"It was totally done to throw them off": Ne-Yo reveals what made him choose cow costume on The Masked Singer

The Masked Singer season 10 concluded with the final four contestants proving to be Sea Queen, Gazelle, Cow, and Donut. While all the talented singers gave a range of memorable performances, it was Ne-Yo, who ended up as the winner.

Fans and judges were stunned when the male rapper emerged from the cow costume, a move that was bound to lead to a lot of confusion. During an interview following his win on the show, the rapper revealed exactly why he ended up choosing the peculiar female costume, instead of sticking with a more predictable one. He said that it was a deliberate move to make it more difficult for people to recognize him.

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Ne-Yo reveals why he chose the cow costume on The Masked Singer Season 10

Previously a part of the British edition of The Masked Singer, Ne-Yo revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that his appearance on the American version of the show was always going to lead to a host of changes. His decision to choose the cow costume was his own, as The Masked Singer showrunners initially gave him a simple choice.

He said,

“It was totally done in an attempt to throw them off. I have a million speaking voices. I can change it, I can do accents, I can do different inflections and everything with my speaking voice. My singing voice kind of is what it is, though. There's no way around it. So I knew that as far as talking and whatnot, I might be able to throw the judges off that way.”

Ne-Yo claimed that he was convinced the judges would realize who he was the moment he started singing. However, being a talented artist, he claimed that he knew he could do a range of things to throw people off.

Ne-Yo ended up using accents, changing the way he sings, and a range of other ‘inflections’ to keep his identity a secret. The Grammy winner was able to succeed as well and ended up fooling the judges right till the end of the show.

In the same interview, he added,

“It was totally done in an attempt to throw them off. I have a million speaking voices. I can change it, I can do accents, I can do different inflections and everything with my speaking voice. My singing voice kind of is what it is, though. There's no way around it. So I knew that as far as talking and whatnot, I might be able to throw the judges off that way. But the second I started singing, somebody was going to catch me.”

However, Ne-Yo had a choice of choosing a male cow costume to stay true to his gender on The Masked Singer. However, he was desperate enough to win the show and ended up deciding to stick with the female costume.

Regardless, with his experiment proving handsomely successful, Ne-Yo ended up winning, after only finishing as the second runner-up during his The Masked Singer Britain appearance. All episodes of season 10 of The Masked Singer are now available on Fox, alongside a range of streaming platforms.