T-Pain Reveals Being on ‘The Masked Singer’ Was ‘Relieving’ (Exclusive)

Fans have clung to one of FOX’s newer shows, The Masked Singer and loving every minute of it as the series enters its fifth season. But since its debut season, fans of the reality TV hit have sat on the edges of their seat. But there couldn’t have been a more perfect winner for Season 1 to kick things off.

Viewers might remember how rapper T-Pain dressed up as the Monster and won hearts over week-after-week, all the way until the end. In his clue packages, he got candid with the audience, revealing that if he were to win this season, it would essentially change his career trajectory and help him start a new chapter. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, T-Pain revealed that the process of competing on The Masked Singer was a freeing experience.

“It was relieving, you know? It was definitely validating. It definitely brought validity to every piece of work that I’ve ever done and everything that I’ve put my heart into and my mind into,” he detailed to us in our series PopCulture @Home. “Just to have that audience and to have those judges really dive into the fact that I was doing a good job.” The “Buy You A Drink” hit-maker said the validity he received from the audience and judges helped give him the “confidence” he needed.

Fans of the 35-year-old will remember he went through a rough patch of being heavily criticized by music-goers and celebrities alike for using autotune, despite the fact that he wasn’t the first musician to use it, and he certainly wasn’t the last. Following his 2007 hit “By You A Drink,” the rapper seemingly couldn’t escape the swirling gossip and online hate, so for fans to see him open up the way he did on The Masked Singer, revealed how he was feeling about being so heavily harped on for simply standing out.

However, despite artists like Jay-Z and Christina Aguilera calling the artist out for using autotune, T-Pain says he has zero regrets on using it. “Oh no, oh no. I mean, if I wouldn’t have used it and made myself unique, I wouldn’t have been on Masked Singer […] I got a second chance at a career, I got a second wind.” he confessed when asked if he would have done anything differently knowing what he knows now. Since appearing on the show, he said that it only helped him launch to a new “level” so that he could “soar further.”

Since T-Pain is about standing out, he teamed up with Ruffles for their new campaign “Own Your Ridges” that encourages fans to proudly own the things that make them unique, he felt it was a perfect fit. “Mostly because that’s what I’ve been doing my whole career, regardless of the aforementioned backlash that I was getting […] good or bad, I owned it.” For more on your favorite celebrities, keep it right here at PopCulture.com.