World News – CA – Broccoli on why he couldn’t pull off ‘Watermelon Sugar’ in ‘The Masked Singer’

The legendary actor behind the big green mask reveals his plans for an album and discusses his surprising TikTok success with EW.

The crucifer was exposed as legendary singer-songwriter Paul Anka in this week’s special Thanksgiving episode, and as such, he’s set to miss out on Super Six. In front of him, the 79-year-old discusses his experience on the show and is a surprising TikTok hit. He also reveals all the details of his upcoming new album with duets with Olivia Newton-John and Andrea Bocelli.

WEEKLY ENTERTAINMENT: Did you know about the show first before signing up? PAUL ANKA: Yes, I was very familiar with the show. I was a huge fan of the show, as was my family – my son and the kids he hangs out with. And when I got the call, I was very interested because I was locked in my studio here in my house. I’m working on a new album and I’ve been locked up for a while. So I accepted and wanted to get out of the house somehow. I was there, I was done with it, and I honestly had a lot of fun.

Did your son find out it was you, or did you tell him in advance? Oh no, I told him because I live with my son. I spend a lot of time with him. To tear ourselves away – we have a very good, honest relationship. I’d rather tell him the truth and say, « Be calm. « He didn’t even tell his friends; it was pretty cool. He was a little excited about it, and then when he saw it [on TV] he was even more excited about it.

There were two dogs in one of the clue packages. Was that an indication that you are on Gilmore Girls and the dog was named after you, or was it your song « Puppy Love » or both? I certainly think Gilmore Girls and « Puppy Love » because right now « Puppy Love » and TikTok are huge. [My song] « Put Your Head on My Shoulder » is very big on TikTok too, which is what we’re all scratching our heads about. It is wonderful. I mean, I thought the clues were, for the most part, at least challenging for some people.

You really ran the TikTok thing. People initially thought you were a teenager! Obviously, song selection is important, and my whole mind has been to do things that I don’t normally do and put a lot of energy into them to make people say, « No, that person doesn’t have that kind of energy. « So I had all the uptempo songs and really put as much movement as possible into my costume to throw some of it away. My concern was Robin [Thicke], because I knew his father, may he rest. I know Robin, I haven’t seen him lately, but he would pick up on my tonality. With that I wanted to throw her off as best I could and go the energy route and the movement and the selection.

Speaking of song selection, as someone who has been performing for so long, how did you narrow down what you would sing? Well, I wanted songs that I was familiar with because I could so well imagine what it would be like like in costume, reality only hit me when I was in it. I wasn’t really ready to make an unfamiliar sound here. I was looking at [Harry Styles’] Watermelon Sugar, some very contemporary songs, and I said to myself, well, I’m in the studio now, I’m trying to work on a lot of new songs here. So my brain was pretty busy so I really picked songs that I felt I could pull through or that would work for me.

What can you tell us about the album you are working on? I have to deliver it in about five weeks and then it’ll be out next year. And I think one of the good things – if there is any – about COVID is you have nowhere to go and I just started writing. I wrote a lot of songs and started the process months and months and months ago and I don’t know, it just rolled out of me. And we have a lot of varied material. One of the highlights is that I have the original master [of Frank Sinatra singing « My Way »]. . I knew Andrea Bocelli and thought, wow, wouldn’t it be great if I could bring Bocelli here with Sinatra and me and do the three of us on « My Way, » which I originally wrote for Sinatra. It got very exciting, but it was technically very challenging and we did it, and the same goes for Olivia Newton-John. I mean, she’s on her farm up north and I wanted to do « lay your head on my shoulder » with someone. It’s very big on TikTok now with Doja Cat who set a hit record with it. I wanted to do a normal version, if you will. [Laughs. ] I knew Olivia and I just had a feeling that it would be the perfect song for her, with her talent, and she obviously stays pretty much at home now with what she’s up against. So we took her to a studio in the Santa Barbara area and just dumped it. And she did a great job. She did a great job.

What surprised you most about The Masked Singer? Well, first of all I loved working with the staff and everyone. And I think the added unfortunate pressure we were all feeling . . . I have a family in the business and they have been closed, they cannot escape. [Son-in-law] Jason Bateman, you know, he couldn’t come to Atlanta – they make Ozark – but he was locked up. We talk all the time, he and my daughter, and they are all very worried. But when I found out I could get back to work [for TMS] and found that when I got back to work at how efficient it was to produce the show, I was really impressed with how easy it was to do it in an abnormal one Situation and how smoothly it went.

Everyone told me that. But you know I watch the show. I think some of them want to get out of there after the first time. I think Mickey Rourke wanted out. [Laughs. ] You know, that wasn’t my opinion. I mean, I would have fun, and as a fan of the show, I went with it. Did I want to take three weeks? No, I wanted to go back to my album, but I think the ride I’ve had is great. You know i had the experience. Other than that, I had no expectations. I did my best to work hard on it and that was it. It was pretty cool.

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The Masked Singer, Fox Broadcasting Company, Paul Anka, Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger