When a 22-year-old West Coast rapper and reformed ex-gang member named Anthony Terrell Smith — soon to be better known as Tone Lōc — stepped into a “hot-ass closet” in a “raggedy part of Hollywood” to record ”Wild Thing,” he certainly didn’t expect that track to sell 2.5 million copies, let alone dominate MTV (with a lo-fi music video, shot by then-rising director Tamra Davis, on a meager $400 budget).

And of course, he definitely never imagined that he’d end up cosplaying as the Handyman on The Masked Singer 37 years later, at nearly age 60.

But so many developments in Lōc’s loco life have not been foreseeable. For instance, his signature rasp (which Yo! MTV Raps-raised Masked Singer judge Robin Thicke instantly identified) was the “unexpected benefit” of a childhood accident when he “snuck and drank” some of his mom’s freshly brewed hot tea and damaged his throat. And he “was not expecting to be in the music business or an entertainer at all,” and was “planning on probably going into real estate or something like that”… until a random referral by his cousin/early manager led to a fateful meeting with former Jean-Michel Basquiat studio assistant and eventual Beastie Boys/Dust Brothers associate Matt Dike.

“Two days later, next thing I know, we were starting to make a record,” says Tone, who became the very first signing to Delicious Vinyl, Dike’s indie record label that also helped launch the careers of Young MC, the Pharcyde, the Brand New Heavies, and Mellow Man Ace.

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“[Dike] was a white guy, basically a cool dude with long blond hair… the type of guy you would look at and be like, ‘Nah, he’s just some sort of stoner or whatever; he does not look like he knows music,’” Tone recalls with a chuckle. “But this guy knew everything, from blues to hip-hop to country to rock ‘n’ roll. He knew it all. He had it all in there. In fact, he had so many records in one room [of his apartment] that the owner of the building had to come and ask him to remove the albums — because they were starting to sink into the lower level, coming into the apartment below!”

Tone says it was “totally a Matt Dike thing” to sample classic rock on his debut album, Lōc-ed After Dark — like a pastiche of Foreigner, the Rolling Stones, KISS, Free, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive on his second hit, “Funky Cold Medina,” and, more famously (and more problematically, since it prompted an $180,000 copyright lawsuit), the guitar riff from Van Halen’s “Jamie’s Cryin’” on his first hit. In fact, Lōc admits that he’d never even heard “Jamie’s Cryin’” before he recorded “Wild Thing.”

“I wasn’t familiar with the [Eddie Van Halen] guitar part at all,” he says. “I think [Dike and Delicious Vinyl co-founder Michael Ross] were searching for the bridge of trying to cross over [to pop and rock audiences]. They were more familiar with that, because I had never even heard of the pop charts before.” And while Tone might have been a bit hesitant or skeptical, he decided to give it a shot. “I mean, the beat wasn’t [my style] at first, but I’m like, ’I’ll work it out. I’ll do something to it.’ And it worked out fine.”

Tone reveals that “Wild Thing’s” iconic opening line, “Let’s do it,” was actually an ad-lib, because he was so uncomfortable recording in Dike’s unventilated closet-turned-makeshift studio in East Hollywood. “When I said, ‘Let’s do it,’ it wasn’t like, let’s do a song. I’m like, ‘Let’s do it, because I’m tired of being hot up in here right now!’ … I was like, let’s do it, because it was hot, like, ‘I’m ready to get the hell up out of there!’” he laughs. “That’s why I was ready. Let’s do it and get the hell out. … I did it in, I would say, probably like three takes.”

Lōc-ed After Dark sold double-platinum, went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart (making it the first album by a Black rap musician to top the Billboard 200), yielded two top three Billboard Hot 100 singles, and even earned Lōc two Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist. (Fun fact: He lost in that category to the soon-to-be-disgraced Milli Vanilli.) So, it’s surprising that he only released one other album after that, 1991’s less successful but still gold-certified Cool Hand Lōc, and then, after recording “Ace Is in the House” with Jim Carrey in 1994 for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (in which he also played police Sergeant Emilio), he never released any music again.

Tone admitted he felt “pressure” to follow up his debut LP. Delicious Vinyl had unexpectedly exploded and would soon form a partnership with major label Atlantic Records, and, according to a petition that Ross eventually filed in L.A. Superior Court, Dike was beginning to “abdicate responsibility and management” of the label. (Ross later retained ownership of Delicious Vinyl; Dike died of cancer in 2018.) But regardless of any music-business complications and machinations behind the scenes, it was simply impossible for Lōc to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle (or lightning-in-a-closet) magic he’d created in Dike’s stuffy, humble home studio, back when he and the label were working with no set parameters or expectations.

“For some reason, [Delicious Vinyl] didn’t put in the effort for my second album they’d put in for the first one, so it kind got all messed up in certain ways,” laments Tone. “I didn’t see it in the beginning, but I saw what they really wanted to do. They weren’t really concerned with the rest of the album; they just wanted two particular songs. They’re like, ‘Just let us have two, and you can go on and do the rest and make your own beats and do whatever.’ And the songs that they made, pretty much, it was right when hip-hop was changing straight into the gangsta-type thing, hardcore. So, what they were trying to do was not happening anymore. That type of style, like ‘Wild Thing,’ was over.”

Lōc branched into acting for a while — not just with Ace Ventura, but with roles in films like The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Poetic Justice, Juice, Heat, Spy Hard, and Car 54, Where Are You?; TV shows like Touched By an Angel, NewsRadio, Living Single, Martin; and animated voiceover work in Bebe’s Kids and King of the Hill — so he decided to “just chill for a while” musically. He insists that he “wasn’t concerned about making any new albums,” since a music career had never been his Plan A. “It wasn’t something that I wanted to do anyway,” he shrugs. But even though he stopped making records, he never stopped playing concerts.

“I perform every weekend. It’s amazing,” Tone grins. “People are still surprised. They’re like, ‘You still do shows?’ But I’ve never really stopped. … I still love doing those songs. Those songs are for people of my age and my era. People tell me, ‘Oh, it brings me back to high school, it brings me back to college or my younger days.’ I hear all the good stuff about those songs, so I love it. Of course, you might hear something… somebody might post something here and there negative about it. But for the most part, people just really want to smile and have a good time and dance to those songs.”

Regarding negative reactions, Lōc is specifically referring to “Funky Cold Medina,” which is a stone-cold classic, but has some lyrics that admittedly haven’t aged very well. He doesn’t address the (in retrospect) transphobia of the song’s third verse about “Sheena,” which (much like the cringey, transphobic Lois Einhorn/Ray Finkle subplot in Ace Ventura) passed for humor in the ‘80s/‘90s. But he does address the fact that the raunchy song, which is about an aphrodisiac adult beverage that render anyone who imbibes it irresistible to the opposite sex, has in recent years been wrongly criticized for supposedly glorifying date rape.

“I just saw something [on social media] about ‘Funky Cold Medina,’ like, ‘Oh, he’s the guy that likes to drug women and get ‘em drunk or give some sort of drug and do whatever.’ … It’s nothing like that,” Tone stresses. “Whatever, you get some of the good and some of the bad. But for the most part, everything is all good and people absolutely love those songs. Well, not everybody. … But you have no idea: I go all over the country, and to other countries, all over, and [audiences love the music] in places that you would not believe.”

While Tone hasn’t released music in more than three decades, he reveals that he does plan to finally record a new single this year, which will hopefully capitalize on his elevated post-Masked Singer profile. “I have a record that I do in my shows, called ‘Hey, What’s Up?,’ that gets a bigger reaction than ‘Wild Thing’ or ‘Funky Cold Medina,’ so that’s pretty surprising. And with the success of that song, I think I will go for it. Why not?” he says. “I’m telling you now, you can look for that single. I’m going to put that out. Will it be in the summertime? I don’t know if I’ll have time, but right after the summer, probably.”

While “Hey, What’s Up?” evokes Tone Lōc’s classic era, sampling the instantly recognizable monster riff from AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” times have changed. When the artist formerly known as the Handyman eventually records the party track, he won’t be doing it in some raggedy, un-air-conditioned apartment closet.

“No, that’s not happening,” he laughs. “Definitely not.”

When Tony-, Emmy-, Grammy-, and SAG Award-winning star of stage and screen Dick Van Dyke appeared as the Gnome on The Masked Singer in 2023 — setting a still-unbroken record for the oldest contestant in the series’ seasons (he was 97 years young at the time) — the judges were honored and exhilarated to be in what host Nick Cannon called “the presence of greatness.” Judge Nicole Scherzinger told the legend through tears, “You’re our childhood,” while Ken Jeong said, “You are comedy,” and Jenny McCarthy-Walhberg exclaimed, “You’re the G.O.A.T.!”

“But nobody guessed me! Which is funny,” Van Dyke chuckled over the phone to me the day after his reveal, recalling that before he removed his pointy-hatted elf-head, the panel actually speculated that he was Dustin Hoffman, Mel Brooks, or even Robert DeNiro. “Wait just a minute. Those guys can’t sing!”

Van Dyke certainly can sing, and he can do just about everything else, better than most men one-third his age. As I caught up with the beloved now-centenarian, he discussed a few highlights from his more than 75-year career, from his controversial Mary Poppins Cockney brogue, to Mary Tyler Moore’s scandalous slacks on The Dick Van Dyke Show, to the 60th anniversary of Bye Bye Birdie and how that role changed his “entire life.” And of course, I had to ask him how he stays so young and spry.

This 2023 conversation with the G.O.A.T. had me smiling from beginning to end, so I am re-running it today to celebrate this national treasure’s landmark 100th birthday. Here’s to another century, Mr. Van Dyke!

LYNDSANITY: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Mr. Van Dyke. It’s an honor. I may start crying, just like Nicole Scherzinger did when she finally saw who you were. Everyone was so excited to see you. Did you enjoy going on The Masked Singer?

DICK VAN DYKE: Oh, it was so funny. It was the weirdest experience. They have a great crew there, and they took good care of me, but the minute I got out of the car, they covered my head! I never got to meet anybody! I’m going to have to go back and meet them in person, because nobody ever saw me and I never saw them. It was weird.

Maybe if you sang in your famous Mary Poppins accent, everyone would’ve figured out it was you. But I understand some people don’t appreciate that accent…

Oh, Americans really weren’t too critical of it, but the British have never let me off the hook to this day about my terrible Cockney accent! You know, [Disney Studios] sent me a guy to coach me for that named [actor] J. Pat O’Malley. He was an Irishman. He came to my house one day after dinner for a couple of hours, and he taught me about the English accent. His Cockney wasn’t very good to start with. I couldn’t understand that: Here I was, I was surrounded with actors who were all British, and nobody had ever said anything about my accent! I just did the best I could. But the British, they’re still kidding me — like, “Um, what part of England were you supposed to be from, again?”

Well, since you just made a big splash on TV this week, I want to go back to your television beginnings, because The Dick Van Dyke Show was so groundbreaking…

Yes, it was only show back then that showed what the guy did it for a living. [Show creator] Carl [Reiner] had worked on Sid Caesar’s show and he did all of the writing, so it was his brilliant idea to show a writing team at work. I thought that was the best idea. And I think we got the most comedy out of it too.

I also feel it was the first sitcom of that era where the married couple was actually seemed hot for each other. There was genuine chemistry and romance between Rob and Laura Petrie.

Well, that was real easy, because Mary [Tyler Moore, who played Laura] and I kind of dug each other in real life, you know! I thought she was pretty great. And so, I think that translated onto film.

So, how come Rob and Laura had to have separate beds? Was that still a TV rule back then?

Yes! And what made me mad was that Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette got to share a bed [on The Bob Newhart Show, which aired on the same network, CBS, a few years after The Dick Van Dyke Show ended], and they wouldn’t let us. I’m still mad about that!

Oh, really? Did you actually argue for that? Like, did you have conversations with the network about wanting the Petries to share a bed, but were told no?

Yeah, I did. And they just wouldn’t let us at the time. And the other thing was they thought Mary’s Capri pants were a little too tight in the rear end — and they actually made us let it out! It showed a little bit too much of her butt!

What? Those pants were iconic! Another iconic part of The Dick Van Dyke Show was the opening sequence. Did you ever hurt yourself tripping over that ottoman?

No, I never did. I did it a couple of times and they just reused them. I never have actually hurt myself [while performing]. Carl knew how I loved to do physical comedy falls and all that, and he always gave me a chance whenever he could to do a fall or something stupid. He let me have such fun with it.

Were you able put your physical comedy skills to use on The Masked Singer at all?

No, I didn’t get a chance to, really. I almost fell down from not knowing where I was walking, though! It was dark in there [the Gnome costume].

Well, you certainly are at home performing onstage in costume. I want to ask about Bye Bye Birdie — you won a Tony Award for originating the role of Albert Peterson on Broadway, and this year [2023] marks the 60th anniversary of the movie adaptation, in which you also starred. You do an amazing dance sequence in that to “Everything Is Rosie.”

Well, of course I was a Fred Astaire fan, and many, many years ago I was driving to work listening to a disc jockey interview Fred Astaire, and he asked Fred, “Who do you like today?” And Fred said, “I like the way Dick Van Dyke moves.” I almost drove off the freeway! Because I never had any dancing lessons; I just kind of copied other people. So, that was such a thrill for me. I’d never danced before Bye Bye Birdie. I told Gower Champion, the director [of the original stage musical], when he hired me, “You know, I don’t dance.” And he said, “We’ll teach you.” And sure enough, they did.

Wow. Any other Bye Bye Birdie memories?

Well, the movie became kind of a vehicle for Ann-Margret and altered it quite a bit. The stage production is a heck of a lot more entertaining, I think. … Real show business is on a stage. There’s nothing like it where you’re working with an audience; a film just isn’t the same. … [The stage musical] was such fun. Of course, working [on Broadway] with Chita Rivera, who’s the best of all time, was just great. I learned a lot from her. You know, Chita Rivera, being the lady that she is, we were in Philadelphia and they were still writing new songs. They came down with “Put on a Happy Face” — and they wrote it for Chita, not for me! But Chita said, “Oh, Dick’s got nothing to do in the first act. Why don’t you let him do it?” And that changed my entire life. I won a Tony because of that song, and that got me the television show.

And you’re still doing television! You are now officially the oldest contestant to ever compete on The Masked Singer, beating 91-year-old William Shatner’s record from the previous season. Nicole was calling you “gorgeous” and “handsome,” and you exuded such energy and joy on the stage. So, my last question is: What is your secret for staying so youthful? I need to know!

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Genes, I guess, for one thing. Having a beautiful young wife half my age to take care of me [Arlene Silver, now age 54, who Van Dyke married in 2012] — that works! My positive attitude, I get that from my wife. And one other thing is, I wrote a book called Keep Moving: I still go to the gym three days a week and work out. And I advise everybody to do that, because that’s what ages people — it’s just a stiffening up and not exercising their muscles and their lungs. Exercise is the answer.

OK, then! I am going to the gym right now.

This interview originally ran on Yahoo Entertainment.

In 2024, singer-songwriter Andy Grammer was in the middle of doing Greater Than, a one-man show largely focused on grief and his own experience with losing his beloved mother, children’s music artist Kathy Grammer. “That was really, really special,” he reflects. “What’s so cool about it is there’s different items onstage and then there’s six phones in the audience, and people write down someone they love that has passed. And throughout the show I will take out a name and read it, and then the person will stand up and go to a phone and we’ll have a conversation about the person that’s passed away. Wild, awesome show — deep tears, crying, laughing, singing.”

But then, just when Grammer was wrapping up that emotional and vulnerable experience, he got a call from The Masked Singer, offering him the chance to theatrically perform songs by the Darkness, Post Malone, Jet, and George Michael, disguised as disco darling Boogie Woogie in a glittery purple leisure suit and perpetually smiling Muppet-face. “I was like, ‘Honestly, that sounds like a great pivot,’” he chuckles. “I thought that he was a fun character to inhabit for about a month.”

Grammer didn’t win The Masked Singer, placing second to Gretchen “The Pearl” Wilson. But judge Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg unofficially declared that Season 13 had two champions and said Grammer “embodied this character.” So, clearly Grammer, who is officially the No. 1 Happy Pop Artist globally on Spotify, is winning at life.

While Grammer’s seemingly boundless cheeriness on anthems like “Keep You Head Up,” “Don’t Give Up on Me,” and “Good to Be Alive” have caused some critics to dismiss him as a fluffy artist, anyone who’s seen Greater Than; listened more closely to the nuance in Grammer’s lyrics; or checked out his many interviews about mental health and grief knows that he’s a deep guy behind his smile — and behind Boogie Woogie’s smile. “Coming from me, I think that talking about mental health could have an extra punch, because I’m seen as so happy,” he explains.

Following The Masked Singer Season 13’s grand finale, Grammer chats with me about why writing a happy song, while maybe not “cool,” is much harder than creating darker music; why “grief is an under-discussed topic” but “can be a really sweet door into unbelievable situations”; and how he developed a thick skin and stopped paying any mind to his detractors.

“Uplifting music… if it has intention and it’s grounded, then it’s a grounded optimism. I love the sound of that and when I’m in that lane, I don’t care what anybody says,” Grammer says, adding (with a smile, of course), “Everybody can screw themselves.”

LYNDSANITY: I’m excited to speak with you. I’m not happy you lost, but you didn’t lose. Jenny McCarthy said there were two winners this season, and I fully agree.

ANDY GRAMMER: Yes, two winners! I’m just holding onto that, putting that in my pocket.

But I’m happy because I’m talking to the No. 1 Happy artists on Spotify, and I’m happy that you got to the finale. On The Masked Singer, you said that you wanted to show that positivity and sincerity could win. You also talked about people would call you naive or critically dismiss you because of your cheerful attitude. I’d love your take on that, because why is it only “credible” if you’re singing about your misery all the time? We need both sides of the musical spectrum.

We need both sides. I don’t know, I don’t want to sound like something lame, but I think it’s really hard to write a positive song. I just think it is. I think if you sit down at piano and you play happy chords, it is much quicker to lean cheesy than if you just play dark chords. And so, there’s a skill, and then a straight-up perseverance to just write so many that you get to pick the ones that actually connect and feel grounded. There’s something about being too happy that can sometimes feel ungrounded, which I respect and understand. But we all need some positivity and to be uplifted from time to time, for sure.

Who’s the No. 2 Happy artist on Spotify?

I have no idea! [laughs]

I think it’s interesting you wore this Boogie Woogie costume that had a smile on his face at all times. I wondered if there was any significance to that, because you’re known for being this happy guy, but also, especially in recent years, you’ve talked very openly about your mental health. So, was there some kind of symbolism there, like smiling on the outside but not always on the inside?

Well, they tell you what your costume’s going to be. You show up to a Zoom meeting and they show it to you and go, “Is this cool?” And I’m like, “That’s unbelievable!” I really appreciated it. I thought that he was a fun character to inhabit for about a month.

As I mentioned, in the last few years you’ve done a lot of podcasts and interviews about mental health and going to therapy, and I think a lot of celebrities that used to never talk about that stuff now do talk about that. So, I’d love to discuss your mental health journey in the public eye. Why did you start to feel the need to talk about that?

