(Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 12 finale.)

On the way there The Masked Singer By the Season 12 finale, there were only two contestants left in the competition: Buffalos and Wasp.

Both made two more appearances for the panelists before it was time to choose a winner. That honor went to Buffalo, but second place is also impressive. And under the Wasp mask was R&B singer Mario.

Below he talks about his time at the competition. (Read our interview with Buffalos Here.)

Congratulations on making it to the finals and coming second!

Mario: I appreciate you. Thank you. It was a fun time.

What made you say yes to it? The Masked Singer? Did you have any concerns?

No, I had no reservations about doing it. They actually reached out to me a few years ago, but the timing wasn’t right. Honestly, I think it was definitely a full circle moment, and once I saw the Wasp costume I was all in. I knew it would be fun and I was excited to bring the wasp to life.

What happened with your song selection, especially in the semi-finals and finals?

The choice of songs was very deliberate. I also think about where I perform them, because with each show they sometimes changed who performed first or who performed in the middle or last. So that would affect which song we chose and why. Really give the Wasp a lot of dimension because I didn’t want to just do slow songs. Sometimes I wanted to dance, sometimes I wanted to make people cry. Sometimes I wanted to tell a story. So yeah, it was all very intentional.

You’ve put in some incredible performances over the course of the season. Which one particularly caught your eye?

I would say “Skyscraper,” the intent of the song, the difficulty of performing that song with the mask on because my jaw was very restricted. So it was a challenge for me to find new ways to get the notes out without cracking, or to get the notes out without the key slipping. But I could have changed the song too, but I decided against it because of the meaning of the song. I felt like it was something a lot of people needed to hear at home at the time, and I felt like there was a very powerful meaning behind the song: just trust yourself, believe in yourself, no matter what’s going on goes. And I felt like both I and the wasp could understand that. So just all worlds merge.

“Rock Your Body” because it was one of the first performances of its kind.

And “Beautiful Things,” I love performing that record because I could walk through the audience and do it in a moment like I was walking on stage, and I just wanted people to feel like “The Wasp.” feel very connected. I didn’t want to perform in the same place every show and make sure the performances were consistent with the intention of the song. And I think we did a great job together, from the production to the choreographers to the camera, everyone who was involved in bringing the Wasp closer and closer to the audience, but also to the judges, who consciously brought it into his world Let’s dive in, okay, let’s start right next to the judges. Let’s let them feel that moment and let’s make them a part of that moment and maybe even give them a little hint of who I was, right, who the Wasp was. So just everything. A lot of thought was put into making it a great experience overall.

Discuss the panelists’ guesses. Rita Ora recognized you. Did you come here expecting someone to know it was you?

I expected Robin (Thicke) to know because we toured together. We’ve known each other for a long time. It makes sense for Rita to figure it out because she’s a singer and therefore listens differently. But I still try to make it a little more difficult by changing the songs and maybe changing the way I move to kind of throw them off. But I guess being a panelist and also a singer is like a cheat code because you already understand voice and tone. So I just had to keep trying to turn them off.

What will you take away from the entire experience?

Imagination is one of the greatest gifts we can ever have as humans, and it can take us to places where doubts, fears, and all those other things are not possible.

What surprised you most about the show?

How big were some of these costumes and how did the people move in them, because, okay, not being able to see and not being able to see your feet is one thing, but not being able to even move your head? As if Goo’s costume was huge. It was crazy. I didn’t expect to see such big costumes. But the Buffaloes also have a big costume, but it’s really cool and fits their personality. So I think how they choose the costumes and how the costumes actually fit everyone’s personality and voice and everything.

Are there any songs you wish you had ever performed?

I actually wanted to play “Lose Control,” but Goo already had the song, so it was on the list, and then when I picked it, they came back and were like, “Oh man, Goo already picked that song.” So yes, he did a good job, but I feel like I could have given a little more. I just love this record. So it would have been one of my favorite songs.

And congratulations on your new album.

Thank you. I appreciate you. It’s finally out. While I was finishing the show, I was finishing some of the mixing and mastering, so I went from the Wasp back to Mario. The album is called I’m glad you camedefinitely one of my favorite albums. I feel like it shows and illustrates my development as an artist, as a writer and as a creative. Many of the songs are very imaginative, intimate, vulnerable, confident, a little bit of everything you could want from a male R&B artist.

And I feel like it continues to put R&B in a great space. If you love R&B, love the nostalgia of R&B but also the fresh take on it, then I think this is the album for you. I feel like it’s timeless and I love working on the album with James Fauntleroy, who executive produced it, and I can’t wait to just keep pushing it, playing it on tour and more to make videos. My new single “Keep Going” is out now. “Keep Going” is about keeping love going even when it seems like it’s ending, but it’s just another chapter in our exploration of each other. So I go back to the whole idea of ​​imagination and creativity and using R&B as a medium for that.

The Masked SingerSeason 13 premieres, Wednesday, February 12, 8/7c, Fox