Barring someone ringing that, this being the Group A finals, so two people had to go home.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I’ve got to say I am shocked to be talking to you right now.
I thought you were shoo-in to win it all.
Ship on ‘The Masked Singer’.Michael Becker/FOX
PAULA COLE:Well, thank you for your vote.
Listen, I don’t need to win.
I don’t need to win awards and things.
Paula Cole attends ‘A New York Evening With Paula Cole’ at National Sawdust on February 27, 2024 in New York City.Rob Kim/Getty
I’m doing this for other reasons.
It was a fun experience.
It’s all good fun.
Did you end up finding a sense of calm as it went along?
I loved my costumer and my sewers.
I was very attached to them, so I felt like there was team energy.
I was sad to leave.
I loved the experience.
I loved singing and dancing and being part of something and being in that company.
I don’t like that.
Music is a unifier, not something to be competitive over.
So I kind of personally hated the Battle Royale.
Everyone was really talented.
I think it’s fine for me to go home.
I have a lot to do.
It was kind of a relief in a way, but I was sad.
It’s a lot.
It was kind of exhausting and fascinating and fun.
But we ended up watching the Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield match together that night.
I think it was withMichelle WilliamsandJames Van Der Beek.
We watched that match together and they’re lovely people and I love them.
James was such a good human being.
Totally kind and down to earth and was a big fan of my music.
So I really, really appreciated him.
You sing it and the entire audience starts to sing along.
It’s a very moving and joyful thing to be part of.
So it’s very sweet.
Essentially, you pulled a Taylor Swift before Taylor Swift!
Yeah, we did that back in 2015 or 2016.
I re-recorded and re-released the masters for “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?”
It could get used at whim.
The record company would just use it.
So I think it was oversaturated, overexposed.
And you don’t get to control life.
None of us do.
You don’t get to control your career per se.
You do your best in surfing and navigating those tides and those waves that come at you.
Rob Kim/Getty
Right, and that’s essentially why Swift did it as well.
There has been real abuse in the music business, especially to women.
What’s next for you?
What are you working on that you’re excited to share with fans and viewers ofThe Masked Singer?
So I’ve been touring behind a new album calledLo, and that’s going very well.
I was really heartened by the reception I got in London, so that all went fantastically.
And I’m going to be doing more touring.
Some more dates will be announced later.
I’m kind of winding down this tour.
And I’m about to go in about a five month period of writing right now.
And then I really am an introvert.
And I’m focused on a musical, which is all very new and nascent.
I can’t even talk about it.
It’s all very, very new.
But I’m going to be working on that and also a book.
And of course if a song or two comes out, great.
I just have white hair now.
The Masked Singerairs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
