“The Masked Singer” Showed Sisqo He Could ‘Market Me Without Speaking Concerning the “Thong Song,”‘ He Says (Unique)

The R&B star tells PEOPLE he discovered competing as Lizard on the Fox sequence “far more tough than I assumed it will be”

The Masked Singer marked one of many uncommon events on which Sisqo didn’t have underwear thrown at him throughout a efficiency — as a result of the “Thong Song” singer hid his identification below the Lizard costume.

“I’m out here at Wembley Stadium because we performed there, over 12,000 people, sold out, and they’re throwing thongs on the stage,” Sisqo, who unmasked on Wednesday, April 3’s episode, tells PEOPLE of a recent Dru Hill live performance in London.

Related: 20 of the Wildest Rules You Didn’t Know Contestants Have to Follow on ‘The Masked Singer’

The Fox singing competitors confirmed Sisqo, 45, he didn’t have to depend on his 1999 hit for recognition. Judge Rita Ora suspected Sisqo may very well be the Lizard early on after listening to him sing, and Robin Thicke agreed.

“With Rita and Robin being musicians, I think once I hit a note, they was like, ‘I know who that is,’” the daddy of daughter Shaione, 29, and son Ryu, 11, says. “I learned how to market me without talking about the ‘Thong Song.’ You couldn’t even see me — they had all of these clues with stuff I had even forgotten.”

As a end result, Sisqo hopes showing on The Masked Singer will make viewers extra receptive to his new music, together with his upcoming album, Exodus. “I think people hearing me sing different types of music, maybe they’ll be a little bit more open to hearing what I got to do now,” he says.

Sisqo shares the way it felt performing as a reptile, how his children affect the music he releases and why he considers shedding The Masked Singer a win in the long term.

PEOPLE: Were you dissatisfied to be eradicated earlier than the quarterfinals, or did you simply come on the present to have time?

I’m not used to shedding. I’m the form of person that you just go bowling with, and I simply announce that I’m going to win earlier than something even begins. And then it occurs, and you then get within the automobile, and you are like, “How’d you understand you was going to win?” I’m like, “I completely did not know I used to be going to win, I simply spoke it into existence.” So approaching the present, initially I obtained too hung up on the singing half as a result of the masks factor is a lot extra than simply singing. Once I used to be off the present and I used to be sitting within the automobile on the way in which again to my resort working by means of the whole lot in my head, I got here to phrases with shedding. Because whenever you lose on The Masked Singer, you win as an artist. Now I obtained a 3rd alter ego, The Lizard.

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How was it performing contained in the Lizard costume?

The masks was extraordinarily tough to breathe in and very tough to see in. And I form of turned my very own worst enemy as a result of we have been doing the tribute to Billy Joel, I picked “Uptown Girl” pondering, “I know ‘Uptown Girl.’” Turns out, I do not know “Uptown Girl.” I used to be singing all of the incorrect phrases after which I am unable to see the teleprompter. So now, I’m struggling to breathe, struggling to maneuver, struggling to see. I obtained to learn and sing. It is far more tough than I assumed it will be.

Did any well-known pals or relations suspect you have been on the present?

After they heard me sing, everyone knew who I used to be, even my children. They knew routinely.

Are your children followers of the present?

My children watch the present. They requested me 1,000,000 occasions was I on the present after I wasn’t on the present. But as quickly as they noticed me transferring, earlier than I even sang a word, they knew which one I used to be.

You carried out Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” on Shower Anthems Night, which isn’t the style individuals usually count on from you. Why did you select that tune?

I’ve all the time beloved that tune. I used to be simply elated that I had a chance to form of present individuals Sisqo’s vary, you understand? Some individuals suppose I’m a rapper, and I am unable to rap to avoid wasting my life. So it was an important expertise with the ability to sing, simply have individuals actually see me in one other mild.

Viewers additionally might have been stunned to study that you just favored to attract and turned down a suggestion to work as an animator for Disney.

Turning down the chance to attract for Disney didn’t go over so properly with my mother and father. So I had no alternative however to make one among these abilities work as a result of they wasn’t going to let me neglect how I fumbled that bag. However, mockingly sufficient, the second film that I had ever shot in my whole profession was a film with Disney known as Snow Dogs, so we ended up working collectively anyway.

Do you continue to draw for enjoyable?

I had one thing to do with my logos.

Related: Where to Watch Every Season of The Masked Singer

Would you be supportive of your children in the event that they informed you they wished to enter the leisure trade?

I’d be as brutally sincere as they’re with me. They are my entire A&R staff. If I play a tune, they go away the room or begin asking me a few completely different tune, then I do know that that one ain’t dope.

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The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

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