Well, I think there’s room for both to be true. I think that sincerity and kindness and being uplifting does have a space and can win. And then also coming from me, I think that talking about mental health could have an extra punch, because I’m seen as so happy.

When you started to discuss mental health, how was the reaction from your fan? Were they surprised?

It’s been really sweet and sincere. I think that it’s a different world than I grew up in right now, and there’s a lot more things coming after your mental health that maybe weren’t when we were growing up. It’s just kind of the norm, with all the screentime and all the extra things that are coming at you all the time, to understand that it can be talked about and it’s OK to talk about it.

And you’re a parent; one of your daughters, very adorably, called in to the show. Do you worry as a parent when you’re thinking about mental health? Like you said, it’s a different world now. What are your concerns for your kids and for the younger generation in general?

Yeah, I think that with the phone stuff, it can be all day long. Unless there’s guardrails, there can be not enough time to just be. And so, I think talking about it, being intentional about it and figuring out spaces where you can take care of your mental health and create some space to be “bored” a little bit — I definitely am thinking about that a lot as I’m raising my two little girls.

How is all the stuff we’re talking about now — the world in general, but also you becoming so open about your mental health — affected your songwriting? Is it more happy, less happy, or about the same?

Well, I think that the secret to writing a happy song that works is being grounded. If you just go like, “Everything’s good, the world is amazing,” some people are like, “I don’t believe you.” If you go, “I’m having a really hard time, but even so, let’s be happy,” that starts to be something people can hear. Almost a rebellious sweetness.

What would you say is your absolute happiest song?

Well, it’s funny, because one of the ones that does the best is a song called “Don’t Give Up on Me” – which, I don’t know if that’s happy, but it leaves you feeling hopefully encouraged or inspired. So, the word “happy” gets a bad rap, I think.

What you’re saying reminds me of an interview I did with OMD. They’d done some more experimental music because they wanted to appeal to critics, but then they’re known for these very bouncy new wave hits. And the lead singer, Andy McCluskey, told me writing those bouncy hits was much harder than noodling around and doing the “weird” techno stuff.

There’s something very vulnerable and putting yourself out there to, yeah. There’s something vulnerable about writing a happy song. It just is. It’s just not as “cool” to start with major chords. It just isn’t, in my opinion.

Obviously, if you’re the No. 1 “Happy” artist on Spotify, then you’re doing something right. But did the criticism when you first started out bother you at the time, or make you think you needed to shift course?

I think so. I think no matter what, whether you’re an indie artist, you want a pop hit; if you’re a pop artist, you want an indie hit. You always want whatever you don’t got, but then hopefully you just continue to get more and more clear on what you love. There’s the Rick Rubin book The Creative Act where he talks about the hardest thing is to make things that you love. Getting yourself attuned to what you love is so much harder than that sounds. It sounds like, “Well, why don’t you just make what you love?” It’s like there’s all this noise going on all over the place to block it all out. So, be like, “Wait, what do I love? Let me try to make that.” That’s a skill that I think you hopefully get better at and have to struggle with your whole artistic career.

Since you come from a background where your parents did children’s music, have you ever done children’s music, or wanted to?

I haven’t done a children’s album. We just watched Captain Underpants with my kids last night and I have a song in that movie and I have a song in a Curious George movie, and so there’s a sweetness to writing something simple that children can sing. That is great. And my song “Don’t Give Up on Me,” one of the big reasons that it went big was I did it with an elementary school choir. Something about children singing, “Don’t give up on me” is just so beautiful.

You talked about your mother Kathy on The Masked Singer, and you’ve talked a lot in interviews about your grief when she passed. I’m so sorry for your loss. Do you have any stories about fans going through similar situations who have resonated with what you’ve said about your grief experience?

I think that grief is just an under-discussed topic. I think a lot of people don’t really know what it is or how to talk about it, and a lot of times we just go to a funeral and then move on. But it can be a really sweet door into unbelievable situations. So, the way that I understand grief is, how you keep someone alive in your life is by doing acts of service that you do in honor of them. And that has been such a beautiful part of my life. And so, writing music with my mom in mind, or talking about her, or doing acts of service in her name, has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my life, for sure. … A lot of times I’ll donate in her name. There’s a hospital in Ohio, because of how many times I went to that hospital, there’s a room with her name on it, which is really sweet. And then thinking of her, she was a songwriter as well. I just did a one-man show last year, which was all about grief.

Oh, wow.

It was wild. And there was spoken-word poetry and there were songs and there was a lot of talk about her that was honoring her for a whole tour, which was really special. … I think we’re going to do it again. It’s called Greater Than, and it was a one-man show that was really, really special. What’s so cool about it is there’s different items onstage and then there’s six phones in the audience, and people write down someone they love that has passed. And throughout the show I will take out a name and read it, and then the person will stand up and go to a phone and we’ll have a conversation about the person that’s passed away. Wild, awesome show — deep tears, crying, laughing, singing, everybody going nuts. So, I was finishing that show when I got the call to do The Masked Singer, and I was like, “Honestly, that sounds like a great pivot, like a wild new experience, so let’s go do that.”

I was about to ask being on a fun show like The Masked Singer and getting to wear this crazy costume was good for your mental wellbeing. It sounds it was!

Yes, it was a hard reset on what I was doing.

Going back to that smiley Boogie Woogie costume, as I said, there are some people who think you’re a goody-goody and they don’t like that. But then, of course, there are lots of people who really resonate with that. Have you ever felt pigeonholed, like, “Hey, I’m not just the happy guy all the time”? Or did you ever feel any pressure, like, “OK, I have to write another happy hit”?

Well, my first song that came out that did well was a song called “Keep Your Head Up.” That came from being a street performer and my mom had just died, and I wrote myself a song. So, if it’s grounded in something real, then uplifting music is — I’m not going to curse! — awesome. If it has intention and it’s grounded, then it’s a grounded optimism. I love the sound of that and when I’m in that lane, I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t care. Everybody can screw themselves.

I know you were a busker on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade before you were famous. You were such a great entertainer on The Masked Singer, and are in general, so I’m wondering if busking honed your performance skills and trained you to win over audiences.

I think of all the art forms, standup comedy has got to be the hardest one, because every couple seconds if there’s not a laugh, it gets so awkward. And I think that street performing is the closest that music gets to that, where you have to just go, “I’m going to shout to try to build a crowd and I’m going to sing, and if you don’t like it, it’s going to be really awkward. Here we go, let’s do it!” And just doing that for eight hours every day will get you to a place where you don’t care that much. You’ve trained yourself that if someone doesn’t like what you’re doing, you’re going to be all right, everything’s fine. And learning that skill was really important for the career that I have, because people are going to like you or they’re not going to like you. One of my favorite things is I’ve done the national anthem, so many times for sports events. I’m like a huge sports fan, got to do the NBA finals, NHL, NFL, college, the World Series. And when you were putting yourself into a place where people [in the crowd] didn’t ask you [to perform] and large numbers are watching you, then I go to my Twitter and I have a text-chain with all my high school basketball team, and I just send the meanest [tweets]. And we just die laughing together about it. So ,you develop a skill to where it doesn’t all go in so deeply. It’s just not that serious.

That’s an important skill to have! And the national anthem is not an easy song to sing. Did you do covers when you were on the Third Street Promenade, or did you do your own songs? And were any covers that you ended up doing on The Masked Singer?

None of the covers made it from there to here, but I do remember there’s something really valuable [that I started out] singing a ton of covers, because you are, every day, looking at the mechanics and singing the mechanics of what makes a great song. So, I was studying a lot. I hadn’t been singing [in my recent career] as many covers as I just did on The Masked Singer, so that opened me up again to when you sing something, you’re like, “That sounds great. Why?” And then you go deep into, “Why is this song so good? Why is this pre-chorus lifting off into the hook this way?” It gets almost scientific about it.

You threw down the gauntlet in your first episode, because you did the Darkness’s “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” and Justin Hawkins’s voice is so high. And you nailed it!

Yeah, I chose that one because I wanted to come out hard and ridiculous.

It’s pretty cool. What I also think is funny is that Rita Ora later claimed she didn’t know the name of the lead singer of the Darkness, when she was on the U.K. version of the show when he was revealed. She knows his name!

Oh, she knows it. Got it.

I don’t mean this in any kind of shady way, but I don’t think a lot of people necessarily realized you have that crazy range as a singer. Was that something you wanted to sort of flex?

I think also it’s been something I’ve really developed over my career. When I started as a street performer, I didn’t think my voice was very good, and sometimes our weaknesses are very important. I remember when I was street performing, I was like, “It’s not going to be my voice that does this. I’m going to have to write songs. I’m going to need to really figure out how to write songs, because I’m out on this street and I can tell I don’t have the best voice out here.” But over 15 years of singing every day, there was something sweet about going on The Masked Singer and being like, “Oh yeah, my voice is pretty good now! This is going to be fun!” I had that exact thought, literally — almost surprised.

The judges were so complimentary. They guessed you were great vocalists like Darren Criss, Brandon Flowers, Josh Groban, Mika, and Adam Lambert. That must have felt good.

Yeah, just stroking my ego behind a monster mask [laughs]. I loved it!

Since we started off with talking about any kind of stigma about happy songs and how they’re deceptively not easy to write, my last question for you is: What’s the key to writing a good happy song? If there’s someone watching or reading this who’s like, “I want to write the happy anthem of 2025,” what’s your advice?

I think that it has to be true. And that sounds maybe lame, but again, I’m singing, “You gotta keep your head up to myself” when my mom just died. I don’t know why that transfers to then everybody really getting it, but the intention of it is true, therefore that works. So, don’t [try to] write a happy song. Don’t fake it. I think that people can smell bullshit on happy songs way quicker than on sad songs. That’s what I’ll say.

And hey, you cursed after all! [laughs] So, we’ll end it on that note. Congratulations on being, in my mind and in Jenny McCarthy’s mind, the co-winner of The Masked Singer’s lucky Season 13.

photo courtesy of CoreyFeldman.net

Actor, activist, and rocker Corey Feldman turns 53 on July 16, and he is celebrating in true Corey style. On his actual birthday, he’ll kick off his first-ever arena tour as the opening act for Limp Bizkit, whose frontman Fred Durst just directed Feldman’s new video for “The Joke.”

And another reason why Feldman is having the best birthday ever is his Eugenio Mira-directed cult horror comedy, The Birthday, is getting a wide release through Alamo Drafthouse this fall. Feldman claims that mysterious industry powers-players “shut down” The Birthday after it was a film festival sensation 20 years ago — allegedly as part of a larger retaliation, because Feldman has been so vocal about rampant child exploitation in Hollywood. But thanks to the support of Feldman fan Jordan Peele, the film that Corey considers to be his all-time greatest onscreen work will finally be seen.

Feldman knows he isn’t always taken seriously, especially when it comes to his music career, but he says he eventually “realized that that was part of the resistance against my speaking out about predatory abuse: ‘We’re going to try and diminish him. We’re going to try and make him seem like he’s got no value, because the more we make him look crazy, the more we make him look worthless, the more it increases the odds of nobody believing what he has to say.’ … So, were there people saying that the whole [music] thing was a joke? Of course! And what I have to say to that is: The joke is on you.”

So, while Feldman confesses that he does “weep at times” over how the entertainment industry has treated him, now he’s getting the last laugh. In an interview that took place shortly after he was revealed to be the Seal on The Masked Singer, he talks about winning over Riot Fest concertgoers, hanging at the Playboy Mansion with Durst in the ‘90s, perfecting his craft, finally getting his flowers, and, hopefully, one day finally getting justice for his late friend Corey Haim and other child stars.

I enjoyed seeing you as the Seal on The Masked Singer this year. I am wondering if you went on the show to clear up some misconceptions about you and your talent.

No, no. That’s not why I went on. I went on just because I thought it would be fun. Really, it’s just a bit of a laugh, and I thought the timing was actually appropriate, considering the fact that I’m doing my first big arena tour this summer.

People have been guessing “Corey Feldman” on The Masked Singer for like 10 seasons now!

I know! And so, when they hit me up… I kind of laughed out loud and I was like, “That’s so funny. It’s about time you guys finally caught up.” But you know what? At the same time, I’m honored and it’s a compliment to me that people have been guessing me for so long, because it means that at least I’m on everybody’s minds as far as being a singer or whatever — rock star, pop star, however you want to look at it. I’m grateful that people have that connection when they think of me. So that’s actually a compliment to me. And then secondly, I think the fact that we finally did it at this time, like I said, I thought, “OK, this is a great commercial right before the tour starts.”

Do you think people have come around to your music? Because I remember when you were on The Today Show a few years ago…

We got a lot of crap. Yeah.

But I feel like the tides have turned a bit. You played Riot Fest. And you’re going on tour with Limp Bizkit, which is awesome.

I’m so grateful. Listen, I think it just kind of took its time. Let’s face it: I don’t deny the fact that when I started, I wasn’t the greatest singer. If you go back to footage of me in 1989 or 1990 when I was first getting started, I’m sure I was hitting bad notes. I’m sure you can find those clips if you want to try and lambast me. But I’m proud to say that yes, I did sing live. It was not lip-synched. It is what it is. It’s real. I am grateful to clear that up, and I’m grateful that people are getting to hear my real voice.

It must have been a little hard to put yourself out there. But you kept going and didn’t give up.

Well, listen, you get kicked, you get arrows in the back, you get dirt in your face, you get all of that stuff — it’s part of the territory. As an artist, if you’re going to put yourself out there, you can’t expect that you’re just going to get a pat on the back every day. You can’t expect that everybody’s just going to love everything you do. You kind of have to gain some rhino skin, as Tom Petty used to say, to make yourself tough enough to get through living in Hollywood, to get through being an entertainer and an artist, because you are going to constantly be questioned and attacked and ridiculed for what you do. You gotta toughen up. I think you’ve got to be pretty brazen about it. But at the same time, I think that the reward is overwhelmingly redeeming when you actually push through your insecurities, when you push through your fears and you come out on top. So, let me be an example for all the sorts of artists out there who think, “Oh, I’ll never make it. I’m just little old me.” Well, guess what? I never gave up on my dream. I pushed for almost 40 years, and after 30 years, I got my first top 40 hit [“Go 4 It!”]. It literally took 30 years to get my first top 40 hit. It takes the time that it takes. But if we’re dedicated to our craft and we believe in whatever it is we want to make our reality, we can visualize and make that a reality. Whatever it is, it’s up to us to create and envision our future. I believe so strongly in manifestation, and I believe that all of this is due to that.

And in 2020 you got charted first top 20 hit, which was “You Are Free.” That must have felt especially validating, especially given what that song was about.

Absolutely. That was a song for Corey Haim, the kind of words that I had always wished that I could have said to him when he was alive. It was actually the closing song for the film I made, My Truth, the documentary I put out that got hacked and all that stuff.

Given that you’ve been on a soapbox with a megaphone about child abuse and exploitation in Hollywood for so long, and Quiet on Set just came out and got a lot of attention, is it possible that your documentary could get a wider release now? I feel maybe more people would be open to watching it now.

You’re not the first reporter to bring this up, but I had to take it down for my own safety and for my own security, because I was out there fighting this fight alone. I suppose if some major studio or network decided to knock on my door and say, “Hey, can we make you an offer to distribute it? And you’re going to be protected and you’re going to be taken care of properly” — like any other major announced movie or documentary of this nature — then sure, I would consider it. But I definitely wouldn’t go it alone again.

In light of Quiet on Set and various #MeToo stuff that has come up in recent years, I hope you’ve had moments when people have come up to you and said, “You were right. We should have listened to you.”

They’ve been saying it to me almost every day since 2020, really. But that’s in private. People don’t say that publicly. … But I’m always grateful. It always puts a little lift in my step or makes me feel like, “OK, there’s some redemption or some value to what I’ve been doing.” But that being said, it’s been mostly a disappointment and mostly disparaging and discouraging, and it’s been very hard for me. When you invest everything you’ve got to making a film to expose the truth, and you’re kind of laughed out the door and ignored and shut down and stolen from… I mean, gosh… it’s a disaster, what they’ve done to me. Who knows, maybe one day there’ll be a recut, an uncut version.

In general, though, you’ve been such an advocate for child entertainers, and you risked so much of your own career to do that.

It’s been very difficult, obviously, choosing that path. It definitely knocked some opportunities down, knocked away some friends, but they weren’t probably real friends in the first place. I believe in doing the right thing no matter what. I am a soldier for God, and I believe in spreading the word of God, and that’s my mission: helping those who don’t have a voice to help themselves. …. That’s where I find myself, and that’s where I will continue to find myself, because that’s the way God made me. I feel like, yes, it’s great that I have these abilities and talents as an artist, but if I’m not using them for good, then what’s the point of it all?

So, you have no regrets, or no resentment that also no one else spoke up when you were speaking up?

It’s not resentful. It’s not regretful. It hurts. It hurts — I’ll be honest. I do weep at times because of the fact that I was abandoned in that way. There was nobody that stood with me when the time came. I stood up and I was hoping to see others stand alongside me, and it just didn’t happen. … Maybe it was the fact that they all wanted to keep themselves away from the danger of exposing themselves, or maybe they just didn’t want to ruin their own careers because they saw the way I was being treated. But whatever it is, enough is enough. You can’t sit there and say that everybody else deserves justice, but not the two Coreys. They don’t deserve justice. How is that possible? How is that possible? But it is what it is, and I accept life on life’s terms. And right now, I’ve got nothing to complain about because I’m very grateful. … I’m grateful to have this huge tour coming up with Limp Bizkit, and I’m more grateful to announce today that I have my first mainstream theatrical feature film in 20 years, starring me, coming to theaters this fall. 

Tell me about that!

I’m really excited for this to hit the press. We’ve just finished making a deal with Alamo Drafthouse, who is going to be releasing this film, which is my greatest work — my finest work is an actor, I believe. Anyway, it’s the work I’m most proud of, whether anybody else agrees with it or not. As an actor, it was very, very challenging. The film that I’m speaking of is called The Birthday. It is a cult classic already, even though it’s never been seen by eyes in America, other than those who came to two small screenings at the Lincoln Center, thanks to Mr. Jordan Peele and Ian Cooper. Those two men came to my house for a private screening of the film, because I found out Jordan was a fan of mine, and he invited me to the premiere of his film, which was produced by Ian and himself. We met, and he was really nice, and we traded numbers and we were texting each other one day. And I just mentioned that I had this film that I thought he really should see, because I was really proud of the work. I was like, “If you’re a fan of mine, you should see this work, because it’s an important work.” And so, he came over with Ian and they watched the film, and after the film was done screening, he said, “This is a cinematic masterpiece and it deserves to be seen by the world.” And with that, he took it upon himself to set up some screenings of the film in New York where the Lincoln Center has a few screening rooms. He put together this entire film series with three or four of my other films and then this film. He had two screenings of this film on the final night, and both screenings sold out. Distributors came in and they saw the reaction from the audience. They saw how packed it was. They saw the interest level. And we started getting offers. And lo and behold, a movie that was literally intentionally taken off the map and shut down by the powers-that-be…

Yeah, I was about to ask why it never came out before…

Because they did not want you seeing how great my work was. Literally, it was an intentional move to keep me off the map. And I can’t tell you who. It’s the same “they” that stole my [My Truth] film. It’s the same “they” that runs the media. I don’t know who “they” is. All I know is that for whatever reason, it was shut down. I won Best Actor Award in Luxembourg. I won awards for the film in Spain at the Sitges Film Festival. It was released only in those two countries. But for whatever reason, it was locked out. I know for a fact that Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone, Richard Donner, Guillermo de Toro, many of the greatest directors in the world, they all saw the film. They all called me and praised me for my work in the film and said how great it was. Yet it still was never released.

