 All right. Okay. I've been unmasked. What a lot of people don't know is that I was supposed to do Mask Singer last season. And then I developed laryngitis or pharyngitis. It was one of the jituses. I thought it was laryngitis, but it was actually pharynge- is it pharyngitis? Is that a word? It was cause because of allergies. So my throat was inflamed. I had my songs picked. I was excited. I was actually the seahorse everybody. And Tori Kelly replaced me. I cried for three days and I asked the casting director if I could possibly do it the next season. They said they could not guarantee it, so I literally had to let it go. I had to let go of the possibility of living out a dream that I've wanted to in over 20 years. And that was hard. But I let it go, moved on, lived my life, and then I got the call again. I have been staying on a stage in over 20 years. The last time I sang was the national anthem with my twin at the Malibu Triathlon. And before that it was singing the national anthem with Tia the Harlem Globetrotters. I think it was like maybe the same year. And after that I never sang meaning performed again, ever again, until I was the seashell. Adrienne and I had a conversation about her experience and she told me to marry a must-do mask singer. I was terrified. Whenever you're terrified or you're scared of doing something you have a fear. My motto is you're probably should do it. I didn't want to be controlled by the fear of singing again, even though it was something that I wanted to do. On The Real we talked about a bucket list. And one of my bucket lists were to be on stage again. I'm very happy I did it. However, it was nothing like I expected it to be when I first started. I thought I was gonna have like three or four days to rehearse songs. I thought maybe there was gonna be a little autotune. From the moment you say yes they send you all your proper wardrobe that you have to wear while you rehearse. You have this black sweatshirt that says don't talk to me. You wear that. And then you have like this weird-looking kind of like silver mask. And you have to wear your gloves and you have to make sure that your pants are covering up everything. Your sleeves are covered. Your pants are covered. Your socks cover every ounce of your skin. They showed me some of the possible costumes. And I saw Seashell and I was like that is me because I love the beach. My roots come from the Bahamas. I loved her. I thought she was so pretty. Her colors had my favorite colors in them. The pastel pinks and the blues and she was very shimmery. I picked out my songs. I show up my first day. You immediately go to a dance studio, learn your routine, learn your song. Guess what? The next day you're shooting a dry block which is basically you have your mask on because you got to get used to moving in it. I didn't think about the fact that I'm claustrophobic that that could possibly be an issue. Like I'm a chick that gets into the elevator and I feel like I just have to get out. Singing in the mask was claustrophobic as well that no one really talks about. Especially when you're singing songs that have high notes because the main thing again is a singer. It's your breath. You have to take those breaths and when you're in the mask it's literally like this. You take a breath. You feel like you're not getting enough oxygen. So it was scary but again this entire experience taught me to push through. There's no excuses in the mask slinger. I can't be like, excuse me, can't breathe. They'll be like, well what did you think you signed up for? Like you have a mask. Even when you're rehearsing with the dancers they have no idea who you are. This is much as everyone else and we have no idea who the other contestants are. I mean I could hear them. I knew one person because he was loud and he was right next to me. I could hear his phone calls. I could hear your phone calls. I think I know who most of the contestants are. We're not allowed to say anything unless they've been unmasked. However, I had no idea who the rapper was. I couldn't put it together. I knew he was eclectic because he was flirting with the seashell. It was hilarious. He was like, the first time he met seashell, he had no idea I was in there. He was like, you are so pretty. He says he loves seafood. For those of you who actually watched the Masked Singer, what has been your biggest surprise so far? Let me know in the comments below. What's crazy is is that everyone on that judging panel, I met and I interviewed or they interviewed me. I was on a plane ride with Robin Thicke. I was like, what's up? Hi, how are you? We were on the same flight and we talked like a year before. It was really cool to see all of them and have them have no freaking idea who I was. People have preconceived notions once they know who someone is. Your name comes with stereotypes. On Masked Singer, it's cool to come out there and just be yourself, not really. And people say, wow, this is a professional singer. Wow, this is a girl that has soul. Wow, this girl can sing. And the other thing was seeing the press. People saying Seashell, the powerhouse Seashell, her voice is amazing. She owned the stage. She and I was like, oh my God, they're talking about it. It's weird because I would never describe myself like that as a singer. Never. So to see other people write about it, or they say the Seashell captured America's hearts. On the first episode, I was like, oh, this is so cool. They have no idea who I am. So I had an idea of how this was going to go. Like I had an idea. I'm going to go, Tamara, you're going to sing. It's kind of like girls. It's kind of like when you sing in the shower. But I had a rude awakening, but it was good. It was more my insecurities thinking that I couldn't sing live. But the producer said, the way we sold this show is you must sing live. And I was like, but what if you forget lyrics? You got to keep going. My mom brain is like, my memory is like, so I was actually more afraid of forgetting the lyrics than actually singing. And they do have a little teleprompter there, but for every single time I performed, if the words were not all there, when I first went out there, they wanted me to do like this runway model kind of walk. And I walked. I was like, you want to see me walk? I can walk. Let me walk. And I walked and I wasn't really in shape. And I was like, I'm out of breath. Oh my gosh. And then having this mask on, I couldn't breathe. So I started freaking out. And literally it's just you in the mask. Yeah, you can kind of see, but you can't. That's another thing. You can't see clearly. I had no peripheral sight. It