The Masked Singer finalist Bull on his emotional last song and the sweet video Hunter Hayes sent him

Warning: This article contains spoilers about the season 6 finale of The Masked Singer.

Another season of The Masked Singer is in the bag.

After an hour-long recap of the sixth season, Queen of Hearts and Bull faced off in the finale. Both singers were tasked with performing one acoustic song, and one showstopper. The finalists each brought emotion and high energy to their numbers, with Bull tackling Des'ree's "You Gotta Be" and Hunter Hayes' "Invisible" (which brought him, panelist Nicole Scherzinger, and the audience to tears). Queen of Hearts, meanwhile, sang Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and brought her typical unique spin to Katy Perry's hit "Firework."

Host Nick Cannon said the vote was closer than ever, but ultimately, Queen of Hearts reigned supreme and was crowned the winner of season 6. This meant it was time to finally unveil the masked matador and reveal the judges' first impressions of the runner-up. They ranged from Brian Littrell to Ne-Yo to Lil Uzi Vert, but only Sherlock Scherzy got this one right. She revealed that Bull was none other than singer, rapper, dancer, and former American Idol semi-finalist Todrick Hall, and she knew it all along.

With one more point towards the Golden Ear Trophy, Scherzinger moved into first place ahead of Queen of Hearts' reveal. No one's first impression guess was correct for her (Fergie, Idina Menzel, Carrie Underwood, and Renee Zellweger were the picks), but several judges did in fact guess her identity correctly in the end. Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Robin Thicke, and Scherzinger all switched their guesses to Jewel, with Ken Jeong being the lone ranger in getting it wrong. And just like that, four-time Grammy-nominated singer Jewel won The Masked Singer season 6.

Before the finale, EW caught up with Hall to dish on his friendship with Scherzinger, his emotional final performance, the surprise video he got from fellow TMS alum Hunter Hayes, and more.

Michael Becker/FOX 'The Masked Singer' host Nick Cannon with Todrick Hall unmasked as the Bull.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congrats on being this season's runner-up! How familiar were you with Masked Singer before you did the show?

TODRICK HALL: I didn't watch it religiously, but I had seen tons and tons of performances because I'm friends with Wayne Brady and Kandi Burruss and JoJo Siwa, and I'm a huge fan of JoJo. And I just had so many friends on the show, Tori Kelly even. And so I watched a few episodes, but I watched tons and tons of clips. It was something I always thought that they probably wouldn't ask me to do or that I wouldn't have done beforehand, because I'm mortified of singing live. I had been in one competition before, on American Idol, and it was not my favorite experience. I've just been so horrible at comparing myself to other people, and I'm not that confident about my singing. So it was, to me, something I never thought I would do. But when the pandemic happened, and we couldn't sing and dance anymore, it made me really rethink all of the opportunities that I've had and how fortunate I was to be able to have those opportunities. And so I just said, "You know what, I know that life is crazy, but I definitely need to find a way to make this happen, and say yes to new opportunities when things open back up because there might come another time where we can't perform." And so when they called me, I didn't need to think about it. I said, "Absolutely, yes." I moved everything in my schedule around to be able to be there.

You've worked with panelist Nicole Scherzinger several times, and we know now she did in fact know who you were the entire time. Did you find yourself rolling your eyes at some of her guesses throughout the season, or could you tell she was truly keeping her real guess to herself?

Well she said on the first episode that she thinks she knows who it is, but she's gonna keep her cards close to her chest. So I knew that she knew who I was the first episode after she said that. I knew that she was going to hold it close to her chest because there was a Take It Off Buzzer this year, and I know that she didn't want me to get taken off because I'm not a person that gets to perform on Fox Television. And what I love about the show is that, in this world, there's a lot of preconceived notions — whether people are willing to admit it or not — you subconsciously have an idea of what you think of someone based on what they look like, and what you think they stand for, and what their sexual orientation is. And the beauty of this show is that people fall in love with your character, not your skin color, not your orientation. So I'm so happy that I got to make it to the end and be able to sing songs and represent my community for the entire run of the season. It was a huge blessing. I'm really, really grateful that I got to do it.