And so, I just can’t even believe this is happening. I’m so beyond grateful that it’s finally coming out and the world gets a chance to see it. It’s my best work, my favorite work. It’s a dark comedy, kind of like if you took David Lynch, Richard Donner, and Steven Spielberg and mashed them all together. The director of this film, Eugenio Mira, is a brilliant, brilliant filmmaker. His work includes a film called Grand Piano, which was with Elijah Wood and John Cusack — great, brilliant movie. [The Birthday Party] was his film right before he made that movie. So, I am just so excited and so thrilled for the whole world to see this movie. I can’t wait for it to come out. It will be out in theaters via Alamo Drafthouse this fall. I can’t give you an exact date yet. All I can tell you is I’m really excited.

And you also have this Limp Bizkit arena tour starting on July 16, your birthday. How did that come about?

I think it all came about because of the Playboy Mansion, if you want to break it down. Fred and I met in the ‘90s at the Playboy Mansion. Everybody remembers when Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit were constantly at the Playboy Mansion and doing private shows there. Well, that happened to also be right at the time that I was doing that. We traded numbers, and right away he was like, “I want to make music with you. I want to work with you. Let’s do a movie together. Let’s do music together. Let’s work together.” And so, from that moment on, we’ve always stayed in touch. We’ve always talked about doing projects together. Many people don’t know this, but if you go back to my biggest, most successful album yet, Angelic 2 the Core, there’s actually a song with Fred Durst on that album called “Seamless.” We co-wrote and co-produced it together, and it’s a really cool song. It’s badass. It really does kick ass. It’s Fred and I with Scott Page of Pink Floyd fame playing sax throughout the song.

Will we hear “Seamless” on the tour? Will you do it together?

I would love that! From your lips to Fred’s ears. I’ve been trying to tell him, let’s make it happen.

Now that you’re sort of reaching kind of more of a hard rock audience. I have to ask: When you played Riot Fest last year, how did that go over? It’s always so hard to play a festival, when it’s not necessarily your crowd.

Right? I expected Riot Fest to be a disaster, actually. I was so scared. I was like, “Oh my God, they’re going to hate it. It’s not going to fit. I don’t know what to do. Nobody’s going to show up.” I was mostly embarrassed that there was going to be the press saying, “Hey, there’s only five people in the audience. You look like an idiot.” But then when I saw that there were putting me on at 2:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday, I was like, “Well, that’s OK. Nobody expects there to be anybody there at that time anyway, so it’s really not going to be even noticeable that it happened.” When we got to the stage that day, there literally was five people in front of the stage watching the band that was on before us. There was nobody there. It was a big, giant, empty field. And I was like, “Exactly, exactly! This is why I didn’t want to do this! Oh my God, how am I going to get through this?” I was so upset. I went into my dressing room, all depressed, and then [actor] Jamison Newlander from The Lost Boys had flown down from Los Angeles and he comes knocking on my door. And he’s like, “Man, I’m so excited, dude, I can’t wait. It’s going to be awesome!” And I’m like, “Thanks for coming, but I’m kind of embarrassed that you flew all this way. … This is going to be a crap show. It’s only 20 minutes and nobody’s there. It’s going to be stupid. .. But thanks for the enthusiasm, buddy. I appreciate it.”

And so, he goes out the room and then 20 minutes later, my security comes in. He goes, “Hey, where do you want me to put your guests?” And I said, “What do you mean? Put ‘em anywhere you want. Just throw them in front of the stage.” He goes, “How do you expect me to get them there? … How do you expect me to get through the crowd?” And I said, “Crowd? There is no crowd!” And he’s like, “Ohhh, you’ll see.” And so, we walk out like 10 minutes later, and I see 20,000 people had taken the lawn literally in half an hour. It went from zero to 20,000 in the blink of an eye. I was floored. I was absolutely floored. And then the promoters of Riot Fest came up to me and congratulated me and said, “Just so you know, we’ve been doing this for 15 years and never before in the history of Riot Fest has that stage had that amount of people in front of it. Literally, it’s never come close.” So, it was historical. It was the first time they had 20,000 people show up to the small stage in the corner of the festival at 2:30 in the afternoon. We were very grateful that everybody showed up.

Do you wonder, or worry, that some people show up expecting or even hoping for a trainwreck, or a joke or novelty-type thing? As if so, does that drive you to prove those  people wrong?

Well, that’s how it was in the beginning. Actually, for the first five, 10 years, it wasn’t like that — everybody was into the teen-star thing and the fandom thing, and I just went with it. There were screaming crowds everywhere I went. But then the ‘90s became more cynical… it became grungy and it became gritty, and you had to be cutting-edge. That’s when I was playing punk clubs and they were throwing beer bottles as a compliment. I kind of got used to all that; that was just how it was. And then it got to the early 2000s, and then the whole thing with The Today Show, and that’s when the mocking started. That’s when people started coming to laugh at me and point fingers. And I realized that that was part of the resistance against my speaking out about predatory abuse: “We’re going to try and diminish him. We’re going to try and make him seem like he’s got no value, because the more we make him look crazy, the more we make him look worthless, the more it increases the odds of nobody believing what he has to say.” That was really the whole goal behind that. And of course, there are people that come in not knowing what the music’s going to be; you have a fraction of people who come in to mock you because they just want to laugh.

So, were there people saying that the whole thing was a joke? Of course! And what I have to say to that is: The joke is on you.

This Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity. Corey Feldman’s full conversation can be seen and heard in the split-screen vide above.

When Vanessa Hudgens was revealed to be the Goldfish on Wednesday’s Masked Singer Season 11 finale, it was another unexpected addition to a filmography that has ranged wildly from High School Musical, Grease! Live, and the Princess Switch holiday trilogy to edgier fare like the horror comedy Freaks of Nature, Harmony Korine’s racy crime caper Spring Breakers (alongside fellow former Disney starlet Selena Gomez), and the Robert Rodriguez exploitation flick Machete Kills. The Goldfish actually isn’t the weirdest role of Hudgens’s career — nor is it even her most iconic outfit, since she’s also known as the “Queen of Coachella” for her festival fashion.

While longtime fans of Hudgens have been waiting for her to drop a new album since 2008, and might have hoped that her triumphant Masked Singer run signified her return to music-making, Hudgens, who at age 35 is currently pregnant with her first child, says, “That’s just not the priority right now.” But she still wants to continue her career’s “really twisted ride” and play against type (“There’s so much more depth and dimension in women that I want to explore”), and maybe even perform on the Coachella stage someday.

In the Q&A below and video above, the artist formerly known as the Goldfish (and as Gabriella Montez) opens up about trying to protect her privacy while growing up in a “fishbowl” during a particularly “invasive” media era; her general uneasiness with fame; the unprecedented “creative freedom” she enjoyed while shooting Spring Breakers; her love of Radiohead; her all-time favorite Coachella look; and why she’s going to keep “doing things that might divide people a little bit.”

Congratulations on winning The Masked Singer! The Goldfish won the Golden Mask! On the show, you said you consider yourself an actress first, and I don’t know if a lot of people remembered or even knew that you could sing like this. Was that any part of your reason for going on The Masked Singer?

VANESSA HUDGENS: Not really, honestly. I mean, I’ve sang live a lot, whether that’s in performances onstage or live televised musicals. You’ve got to do it for yourself. If you’re trying to prove people wrong, or put things in people’s faces, you’re doing it for the wrong reason. I wanted to do this for my fans. They’ve been asking for music or singing or anything in that world, and I was like, “This would be a really interesting way to be able to give that to them and see who the real fans are.” And turns out they are all real fans!

Absolutely! Is there any new music coming? You haven’t released an album since 2008.

Many, many moons ago. No, I always say life’s about priorities, and that’s just not the priority right now.

Understandable, but I’m just pointing out that I think there’s an audience for that, if you ever do decide to prioritize music one day. And since we’re talking music, I have to ask about how you’re known for some other outfits besides the Goldfish costume. How did you become the “Queen of Coachella”?

I think I’ve just been going for a really long time. … The first time, I think it was like 2008. Paul McCartney played that year… and I think the Cure. [Editor’s note: That was 2009, a very good year.] I just became obsessed after that and went back every year. And then when they started doing the two weekends, I would go both weekends and I just loved it. It was just a good time. I love music festivals, I love music, and any time I can run around on a grass field barefoot, I’m very happy.

When Coachella started to become really big and people started taking pictures of celebrities in their festival outfits, you were one of the first famous Coachella style-setters. How did you come up with all your looks that lot of women at Coachella still copy today?

I feel like I was just trying to emulate my favorite era, which is the ’70s I think, or of Woodstock. I think of people on the grass, just vibing out to their favorite musicians, and that’s kind of the ideal vibe to me when it comes to music festivals. That was definitely what I was trying to emulate.

Just to put it out there… would you ever play Coachella, maybe? Or have you ever played it, like as a surprise guest during someone else’s set?

No, I’ve never set foot on a stage at Coachella, but yeah, at some point in life that would be pretty iconic! I would love it.

If you could guest with anyone at Coachella, who would it be?

I mean, the first name that comes to mind is Radiohead, just because I’m the biggest Radiohead fan. Oh my God. But I feel like I might faint standing next to Thom Yorke.

That would be iconic.

I just need them to go on tour again! I just need it.

