Who are Snow Owls on The Masked Singer ? All the clues it's this country music couple
Michael Becker/FOX
Prepare for trouble, and make it double!
This season, The Masked Singer introduced Snow Owls, its first competitor duo. Their harmonies have made for some of the best performances in season 4, and we definitely want to hear more duets in the show’s future. But when it came to the clues, having to solve for one celebrity is hard enough, and making hints stick for two people was even more challenging.
We don’t think any of the panelists have gotten Snow Owls’ number just yet. While Amy Grant and Vince Gill was a good guess from Robin Thicke, as was Donny and Marie Osmond from Jenny McCarthy, EW is certain the icy pair is actually married country singers Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black. Read on for our full breakdown of their two clue packages and on-stage hints.
First off, Snow Owls’ confident and faultless performances indicate the two are professional singers, and Clint and Lisa are accomplished artists individually. They’re also known for their songs together, like "When I Said I Do” and "Easy for Me to Say.” Some country fans might’ve even clocked Clint’s distinctive twang as soon as Snow Owls took the stage for “Say Something” by A Great Big World.
But the clue packages really sealed the deal that Clint and Lisa are behind the costumes. First, in the clip from season 4’s premiere, we saw a pearl in a shell, which referenced the couple’s daughter, Lily Pearl Black.
The Owls also mentioned that audiences “haven’t seen us together in a while.” Clint and Lisa haven’t hit the stage for a few years, and except for a Christmas tune in 2018, their last track together was 2016’s “You Still Get to Me.”
The female Snow Owl then called her partner a “prankster” and a “real wise guy.” Well, Clint’s frequent collaborator Hayden Nicholas dubbed him a “real jokester” in a 2018 interview.
Then we saw street signs for Magnolia and Quarrel Canyon. The Blacks lived for some time in Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon neighborhood, before settling in Nashville. As for Magnolia, Clint’s song “Dixie Lullaby” mentions “that sweet magnolia thyme,” and Lisa appeared in an episode of Fantasy Island called “Magnolia Blossoms.”
There were a couple of Christmas hints as well, which could be a nod to Clint’s two Christmas albums. In fact, 2018’s Clint Black Christmas Collection has a song called “Magical Christmas” featuring his daughter Lily Pearl, recalling back to the male Snow Owl saying “I just wanted to make Christmas extra magical” in the clue package.
In the second clue package, the male Owl said they’ve always had each other’s backs, like when he was going through a "messy breakup." While you might think the clue had to do with a romantic relationship, we think it relates to Clint’s falling-out with his manager, Bill Ham, whom he sued for breach of contract in 1992. He married Lisa the year prior, so she would have been there to support him through the ordeal. Later, the female Owl mentioned that her partner looked out for her too, saying "I had an opportunity fit for a queen that I was too scared to do.” Her other half then rooted her on by quoting The Waterboy’s “You can do it!” line.
That could be alluding to a past interview in which Lisa said Clint had to convince her to sing with him, as she was hesitant. But when record label execs heard their first song together (1999’s “When I Said I Do”) and thought he was harmonizing with Trisha Yearwood (whom one of the TMS panelists even guessed), it boosted Lisa’s confidence and led to future collaborations with her husband. The female Owl, too, called her "leap of faith" “life-changing.”
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One of the most convincing hints in the second package was the electronic “D” shown on the floor. It’s so specific that what else could it perfectly apply to, besides Clint’s 1999 album, D’lectrified?
Later, there was the image of an anchor with the word “management” emphasizing the “man” portion. It reminded Nicole Scherzinger of Anchorman, but we think it was a misdirect and actually referenced Clint’s small role in the 2003 movie Anger Management (get it, “anchor” sounds like “anger”?).
Then we saw knotted ropes and the basketball emblazoned with the letters “DAL,” which we believe are both references to Knots Landing, the soap opera Lisa starred in that was a spin-off to Dallas. The basketball could also be about the Dallas Mavericks and therefore point to Maverick, the 1994 movie which featured Clint.
If all that weren’t enough, the Snow Owls’ on-stage hints should sway you in the right direction. After their first performance, the male Owl talked about how much he loved wings. Clint once guest-starred in an episode of the series Wings. Then, after they took the stage for the second time, a drone presented a witch’s hat for their clue. Lisa starred in Tabitha, a short-lived Bewitched spin-off series in which she played the titular witch character.
So there you have it, Snow Owls are Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black. And if you still don’t believe us, just watch:
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