Bobby Brown Reveals How Bittersweet ‘The Masked Singer’ Appearance Was ‘Therapeutic’

Bobby Brown may not have stayed on this season of The Masked Singer for very long, but the “My Perogative” singer admits his bittersweet turn provided him with a sense of fun after going through a traumatic event. Brown joined the lineup of contestants in February 2021, just months after his son Bobby Brown Jr. died. The former New Edition member tells People he used his time on the show as a form of therapy. “I did have so much fun, and it wasn’t about a competition to me,” Brown said. “It was about strictly having fun. Being able to perform as the Crab really, really, really made me feel good.”

Brown displayed some of the hurt he’d been dealing with through his performances this season. The judges applauded Brown’s first appearance, which was a performance of Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine,” saying that he gave such a “raw” rendition. When asked what inspired the intimate show, Brown revealed he had his family in his mind. “I was thinking about a lot of things. Mainly all the loss of my life. That’s really touching to me, that’s close to my heart. But also, just thinking about my kids, and how much I appreciate them, how much I love them, and being able to sing something to them that is not one of their father’s songs,” he said. “It was therapeutic for me to sing that song and bring it across to the people, and people to get where I’m coming from as a human being. For my kids to hear it, and sit there and say, ‘That’s you, Daddy. That’s you Daddy. I know that’s you, Daddy,’ it’s been a lot of fun.”

Family played a big role in all sides of Brown’s moves on the show –– even his decision to join the show in the first place. While he said he was already a “big fan” of the show, he says the idea of his kids watching his big reveal was an enticing opportunity. “I just thought it would be a great idea for me to do it, to see the looks on my kid’s face when I’m unveiled. It’s been out-of-the-box for me to do this. During the pandemic, just being able to get out of the house and go somewhere and go to work and then come back home, and the kids not know where I’ve been. And then later on letting them know that that’s what Daddy was doing at this time. To be a part of something so special was everything to me,” he said. However, that reveal probably wasn’t as big in his household as he had anticipated. Brown says his kids knew he was inside the Crab costume all along. “I kept telling them it’s not me. I hate to lie to them, but they’d find out eventually later on.”