Going back to that era, the era of the aughts, you talked on The Masked Singer about how when you were first in the “fishbowl,” thrust into the public eye, that was hard for you. And I understand that, because I look back at how the media treated people like you, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, all your young Hollywood peers. TMZ was new, Perez Hilton was huge, and lot of that press coverage would not fly today. How did it take a toll on you?

I mean, I always say that fame doesn’t change you, it just exposes you. I was a very shy child growing up, and while I love being the center of attention when it comes to performing and showcasing things that I have gifts for, when it comes to my personal life, I really shy away and I prefer to have my privacy. I don’t want my whole life broadcasted. I really do my best to shy away from that and keep my personal life as buttoned-up as possible. But yeah, it was a very wild ride, and I feel like paparazzi had no boundaries. I feel like it’s gotten a little better now. I feel like there’s been certain things put into place that allow for a slight bit more protection. But it was very, very invasive, and deep inside me is the little girl who’s just shy and wants to hide. It was an aggressive wakeup call. But I think that just having to deal with it for so many years now, you evolve and you figure your way around it, how to cope and have a relationship with it that works for you personally. And I feel like I’ve found that.

The internet was different then, but also, social media was very new.

I mean, when I first came into the spotlight, social media was not a thing. I remember after High School Musical came out, I just got my very first Myspace, and that was the thing! But yeah, it was just a different time.

You did mention, on The Masked Singer, that seeing “encounters with exes” on TikTok annoys you, but, with TikTok and other social media, have things from your past gone viral in a good way? Are new audiences discovering High School Musical and other work you’ve done through social media?

Yeah, I feel like High School Musical is something that continues to live on throughout the generations. It surprises me still when kids come up to me saying that they love it and they’ve seen it a million times. It’s just insane how it just continues to have legs and gets passed down through generations. I think that’s the power of musicals. I look back at some of my favorite musicals growing up as a kid, and they still totally hold the test of time.

Is that why, for your first Goldfish song, you covered Olivia Rodrigo, because she also starred in the High School Musical franchise?

Yeah! I was doing things the entire time to let people know that it was me! The first song was “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo, who played Gabriella in the High School Musical TV show. My second song was “Baby Come Back,” and my first single when I was 16 years old, “Come Back to Me,” had a sample of that song in it, and I was singing some of the same licks and riffs that I was singing when I was 16. There were a lot of clues along the way.

Another clue I picked up on was when you talked about reinventing your image and “diving into edgier waters.” I assumed that was a Spring Breakers clue. What memories do you have of making that film? When you look at the ensemble cast, that was iconic. Was the reaction at the time? Were your fans on board, or were they like, “Whoa, what’s going on?”

I think that there was a little bit of both. I think when you do things outside of the box, it’s not going to be for everyone, but that’s always been my cup of tea: doing things that might divide people a little bit. Like, if you’re doing broad strokes, then are you really even having a perspective or a point of view on it? And that was one thing that I really wanted to do. I love Harmony. People know me from High School Musical, but my personal taste is I love really dark films by offbeat directors, and I love a really twisted ride. And when Spring Breakers came into my vision, I was like, “This is something that I need to be a part of.” I was really honored and proud to be a part of that project. It was a wild ride and it was so much fun. The cast was phenomenal. I remember the script itself was quite small and was filled out a lot by everyone.

Really? Did you improv?

Oh yeah, a lot! Some of those scenes literally weren’t even in the script. It would be Harmony coming over to us and being like, “I have an idea for a scene…” And then he would tell us, “OK, now — go!” And he’d be like, “Whatever you want you want to do…” The creative freedom was just so amazing and something that you don’t always get. And that’s the thing I love about independent features.

Did anyone in your camp say that was a bad idea to take that role, that it was too off-brand?

No, that was the kind of parts that I’d always wanted to do. High School Musical came from left field and took me off of the course that I originally saw for myself — a course that I was very grateful for, but it definitely wasn’t what I had planned. … I feel like after doing High School Musical, I had to fight for the parts that I actually really wanted. I didn’t want to keep playing the girl next door, the nice, sweet girl. There’s so much more depth and dimension in women that I want to explore. I had to fight for those parts. And it was literally The Frozen Ground into Spring Breakers into Gimme Shelter, all three of which really demanded a lot of me emotionally and physically and on my psyche. But it was a journey that I was really proud of going on.

When you talk about not wanting to play the girl next door, I love that one of your roles of a lifetime was in Grease Live!, and you didn’t play Sandy. You played Rizzo, the way cooler part. And that was obviously a clue on The Masked Singer, about someone close to you passing away the night before that performance. I’m so sorry for your personal loss, but do you feel like that was a turning point for you professionally? The news headlines the day after Grease Live! were all about you being the breakout star of the show despite such tough circumstances.

Oh, that’s sweet. Did it feel like some crazy pivot? No. Did it feel like something I would always hold my head up high with and be proud of? Yes, of course. I knew in the moment that it would be a really beautiful way to honor my father, and that’s what he would’ve wanted. It was a really special part and I was so supported in that moment by the cast and the producers and the team, and that’s something that will keep us all bonded forever.

And I imagine your father would’ve gone a real hoot out of you playing the Goldfish?

Oh, he would’ve loved it! My gosh.

Well, I loved it as well, so congratulations on your win. One quick question before I let you go, because we were talking about Coachella: Do you remember your favorite fit, as the kids say?

The second year that I went, I feel like it’s so overplayed, but I wore this vintage white crochet top I had with denim shorts, and I was running around barefoot and was wearing these feather earrings that I had made, and I had a little tambourine. I felt very free and it was just a very practical outfit, but I felt very in my ’70s/Woodstock of it all. So, that probably takes home the prize.

And it’s much more practical than a Goldfish costume! But you wear it well, no matter what. So, let’s put it into universe: Coachella 2025, you’re surprise guest during the Radiohead set. Or, they’re the surprise guests in yours. You never know.

I mean… I would… I have no words. [laughs]

This Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity. Watch Vanessa Hudgens’s full interview in the split-screen video above.

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When it was revealed this week that the Clock on The Masked Singer was Thelma Houston, viewers were shocked that the legendary R&B/disco diva was eliminated in third place, missing the Season 11 finale by just one week.

But, speaking to Lyndsanity the next morning, she humbly insists, “I didn’t think I was going to get as far as I did, quite honestly — because what I learned is it isn’t always about how you’re singing. It’s about how you vibe with the audience. It’s about being playful; the audience likes playfulness. And they also like a story. They want a story, and I don’t have too many sad stories.”

Houston may not have sad stories, but she has great stories, having enjoyed an illustrious career since the late 1960s — years before disco’s explosion and subsequent backlash — and undergoing multiple incarnations in the ensuing decades. She has not only reinvented herself time and time again, but she’s consistently paid it forward. She reveals that it was a kept promise from comic Rodney Dangerfield that led to a career-launching opportunity on TV’s original iconic entertainment series, The Ed Sullivan Show, and then, 15 years later, she helped kickstart the career of an unknown new wave/soul artist named Romeo Blue — aka future reinvented superstar Lenny Kravitz, who’s been an amusing wrong guess on The Masked Singer multiple times.

In 1984, Houston recorded a song that a then-20-year-old Kravitz/Blue had cowritten, “What a Woman Feels Inside,” for her MCA Records album, Qualifying Heat; the LP also featured contributions from Glenn Ballard and Jimmy & Terry Lewis. This was the first time that Kravitz, who co-produced and played guitar on the track, had ever appeared on a commercially released recording. “I know that I’m in his memoir. He put me in his book. He wrote about it in there,” Houston chuckles.

In his 2020 autobiography, Let Love Rule, Kravitz wrote that being brought onto the Qualifying Heat project by one of his mentors, veteran producer John Barnes, was a “big break” for the artist now formerly known Romeo Blue, but admitted that he was disappointed when, after Kravitz arranged the track “like a straight-up R&B ballad,” Barnes “modernized it with a heavy dose of Synclavier [synthesizer] that to my ears undercut the feel.” But Houston felt the lyrics were timeless. And the song now stands as an interesting artifact in both her and Kravitz’s long discographies, as Kravitz readies his 12th album, Blue Electric Light, and Houston releases her 57th single, a cover of the O’ Jays classic “Love Train,” this week.

The thing that amazed me about [Kravitz] was the fact that he was a young man being able to write such lyrics for a woman to sing. It wasn’t a song written from a man’s point of view about something,” Houston explains. “It was specifically [sounded like] a woman’s song to me. And I said, ‘Did you write these words? Did you write this, just between you and me, Romeo?’ I didn’t call him ‘Lenny,’ because he was ‘Romeo Blue’ then. And he laughed and said yes. And I said, ‘Oh my God!’ It was amazing. … The story is about how a woman feels about relationships, how she feels about her man. I was like, ‘How did you write this song?’”

Interestingly, Houston’s 1976 signature smash, “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” was originally performed from a man’s perspective, but it was Houston’s female-centric take that created the definitive version. “[Motown executive and Class of 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee] Suzanne de Passe heard the song,” Houston recalls. “Suzanne de Passe is the one that signed me to the [Motown] label; she was the head of A&R. She heard the [1975 version] by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and she wanted me to listen to it. She said, ‘Listen to this song, because I think a female singing this song is going to make it special, make it more interesting.’ So, I listened to it and I liked it, and then they went in and recut it.”

And the rest was herstory and history. “Don’t Leave Me This Way” went on to win a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (although the humble Houston sat out that ceremony, because that was another situation when she didn’t expect to win). And decades later, at age 81, Houston is still touring and recording.

Below, the icon chats about her “Love Train” single; why disco never really went out of style; her plans for Pride Month (“I love June!”); and why she connects so deeply with her LGBTQ+ fans.