was like straight. So if I wanted to see what was on the left, I had to literally turn that big seashell to the left, turn it to the right. And that was one of the hardest things, like keeping that shell kind of balanced on my head. And I freaked out. And you can literally hear Nicole say, oh my gosh, she's nervous. And I was in that moment. All my fears as a child came back. When I first performed singing, I sang in a patent. And I jacked up my high note. I cracked. So that fear came back. That 12 year old girl showed up. You can't sing, you're going to suck. You know, like those negative voices. And you'll see me do this. And I'm literally thinking, what the hell have I signed up for? Why are you? I was like, well, there's no turning back now. And there was something that happened. I literally just, well, I wore a little ring that had an A on it. That stands for a lamp. She loved to sing. And I knew she was there with me. I wore this, my red bracelet. My grandmother passed away. I knew my grandmother was with me. And I literally felt them. I heard my grandmother, like his clearest day, saying, you're not alone. You got this. And then I said, all right, Lele. That's what I called her. I said, let's do this. In your ear, you can hear the track and you can hear your voice. And they count you down. One, two, three, four. And that is the beginning of my first song that I sang, which was Listen to Your Heart by Roxette. I literally was shaking in my boots, like shaking. And the hardest thing about singing and being nervous, when you're acting, you can easily kind of like use that nervous energy. Like if I'm sad, I can use that nervous energy to kind of like still be sad. If you're angry, you can still use that nervous energy to be angry. But when you're singing in your nervous, nah, like you can hear it. It's right there. So you literally, with every ounce of your body and soul, just have to own it. You have to own it. And that's what I did. And I was like, oh my gosh, I did it. And I was very proud. I was nervous in the beginning. Yes. But in the moment you get through it, you're like, that fear does not own me anymore. And that is why I did the Masked Singer. Every single song actually has a meaning. I chose Listen to Your Heart by Roxette. One, I'm an 80s kid. And I loved girl bands. And then also, you know, the pandemic. I don't care who you are. Good kudos to you if you didn't go through any like ups and downs with your marriage being like together for that long period of time. I just wanted to give hope to other people in relationships or marriages. If you're going through, just remind yourself to just listen to your heart. The second song was Confident by Demi Lovato. There have been people out there that, and I've spoke about this before, but it no longer defines me. I can talk about it and be like, okay, you were open to your opinion. You were open to have, this is a free country. You're open to have these blogs talking about who you think I am, have a narrative on who you think I'm married to. Okay. You underrate me on who I think I am and who I'm not proud to be. You want to do that? Go on. If that makes you feel better, okay. But that doesn't define me. And that song was about being confident in yourself who you are, no matter what anybody is saying. The third song, Tell Me Something Good by Shrapa Khan. I just wanted to have fun and be sexy. There are different facets of who I am, and if you watch the movie, you know that. Yes, I can be cute. Yes, I can also be sexy. The fourth song was kind of like an homage to my childhood, Tiffany. I think we're alone now. We were 11 when that song came out, and my sister and I did this dance together with our babysitter's daughter. Remember our babysitter's? Her name was Maria. And we did a dance, and that's when I kind of like really realized I wanted to be a performer. I wanted to be an entertainer. I think I cried every single time I went on. There were moments I was like, I don't want to do this. I'm going to go home. It's I'm good. Never mind. I quit. They're like, no, you made it through the next round. You can't quit. You can't. And I didn't. Thank God I didn't. I have never received so much positivity, like a review or however you want to call it, a critique of something I've done ever before in my life until this show. I'm telling you 99.9% positive feedback. And they didn't know who I was. I gotta say the hardest part, well, the second hardest part is actually performing. Well, the second hardest part is keeping it secret, especially from your family members or my best friends calling like, where are you? I can't get ahold of you. I can't. And I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. I remember one of my friends going, something is off. You are not yourself. It's like, I couldn't like, I couldn't explain it. And I'm like, mm, like, mm, mm. Okay. If you think if you say so, I will never forget. I was shooting this baking show and there was this, this kid who was working on the show. He had to be like in his twenties. And I never saw him wait by my car before. And he was like, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. And I was like, hello. I was like, Miss Tamara, can I just, can I ask you something? First of all, I was like, Miss Tamara. Oh God, you say that when you're like old or something. But he was like, what did you know about the C show? And I literally put my head down and walked to my car. And because I was like, I can't, I can't, I can't say anything. But as I got in the car, he screamed and he said, you're doing an amazing job. I just want you to know that. Okay, Miss C Shell. What's next for C shell? By the way, you will hear me say C shell for the rest of my life. I will, whenever I speak of myself in the third person, I think I'm just going to say C shell. C shell is very happy today. C shell is feisty today. That's how much I loved her. What's next for C shell? I would love to do a Hallmark musical, a Christmas musical with Shirley Ralph, the original drinker, one of the original drinkers. I would love to do a Disney animated film. I would love to do a Broadway play, Hamilton, say one of the three sisters. I would love to record a gospel album, inspirational album. I'm putting it out to the universe now. That is what I would like to do. That's what C shell would like to do. Tell me in the comments below, what would you like to see C shell do, aka Tamara Marie Housley. I am so happy and this was so much fun to share with you guys my experience being on the master slinger on the Housley life. Don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Thanks guys!