Why Masked Singer Winner Thought Career Was 'Probably Over' Before Show (Exclusive)

TooFab spoke with the nation music powerhouse after she was topped the Season 13 winner on The Masked Singer Wednesday night time as “Pearl,” a glammed-up alter ego that introduced her again to heart stage after years of private battles and bodily setbacks.

Within the unique interview, the Grammy winner revealed why this second looks like greater than only a win — it is a deeply private comeback.

“This simply occurred to return at a degree in my life the place I had rather a lot to show to myself,” Wilson mentioned. “I had been type of out of the highlight for about two and a half years, and I hadn’t instructed anybody why.”

After grappling with post-COVID well being points and a damaged leg, Wilson mentioned she was within the worst form of her life.

“I used to be virtually depressed… pondering it is most likely over for me,” she shared.

However when The Masked Singer reached out for a second time, Wilson noticed it as an sudden alternative and an opportunity to actually check herself.

“I mentioned sure for egocentric, private causes. I wanted to know if I had 5 or ten extra years in me. May I nonetheless do that?” Wilson puzzled.

Regardless of doubts, she not solely did it, she received, and it is an final result the 51-year-old singer mentioned she could not have predicted.

“I did not count on to win,” she mentioned with fun. “I assumed Boogie Woogie had it from the minute I heard him sing. After they mentioned my title, I virtually hit the bottom. It was stunning.”

However as soon as the preliminary shock and awe wore off, it was changed by bliss.

“The confetti, the judges, the lights — it was simply bliss,” Wilson recalled. “And now I sing you my tune,” she added, referencing her breakout anthem, “Redneck Girl.” “The tune that put me on the map.”

Performing as Pearl was a problem, each bodily and emotionally.

“At first, it was so not comfy. The pinnacle weighed greater than I do,” Wilson mentioned of her Pearl costume. “However each time I stepped into Pearl’s go well with, I grew to become Pearl. She’s all the time been in me. I used to be simply afraid to let her out.”

Now, she’s planning to deliver Pearl together with her on tour.

“Possibly not the top,” Wilson joked. “However that feeling Pearl gave me, the boldness, the glamour, that is staying with me. She classed up the redneck girl a bit.”

Wilson’s journey on The Masked Singer wasn’t simply an opportunity to get her spark again, it additionally served as a non secular reboot.

“Once I was harm and could not do something, I prayed. I prayed rather a lot,” she mentioned. “And the reply I obtained was: You are not finished but.”

Nation music can be making a comeback, with everybody from Beyonce to Put up Malone and Lana Del Rey dabbling within the style.

“Nation music swings. Proper now, it is coming again to that conventional sound — the one I got here up in,” she defined. “Youngsters are listening to Brooks & Dunn once more. Travis Tritt. It is the right time.”

And whereas because of TMS, newer followers now know her as Pearl, many nonetheless bear in mind her because the unapologetic “Redneck Girl” who redefined what it meant to be genuine in Nashville. That message, Wilson mentioned, nonetheless holds up.

“You do not have to reside in a high-rise or drive a Cadillac. You may reside in a single-wide, increase your youngsters, and be the happiest girl alive. That is the redneck girl. And Pearl — effectively, she’s that very same girl with sequins and sparkle,” she defined.

“I do not really feel like I’ve reached my actual function but,” Wilson added of what is subsequent for her following her win Wednesday night time. “That is all a part of one thing larger. I am simply going to maintain placing one foot in entrance of the opposite till I determine it out.”