You may not have sob stories, but you have great stories. One story that was a big clue on The Masked Singer was about how when you won your Grammy, you were home cleaning your kitchen instead of at the ceremony. Do you remember the speech you gave alone to your mop when you won?

THELMA HOUSTON: No, I was just in awe. [laughs] I was in disbelief. First of all, the reason I didn’t go is because I didn’t think that I was going to win, quite honestly. I had been nominated a couple of years before and with the same [nominee], Aretha Franklin — and hats off, all hail the queen. So, I thought, “Yeah, I probably won’t win anyway,” and I just didn’t go. I really regret it to this day. You should always go, because you never know!

You obviously have accomplished so much in your career, and you’re a survivor. We’re coming up on the 45th anniversary of one of the darkest days in music, the Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in Chicago. A lot of your peers were really hurt by that and had trouble reinventing themselves or continuing their careers. How did you overcome the whole “Disco Sucks” backlash of ’79?

Well, prior to “Don’t Leave Me This Way” being a hit, I’d been out there performing since the ’60s. … I got on The Ed Sullivan Show without having a hit! They gave me two songs on that show! And the reason is because I got a gig. I was out doing my little shows at little different clubs and so forth, and I was opening for Rodney Dangerfield. Rodney Dangerfield [said], “I’m going to be opening up my club pretty soon and I want you to come, and I want you to be the opening act.” Now, I’ve heard different people say, “I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that”… but sure enough, he opened up his club and the first week, all of these people came in [when I was performing]. And that’s how I got on The Ed Sullivan Show. I’m saying all that to say that I kind of had a career going, working club dates and stuff like that, before I had the [disco] hit. Now, that hit helped majorly with the career; it puts you on a different level. But I had a little base set so that when they did that demolition, burning and setting fire and all this stuff being angry about disco, I went back to doing my club dates.

Were you worried at the time?

I was concerned. … But [disco] never really went away. Dance music is dance music, whether you call it “disco,” “dance,” whatever. It’s still around and relevant.

What did you think of the Communards’ 1986 version of “Don’t Leave Me This Way”?

I loved it! And here’s a story… I was in Sweden or Switzerland, somewhere I was performing, and the Communards were performing too. And I went to their concert and their manager knew that I was in the audience, so the manager gave me a microphone. So, when [Communards frontman] Jimmy [Somerville] started singing, [the manager said], “I want you to just get up there!” And I got up and started walking from my seat to the [stage] and [Jimmy] was like, “Oh!” … We’ve done it where we’ve both been in [Pride] parades. I think it New York or San Francisco, we were both in the same parade, and I did it at one end of the parade and he did it on another end!

You have a lot of Pride events coming up this summer: Indianapolis, Oakland, St. Petersburg, Toronto. Why is it do important to you to give back to the LGBTQ+ community?

It’s important to me because I believe the LGTBQ community is the one that started playing my music in the clubs before it got on the radio. … The record companies were sending [DJs in discos and gay nightclubs] the songs, saying, “Can you play this in your club?” Because they realized how important [club DJs] were in terms of new music getting out. And let’s go back before that. I used to go dance. I would hang out with my hairdresser, my costume designer. These were my friends. We hung out, we went dancing. We would go to the clubs dancing every Thursday night. These were my supporters. Of course, most of my friends from that time are gone; I just have maybe two or three here now that I call my support. But they would say to me, “Oh, girl, you’re going to get that hit! Don’t worry about it, girl! Let’s go dancing!” And that was building me up. That’s the community I feel were responsible for me. And so, everything that I can do, that’s what I’m doing and am more than willing to do. I’m always up there. And I love June! I love Pride Month!

That’s actually one of the reasons why I brought up that Disco Sucks backlash. I do think some of that was rooted in racism, and some of it was just because music trends change, but I also think a lot of it was rooted in homophobia, because the gay community what the first to embrace disco.

Yes, it was considered as a threat.

But that music has endured, and has been embraced by a new generation.

Yes, look at Dua Lipa and Beyoncé — everybody’s still doing it! They know it’s good. It’s here to stay. It’s a part of the culture.

Another Masked Singer clue that tipped me off that you were the Clock was about “performing for a president.” You performed for Barack Obama’s Out for Equality Ball in 2009. That must have been such a great experience.

Yes, that was by the Human Rights Organization. They also had me and Cyndi Lauper and Melissa Etheridge [perform] when Obama was nominated. … And then we were invited for the inauguration.

What an honor! So, you’re releasing the new single “Love Train,” and we’re in the middle of another election year. There are a lot of human rights on the table. What’s the significance of releasing “Love Train” in 2024?

I heard this song and I thought those lyrics are so relevant to today. I do believe that love is the ultimate superpower. I believe that with all of my heart. I believe until people start to feel it in here [gestures to her heart], showing empathy and being kind, nothing is going to happen. Love, that’s it. We have to realize that. So, I try to do it with [music]. … I don’t go out and lecture people. The only thing I tell people to do, every time when it’s an election year, is vote. Make sure you’re registered. If you want to see change, you’ve got to be the one to make the change. You’ve got to go out and vote. But I don’t get on a platform and whatever. I want people to have a good time. But I want to tell them: “Pay attention to these lyrics, ladies and gentlemen.”

You’re always open to new things. You’ve done everything from dueting with Morrissey to doing The Masked Singer. You worked with Lenny Kravitz very early in his career. And it doesn’t seem like you have any plans to retire any time soon. What keeps your career going? It seems like the train is still running, so to speak.

I still love it. I still love performing, and I haven’t done it to the point where I’m tired of it. I still love it and try to find new ways and new things. I wanted to challenge myself with doing [The Masked Singer] because as you get older, you can get set in your ways and say, “Nah, nope, I don’t do that. Nope, nope.” Pretty soon, you’re going to be in a little box. I still enjoy meeting people. I still enjoy doing new things — like talking to you, having this opportunity. I’m happy about the whole thing.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Watch Thelma Houston’s full Music Times interview in the split-screen video above.

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When American Idol Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard and runner-up Clay Aiken returned to the Fox network this spring to compete as the Beets on The Masked Singer, it was must-see reality TV. But nothing could compare to their first television run, 21 years ago, when American Idol was a game-changing pop-culture phenomenon.

The Ruben/Clay American Idol finale, when the two were separated by only 134,000 out of 24 million votes, still ranks as the series’ all-time highest-rated episode, with an astounding 38.1 viewers. Studdard and Aiken’s Idol season premiered just four months after Season 1, which had been a surprise summer smash, ended. So, they were the contestants who first experienced true Idol madness.

“Kelly [Clarkson] and Justin [Guarini] of course did it first,” Aiken tells Lyndsanity. “But I think I would argue that Ruben and I sort of did it first, because 30 percent — I checked this the other day… we got a 30 share that night on the finale. So, 30 percent of all TVs in America that were turned on were watching the finale. Which is unheard-of now! And so, we kind of got thrown out of this bubble… and into a fire.”

When Season 2 launched in January 2003, Studdard and Aiken had no idea what to expect, and they stayed in their “bubble” for months, unaware of the show’s growing momentum. “It was so unscripted. I mean, we were on a season where we didn’t have a real [band]; we sang to track. Our set was made, no joke, out of papier-mâché,” Aiken chuckles. “We were in the very rudimentary, early, primitive version of Idol, and so there weren’t any stakes. We went into this show not realizing that it was going to be this enormous behemoth that would change our lives forever. We all kind of thought it was going to be this fun experience. We’d get to be on TV, maybe we meet some people. None of us expected it to be such a big deal.”

Studdard was content to stay in the bubble, because that let him focus on competing. (“I did not want it to be a tie. I wanted to win!” he laughs.) The eventual champ had no idea just how massive his season had become until it was was almost over. “A lot of the things that that the general public is privy to, we didn’t get to see,” he explains. “We didn’t get see the People magazine articles and all this kind of stuff. We were literally there to do a specific job. And most of the time that we had that was downtime, we were either talking to one of our family members downstairs, trying to watch a movie together, playing on the PlayStation, or eating — which, even though we all gained weight, we didn’t have a lot of time to do that much either! I just think that they had us so laser-focused on the task at hand that it really wasn’t any time for us to hear the chatter.”

Studdard laughingly remembers his first experience with the “chatter,” when the show’s producers finally gave the contestants a shared computer — “a huge Apple, the iMac, the very first one” — and he, Clay, and their castmates curiously browsed an Idol message board during their limited downtime. “We finally found out what ‘message boards’ were. We were like, ‘Hey, people are actually talking about us!””

“Yeah, it’s crazy for people to think now, 20 years later, that there was no social media. It didn’t exist — Facebook, Twitter, none of that existed at all,” Aiken marvels. “There were these little message boards buried into the Fox website that people went on. There were cell phones, but there was not really texting. … It was so different back then.”

Aiken says it wasn’t until the week after the Season 2 American Idol finale, when he and Studdard went to see their castmate Frenchie Davis perform in a Broadway production of Rent, that it sank in that they’d become overnight superstars. “We showed up to the show. We sat down in our seats. They started the show. And then they stopped it to move Ruben and I up to the balcony, because nobody was watching the show! [Fans] were trying to take pictures with us, so they had to move us.”

Idol-mania continued in full force from that season on. Studdard’s debut album, Soulful, debuted at No. 1 (selling more than 400,000 copies it its first week), went platinum, and earned the “Velvet Teddy Bear” a Grammy nomination. Aiken became Idol’s first non-winner — paving the way for the likes of Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, and Adam Lambert — going double-platinum with his own chart-topping debut and even landing on the cover of Rolling Stone. The “Claymate” craze continued three years later when, looking almost recognizable with his flat-ironed black hair, a glowed-up Aiken surprised superfan Michael Sandecki on the Season 5 finale — which, Aiken happily points out, was the second-highest-rated finale in Idol history.