And have you heard from Nicole since you wrapped filming the show?

We've spoken since the show happened, and she just told me that she was so proud of me and that she couldn't believe I was able to do all of those things. But then she was like, "Of course you can, though, it's you." I mean nobody believes in me more than Nicole Scherzinger. She's just like my No. 1 cheerleader. So it was really fun to have her there, and it made me more comfortable on stage, that I knew somebody who had genuine love for me was behind the judging panel.

How did you do all of that stuff in that costume? You were doing high kicks and splits. Did you have to get special Bull pants to do all that?

No. With the costume, I had to ask for a couple of little minor adjustments in some numbers. I took my cape off and wasn't able to dance with my cape, or whatever. But for the most part, I was able to do everything. I just got more and more and more comfortable with the costume as the season went on. I was able to just figure out what things I could do, like doing the splits and doing like '80s jazz things and falling off of scaffolding, and it was just really, really fun to do. It's a wacky world, that show, so anything goes. And that was really fun because oftentimes on shows there are very strict guidelines and themes, and with this show it's like anything that you've ever wanted to sing that you can't sing at your concert, this is a place that you could sing it. And I've always loved the song "Drops of Jupiter," I've always loved the song "Make You Feel My Love." I've been obsessed with "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul since I was a child. And so to be able to perform those songs was just the time of my life. I also wanted to perform "Circus" when I was on American Idol, but I was so scared to do it, because I just knew it was such an out-of-the-box choice for me. I wanted to be dancing, and when you're dancing with no dancers, it's just kind of like, is it gonna be good? I don't know. I always wish that I had done that number, so when they asked me to do this, it was one of the first songs I said I wanted to sing.

The finale was emotional for you, emotional for Nicole, emotional for everyone it seemed. What can you tell me about that moment and what it meant to you?

That moment in the finale was just really special to me. I've always loved that song ["Invisible"] by Hunter Hayes. I'm a huge fan of him, mostly because I found that song at a time where I really needed it. And it felt like it was written for a younger version of Todrick. It's just such a beautiful song and the lyricism and the melody of it is just so powerful. And I danced to that song in one of my tours, but I never have gotten to perform it. It just meant a lot to me. And I actually got a video from Hunter Hayes right before I went on stage to perform that, and he had a really nice message for me. I'm such a huge fan. I know every Hunter Hayes song, and I love him so much. And so it was just really, really awesome to be able to sing that and for Nicole to connect with it in that way. I know that there's a lot of kids that watch this show that are different and out-of-the-box, and are being bullied at school, and I just wanted to sing a song that I would have wanted to hear or would have benefited from when I was in high school or middle school. That would have really helped me, so I hope that it helps someone tonight when I sing it.

How did the video from Hunter come together?

Well, Hunter was on Masked Singer — he was Astronaut — which was one of the clues in my clue package. People were like, "Why is there an astronaut?" It was a double whammy, because one of the reasons why that that clue was there is because I love Hunter Hayes, for one, but also I won a [MTV VMA] Moonman for being the executive producer of "You Need to Calm Down" by Taylor Swift. So that's why there was an astronaut floating around. So the producers reached out to him and had him send me a message. And they showed it to me in my dressing room right before I went on stage, which is also probably part of the reason why I was a mess.

I know you have some very exciting stuff coming up in 2022. What can you tell us about it?

Yeah, I'm going on my [Global 100 City Tour] March through May. I'm really excited about that. I have a new album that's out right now [Femuline Reloaded] and another album coming out Jan. 14 [Femuline Gaymeova] that I'm really excited about. Next year is going to be full of music. I'm filming new music videos. This tour is going to be the biggest one I've ever done. We're in rehearsal right now, actually. I stepped out to do these interviews, but I go back in and get to keep dancing away and sweating away for the rest of the day. And so I'm just excited. I'm so recharged from being in this pandemic, and so about what 2022 has in store for me, and I'm so happy that The Masked Singer is the perfect way for me to kick it off.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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