‘Masked Singer’s Bull: How ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ Helped Him Figure Out Queen Of Hearts’ Identity
‘The Masked Singer’s Bull is your season 6 second-place winner. HL spoke EXCLUSIVELY with the singer about his final performance and the moment he recognized the Queen of Hearts’ voice.
Todrick Hall was unmasked as the Bull during The Masked Singer season 6 finale. Todrick was the runner-up to the Queen of Hearts, who was revealed as Jewel. Despite coming in second place, Todrick couldn’t imagine not having had this experience.
HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Todrick about the decision to do the show and how he decided on Hunter Hayes’ “Invisible” as his final performance. He also revealed how The Wizard of Oz helped him recognize Jewel’s voice. Read our Q&A below:
What made you decide you wanted to do The Masked Singer?
Todrick Hall: I have seen so many of my friends do the show from Tori Kelly to Wayne Brady to Kandi Burruss to Jojo Siwa, so many of my friends have done it and talked about what a great experience it was. I also have always been fascinated since I was a child… before I ever took dance class I learned how to dance from watching the Disney Christmas parade. One of my dreams was to be a costume character at Disney World or Six Flags, and I never got to live out that dream. So when they called and asked, I decided to jump on board. I’m also very, very shy about singing and so nervous. Oftentimes, I’m like it’s not worth it. For me to lose sleep and be stressing out for weeks and weeks and weeks on end about how my voice is going to sound because I’ve always had a naturally raspy voice. I just was very, very nervous about it. But because the pandemic was so difficult for us as performers, I just said, you know what, when things open up again, when you get opportunities don’t take them for granted like you did pre-COVID. Like, definitely take advantage of the opportunities. With me getting ready to go on my next world tour and releasing new music next year, I just thought it was a great opportunity to introduce myself to a bunch of people who might not have ever heard of me.
You were definitely one of the most memorable performers I think we’ve ever had on the show. Performing in a costume of this magnitude is a little bit different than probably what you’re used to. What was it like performing in that costume?
Todrick Hall: I’m so grateful that I got a costume with two legs and two arms, first of all. The hooves were a little bit difficult to do the dance thing and hold the microphone with the hoove. But I just am one of those people that if I’m going to do something, I’m all in 100 million percent. In the first couple of episodes, I was a little bit nervous because you can’t really see out of the costume and the feet add about six inches to my actual foot. So dancing was difficult, but once I figured out how to move in my hooves and how to trust that I wish that I could follow my light and that I wouldn’t fall off the stage, I just started challenging myself every single week because I felt like if this were a game of chess my strategy would be to infuse my singing ability with my performance ability and my dance background. Because the audience is a huge part of the voting factor, and I wanted them to feel something in the room and bring something different to it than just standing and thinking about it. You know, that’s not my strong suit. So many people are great at that, but I don’t think that’s what makes me as an artist special. I just wanted to be able to dance, and I just kept challenging myself and playing in the costume. Sometimes they’d be like, you don’t have to rehearse in the costume. I was rehearsing it every single time because I wanted to see what I was capable of and push the boundaries of what the costume designers even thought I could do when I said to them, “I think I want to do a split in the circus number.” They were like, “What?” I was like, “I really think I can do it.” It was just fun to keep evolving, keep pushing the boundaries, and asking for permission to go off the walls and do ridiculous things in that a huge costume because it’s massive. I recently just shot something at my house with it, and my dancers were there and they’re like, “It’s so much bigger in real life than it looks.” It makes me look like I’m seven feet tall. There’s so much padding and muscles on it. It was like this gigantic King Kong gorilla. It was so much fun.
For your final performance, you sang “Invisible” by Hunter Hayes. Nicole Scherzinger was tearing up over the performance. What was your reaction to seeing her be so moved by your performance?
Todrick Hall: It really moved me. I had to stop myself from surrendering to start crying because I know that I’m not a pretty crier. I know that it’s difficult for me to come back and be able to talk after that, but I’ve cried so many times listening to that song. I know that Hunter Hayes is a great, fit white man, but when he wrote those lyrics, it felt like he had handcrafted them for me. I connected to that song so much. There have been so many times when I was in a dark place and remembered what my life was like when I was in high school. I just have listened to that song so many times, and I felt like it was such an awesome opportunity. I was toying with singing that or “Over the Rainbow,” which is one of my favorite songs of all time. I’m a huge Wizard of Oz fan. But then I thought about legacy wise, if you don’t get that many opportunities to perform in front of millions of people, what do you want to say? There are so many kids that are living in houses right now with parents and family members who don’t understand them, and they don’t feel understood at school. I go on tour every year, and I get to meet these kids and hear their stories. It’s heartbreaking for me, so I took that moment to sing that song and hope that I would be able to bless some kid out there who feels misunderstood. I’m so glad that Nicole connected with it in her own way because that’s the beautiful thing about music. You can write lyrics and a melody for one reason and something that’s personal to you. It’s something that you’re going through, but you have no choice of how it is perceived and perceived by the audience that hears it and how blessed somebody is when they hear it. That’s what I love about music, and I don’t know what it did for her, but I’m happy that it touched her in some way.
Were you surprised by the Queen of Hearts? Did you have any idea who she was before she was unmasked?
Todrick Hall: I did not have any idea who she was, but when I was hearing her sing “Firework,” I heard a little bit of it. The only reason I knew her voice is — obviously, I’ve heard Jewel songs before — but like I said, I’m a huge Wizard of Oz fan, and Jewel played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz live in concert with so many incredible performers. I was just like, oh my gosh, I recognize that voice because it was a huge part of my childhood watching that live concert so much. Her voice is so recognizable, so it was really cool to make it to the end of the competition. Not even just with Jewel but the fact that I hung in there and made it a competition where two people I was competing against were like Toni Braxton and Katharine McPhee and David Foster and freakin’ Faith Evans. It’s mind-boggling to me that I made it in and kept going into the competition where those people are competing with me. It’s given me a newfound confidence. I’m working on new albums and normally I just write fun, hooky lyrics and rap them, but now I’m thinking a little bit more on my album coming up because I’ve gotten a new confidence in my singing voice from doing the show. It was really helpful for me and a good break from the things that I usually do. I’m just so glad that I said yes. I can’t imagine not having had that opportunity.