However, Studdard speculates that Season 2 “felt more like family” than other seasons, possibly because of its historic timing. “It’s weird even now, when we’ve both gone back to the show several times, to see how the contestants interact with each other, which is completely different than how we were as a group,” he says. “We were literally a real family. … When one of our castmates left, we really cared. It wasn’t like, ‘Such-and-such is going home; we’ll never talk to them again.’ As soon as somebody went home, we were trying to figure out how we can get them to come back to the house and hang out! We really were a unit like that.”

And that familial friendship continues two decades later for Studdard and Aiken, whether they’re on the road together (they just finished their 20th anniversary joint tour), co-starring in holiday Broadway revues… or dressing up as purple root vegetables.

“We kind of got thrown into the fire — separately, but at the same time, together. A lot of what happened to us right after the show, for that first summer, we shared. And there’s a bond that comes out of that. We went through hell, in a way, and we survived,” Aiken says, adding with the chuckle: “And we went through hell on The Masked Singer wearing those costumes.”

Watch Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken’s full interview above, in which Studdard does a spontaneous William Hung impression and Aiken shares thoughts about late Idol contestant Mandisa.

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When SisQó competed as the Lizard on The Masked Singer this week, there were no thong clues. “The Masked Singer is a family show! Nobody’s trying see something about some women’s underwear!” he laughs, speaking from London, where his “boy band” Dru Hill just performed at Wembley’s OVO Arena.

But even without such an obvious tipoff, and even when SisQó was singing seemingly off-brand songs by the Who, Billy Joel, and Evanescence, new Masked Singer judge Rita Ora — who was totally “fangirling out” over the Lizard’s reveal — recognized his voice straight away. Her fellow sharp-eared judge Robin Thicke also guessed correctly, because, SisQó assumes, “they’re musicians as well.”

SisQó is no stranger to musical genre-hopping, of course. He competed on Gone Country, CMT’s top-rated show at the time, in 2008 (his co-stars included future Masked Singer contestants Bobby Brown, Dee Snider, and Carnie Wilson), and he recorded a country song with the Donny “The Peacock” Osmond’s sister, Marie Osmond, in 2016. He even has fans in the rock world, like Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, who out of nowhere ruminated about “Thong Song’s” enduring appeal by recently tweeting, “The great thing about The Thong Song is you can really feel his earnest yearning to see that thong.”

@twitter|https://twitter.com/flea333/status/1723014853437042762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw@

“Actually, I loved that. I think I retweeted that,” SisQó laughs. “Shout-out to the Chili Peppers and Flea, because we’ve been on a couple of shows together back in the day, on some of those festivals and stuff, and man, I’ve just always been a fan of their music and their vibe. … For me, it’s always been about the music … My favorite genre of music is classical, so I’ve always done the best that I can to kind of blur the lines between these different genres.”

While some might assume that SisQó’s racy signature song was just a Y2K novelty hit, one that inspired millions of millennials to expose their panty straps 20 years ago and now inspires amusing random tweets from veteran alt-rockers, SisQó points out: “It’s funny, because that song is complex simplicity. It’s way more complicated than it seems. It’s a lot of musical changes. It’s live instruments. There’s a modulation, so when I came up with the song, I kept all of the verses the same to keep it simple, so that all the complexity in the back wouldn’t overwhelm the air. … Those string players for ‘Thong Song,’ I hired them from Star Wars… that’s why they were so precise that it sounds like a sample. But that’s live.”

As it turns out, the obbligato strings on this ode to G-strings were initially “a whole sample of ‘Eleanor Rigby’” — specifically a sample of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery’s cover of the Beatles’ ballad. But SisQó had learned the hard way, two years earlier when working with R&B star Mya, about the risks of sampling. That’s why he eventually enlisted Bruce Dukov to play the “Thong Song” violin parts, even if “when you’re doing uptempos, it’s difficult to keep [the strings] as syncopated as you need to be.”

“The first platinum single that I wrote for somebody outside of my boy band was Mya; I wrote her first two singles [1998's "It's All About Me" and "Movin' On"]. And somebody messed up in the studio and left a sample [of the Art of Noise's "Moments in Love"] in ["It's All About Me"]. When we sent the song to go get mastered, they left the sample in there and I had no idea that it was in there,” SisQó claims. “So, once the song hit platinum, the writers of the original song that was sampled came after us and took 99.9 percent of the record. Needless to say, from that moment forward, I was like, ‘I’m never sampling again!’ Plus, I didn’t want to have to pay [Beatles catalog owner] Michael Jackson for the ‘Thong Song’!”

Ironically, a 2021 Vice documentary shockingly revealed that “Thong Song’s” brief use of Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” — an interpolation, not a sample — resulted in Martin’s two songwriters, Desmond Child and Robi Draco Rosa, receiving a significant portion of “Thong Song’s” royalties. But SisQó’s breakthrough hit did lead to a friendship between Jackson (for whom “Thong Song” was surprisingly originally intended) and SisQó, and Jackson doled out some sound advice that helped the Dru Hull star take control of his future solo career.

SisQó recalls that Jackson flew him out for a meeting in 2001, when the “Thong Song” was all the rage. “We hung out over the weekend, and man, I was like, ‘Dude, you’re the reason why a lot of R&B and pop male artists, we’re all doing our best. What made you want to meet me?’ And he was like, ‘I think you’re really talented and you’re going to go far in the industry.’ And that’s when I ‘disappeared,’” SisQó self-deprecatingly laughs. “That was my mic-drop moment. You recall, it was like 2001 — and then I disappeared.

“You have to learn how to play the game, the music industry game. It is a delicate balance between respect and disrespect and ego and confidence, and you got to know how to balance that, when to turn it on, when to turn it off. But let me just put it this way: It’s not ironic that for over the past 15 years, artists have been saying they want to own their masters. I’ll leave it at that.”

As it turns out, SisQó’s new friend Jackson advised him to retain ownership of his masters. “I learned it from Michael Jackson and Prince and Ray Charles, and [other artists] learned it from me, and [music executives] was like, ‘We need to shush him. Somebody gotta shush him!’” says SisQó, who has long claimed that he was “blacklisted” in the industry.

Prince, with whom Dru Hill shared an attorney, offered SisQó the same career advice, when SisQó asked him about the possibility of a collaboration. “The conversation was, ‘Hey Prince, can we do a song together?’ And he was like, ‘Hey SisQó, do you own your masters?’ I was like, ‘No.’ And he was like, ‘Holler at me when you do,’” SisQó recalls with a chuckle. “But it never happened, because by the time I was owning my masters, that was kind of around the time that I started hanging out with Michael Jackson, and I think they had kind of frenemy kind of relationship. So, there you go.”

SisQó says he’s “been in the dragon’s lair over the past several years, because by me owning my own masters, after I got to a certain point in my life, I wasn’t really into the whole [show business scene].” But after cosplaying as the Lizard on TV, he’s inspired to unleash the dragon again, so to speak.

“They say that the industry is for younger artists because it’s a lot of just rigorous work that you have to do in order to pull it off,” says the 45-year-old husband and father. “I was basically just getting back to the singing portion of it. … And then when this came along, this opportunity with The Masked Singer, I learned so much from the show that almost immediately after I left the show, I told my team, ‘Hey man, I think I want to put out some new music!’ And I literally just started.”

SisQó reveals that he’s preparing two new EPs — the sequels to 2019′s Genesis, which will be titled Exodus and Revelation — and “soon as the heat breaks, I’ve got a lot of success with putting music out when the weather breaks, so right around late spring/early summer, you should be hearing something.” And he’s even working with Mya again. With the current Y2K revival, the timing might be ideal for his comeback, although SisQó admits he is not so thrilled about the return of TRL-era fashion trends.

“Yeah, my bad for everybody’s hair being dyed blond! I apologize!” he quips. “I was happy when [early-aughts fashions] left, man! I looked at some of the stuff from back then and I’m like, ‘Lord!’ The big, giant, oversized clothes and stuff? Yeah, I’m good.”

SisQó probably would be OK with a thong renaissance, however. While the popularity of the skimpy underwear style has decreased over the years, his 2000 hit caused Victoria’s Secret’s thong sales to spike a reported 80 percent back in the day. And he has an admitted fondness for the visible-thong fad that has slowly started to come back.

“When I hosted the MTV Movie Awards with Beyoncé [in 2000], you would think that I would remember the Beyoncé part. But I remember that Halle Berry showed up, and she had her thong showing,” SisQó says with a smile. “And I’m standing next to Beyoncé, and Halle’s like, ‘Hiiii, SisQó…’ and I’m like, ‘Hiiii, Halle…’ It was a moment. It was a moment! I actually put her name in a song that I wrote called ‘A-List.’ She was with [then-husband] Eric Benet that day, though, and I’m cool with him.

“But we had a moment. We locked eyes.”

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Exciting news, everyone! Kieran, dim the lights…

American Idol returns February 18, with The Voice returning February 26 and The Masked Singer on March 6. Y’all know I can’t quit these shows, after recapping them since Iam Tongi was practically still in diapers, so I am launching my new subscription-based Reality Rocks Substack for all you fellow diehards out there!

For a low-cost subscription (with a one-week free trial to start), you will get access to my recaps of all three series. I am considering also writing about So You Think You Can Dance (which returns March 4) and maybe some RuPaul’s Drag Race too. You can subscribe in the handy widget at the top of this post.

Subscriptions are just $8/month. There is also an $80/year option, but to be fully transparent, the monthly option is probably better for most since I will be taking blogging breaks when those three main shows are not on the air. I have a little free intro post up now that goes into my history of ‘Idol’-atry, but paid posts will start on American Idol premiere night, the 18^th!