The Masked Singer runner-up Wasp talks new album, Ne-Yo advice, and what that stinger was really like

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Masked Singer season 12, episode 12, "Finale: Champion Is Crowned."

After a season full of epic performances, the Wasp has officially buzzed off The Masked Singer stage for the last time.

In Wednesday's holiday-themed season 12 finale, the dance-busting, high note-hitting performer was dubbed the runner-up after a final vote that host Nick Cannon called "very, very, very close." When it came time to unmask, two panelists — namely Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg and Ken Jeong — guessed Jason Derulo and Usher, respectively. Not bad guesses, but not quite as good as Rita Ora and Robin Thicke's guess: hit R&B artist, actor, and Empire star Mario. In something of a Christmas miracle, they were right.

Ahead of the big reveal, Entertainment Weekly caught up with Mario about the unique challenges of putting an album out while pretending to be the Wasp, the advice he got from Ne-Yo, how he worked with the show to cultivate those sweet dance moves, and what it was really like dancing with that stinger.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: To start us off, you just released a new album, Glad You Came, on Dec. 13. What has the reception been like for your new music?

MARIO: I've been in this place of awe with both putting out an album and The Masked Singer happening at the same time. Glad You Came, for me, it's kind of like the title of this place in my life right now. I feel like people are coming to see me live on The Masked Singer, but they don't know that it's actually me. I feel like they're hearing this new album, which is a new era and a new elevated version of who I am as an artist, but is reminiscent of the feeling that they felt from my first albums, but with a more elevated lyricism and production. So I feel like Glad You Came just is kind of like the title of my life right now in this era that I'm in, which is amazing because as an artist your dream is for everything to come full circle. 

There's so many moving parts to create an album. I work with James Fauntleroy, who's executive producer with me, and we were both traveling and getting in for a week here and then off for two weeks and then back in. So with all that, we were trying to keep the intention of the album and I think we did a good job at doing that. And I think so far the reception has been amazing and I can't wait for more people to get their ears and hearts on the album. And being the Wasp on this season of Masked Singer is kind of just an added piece of nostalgia for me because I'm able to do records and take it back to when I was a kid [when I was] very imaginative about music, my love for it. The same thing that Wasp had to do is have imagination, and it's like merging the voice with the costume and the songs with the costume and the intention of the art direction, all of it. It's all Broadway and music to me. So it was never a departure from me leaving there to go work on the album and finalize the mix of the album. Everything felt very connected. So this whole journey has just been beautiful. But yeah, the album's out right now and I'm excited to take it on tour. 

Ne-Yo (a.k.a. season 10 winner, Cow) was your Masked Ambassador, and in the finale you said that you talked to him throughout the season for advice. Was he the reason you did the show?

No, no, no. I wouldn't say he is the reason why I did the show at all. No, I think it was just having that kind of a support from somebody who actually did the show. Ne-Yo told me what things to watch out for, what to expect backstage. Obviously, it was all my own experience, but there were a few times I asked him questions about certain things and just what it was like being backstage, what it's like making that transition into the costume. Obviously, his costume was a lot different from mine, but a lot of my questions got answered just by the experience alone and because I had time to live with the costume before we did the show, that helped me a lot. For example, I'm in rehearsal for an hour or two with the actual mask on because I wanted to know what my restrictions were, how to use my breath work and air to sing and dance and move even though I was restricted air-wise a little bit. 

The challenging part of it was also a great part of it because in order to be a great performer you've got to know how to breathe and use your voice and your breath work in different ways. So that was something that no one could give me advice on because my mask is different from everybody else's mask, and theirs is different from mine. So you've really got to become one with your costume. I mean, this is something that I learned. It's like when you put it on, you literally have to adapt to the world of that character and I feel like that was one of my favorite parts about it is just really becoming the Wasp every day. And the hardest part about it was not being able to take the costume home afterwards. I could have put that in the contract, but we thought about it too late.

I'm glad you brought that up, because I think what made the Wasp so special was not just the notes you could hit, but all the dance moves you added, too. So I was curious if the show worked with you to create a costume specifically so you could do that, because with a lot of the costumes, you really can't move much at all.

Right, right. No, I think their instincts were pretty good. I feel like when they called me about the show, I actually think it was the next day we had another call and they showed me the costume and I was like, yo, this is fire. It fits me, the character of the Wasp, the design of it, the colors, the fact that the wings weren't all the way perfect if you look at it. It kind of had some broken wings a little bit, just like you could tell he'd been through some things, you feel me? So I love that I could pick that character and relate to it and take it on the stage and bring these songs to life in different ways. As angelic as the Wasp is and him being able to fly and have wings and all that, he still was very grounded and had been through real things in life. So it was just merging those characters. I enjoyed it.

How hard was the giant stinger to dance with?

Oh man, you're the first person to ask about it. It took some getting used to because I had to work on my space, especially when we had dancers, to make sure that I didn't hit them, sting them with the stinger. And it happened a few times during rehearsal, but then I got used to it. I think that the mentality was becoming one with it, and using it as an actual part of me. For example, on certain songs, I would point the stinger towards the audience when I was dancing to use it as a prop, and the choreography that was intentional, and just getting used to the way that it moves, the weight of it, which is why I rehearsed with that and the mask every rehearsal. I didn't want the first time for me to feel it to be on stage. But once you do that, just like anything else, it teaches you repetition is king and you just got to adopt it and make it work for you.

Be honest, did you figure out that you were going up against Boyz II Men in the finale?

By the time the finale was happening, I definitely knew exactly what I was going up against for sure. Boyz II Men, I've been hearing these voices since I was a kid, studying their vocals. And they're part of my R&B Mount Rushmore, period. There's no question if I was to name a group it would be Boyz II Men. They would be No. 1 for me because of their vocal ability, their song choices, and being in a group is very hard. So it's something I definitely respect them for, what they've done with R&B.

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