The Masked Singer Season 9 finale was one of the show's best, and that's thanks mostly to its two finalists. The Macaw, otherwise known as singer David Archuleta, sang his heart out but ultimately fell just a bit short of winner Medusa, who was singer Bishop Briggs. It was another runner-up finish for Archuleta after his loss in Season 7 of American Idol. Archuleta's loss might have been a bummer for some Idol fans, but as the singer told CinemaBlend, it was actually an incredibly healing experience after his first run in reality television.
David Archuleta has spoken candidly in the past about his miserable experience on American Idol, where he ultimately finished runner-up to Idol Season 7 winner David Cook. The stress and negative experience of the former Fox series has stuck with Archuleta a long time, and as the singer told me in our interview, it almost prevented him from doing the show:
I have to admit I didn't want to do the show initially. It took some convincing for my team to have me do it. They thought it would be fun for me and I was like, ‘What would be fun about being in a competition again?’ When I finally agreed to do it, before I went to go to the actual staging and stuff, I even had some anxiety attacks. I didn't want to put myself in a position of being in front of a live audience, TV, exposing myself to being judged and feeling that pressure again. Luckily, with Masked Singer, it is not the same kind of pressure that American Idol had.
It's not surprising to hear American Idol, especially in the era that David Archuleta competed, was more competitive than Season 9 of The Masked Singer. NFL star and fellow contestant Keenan Allen talked about the intensity of performing on stage, and at the same time how The Masked Singer ultimately inspired him to make more music. Lou Diamond Phillips talked about the "wonderful" experience of performing "La Bamba," so it seems like many contestants walked away happy with their experience.
This may be because while panelist Ken Jeong will hit contestants with a wild theory about who they are, he's not going to tear down a performance and publicly humiliate a performer the same way that Simon Cowell did (whether or not Cowell's rudeness was faked) in the earlier seasons of American Idol. David Archuleta clarified he wasn't mad at everyone he worked with at that time, as he continued to compare and contrast his first experience with The Masked Singer:
For the most part, there are really wonderful people when I was on American Idol who I love to this day. There are just a couple of key people who are very powerful that kind of caused the mood to be a lot more contentious and you felt a lot more belittled. So, to be in a show where it’s all about happy and feel good and lighthearted. You’re in a costume…it wasn’t so much judging, It was just commenting and cheering you on.
The Masked Singer is indeed very much about good vibes. Season 9's Pentatonix revealed they emerged from their experience "really happy," with some added revelations about themselves.
David Archuleta was surprised to walk away from The Masked Singer feeling "healed" from some past trauma he endured on American Idol. The singer, who is releasing a new single called "Up" on June 2nd, talked about those issues and the feeling of relief he had after finishing up as Macaw:
It was a very healing process for me because, as you know, American Idol was a very stress-inducing thing to where it still, for some reason, it still affects me to this day. And The Masked Singer, being on there, healed a lot of things that I was still holding onto that I didn’t know I was holding onto and I didn’t know how to get rid of it. And it was like, ‘Wow.’ It’s like you feel all these burdens lifted off.
The Masked Singer Season 9 was such a positive experience for David Archuleta that he confirmed that finishing runner-up like he did in American Idol Season 7 wasn't a big deal. As a fan, it's good to hear that the Fox series is still a blast for competitors to take part in it, and it can even make a real difference in their lives. The bar has been set high for Season 10!
Season 9 of The Masked Singer is finished at Fox but will return with Season 10 in the fall. Here's to the end of another great season and the hopes that quality will only keep growing!
