settle on Ana Gasteyer, who does have a solid singing voice.

Ken Jeong and Joel McHale threw out guesses of Nia Vardales and Megan Mullally, respectively. This one still has the internet stumped — with Ana Gasteyer finding the most consensus — though they started looking at “Friends” guest stars among their guesses.

WINNER

In this round, the performers were pretty evenly matched vocally, so if we had to give an edge it would go to the personable charm of Thingamajig. After our closest vote yet, And yet, it was Tree who pulled it off, bringing Nicole one round closer to maybe seeing who’s behind the Thingamajig mask.

SMACKDOWN: Butterfly v Thingamajig

Butterfly definitely came into this one as the underdog but she emerged with a powerhouse performance that was easily her strongest yet. She built to an explosive finale that showed off her upper range and nailed it perfectly. That was a fight song and she came out swinging.

Thingamajig brought lots of performance and swagger, but he really didn’t match up vocally to what Butterfly laid down. Usher’s “Caught Up” also wasn’t really a fight song, and so while it sounded like a nice interstitial piece, it didn’t really feel like a battle-worthy performance.

Results: We’d give the edge to Butterfly in that performance, though we know Thingamajig is a fan-favorite. Well, he’s definitely a panel favorite. In the end, though, it was the charisma of Thingamajig that brought triumph, sending poor Butterfly to the unmasking.

UNMASKING: Butterfly

Butterfly has been one of the toughest ones of the season to guess, unless it really is Michelle Williams. The panel started settling down into this pick as well, with both Jenny and Nicole doubling down on Michelle. They even convinced Robin to join their side.

Ken actually did some decent sleuthing of his own, with all three working on the time off theory but Ken leaning into British clues to come up with Mel B. Joel stuck with Spice Girls and went Victoria Beckham, which seems really unlikely.

The ayes since day one got it as it was indeed Michelle Williams, using this as a platform to return to music and regain the confidence she never really should have lost in the first place. Hopefully this gives her the boost to kickstart her next chapter with the strength and success her talent has already earned.

“The Masked Singer” airs back-to-back new episodes next week on Tuesday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

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