Jana Kramer The Masked Singer Royal Knight Exit Interview

Season 12 of “The Masked Singer” continued Wednesday night on FOX with the Group C finale of “Peanuts Night.” Following the studio audience’s vote, Royal Knight became the first singer to be eliminated (and ninth overall this season), revealing the actress, singer and writer Jana Kramer. Watch our video interview above.

“The clues were a bit sad, but they were the unfortunate truth,” Jana tells Gold Derby. “Which I think made the costume what it was. It felt great to suit up and go out there and sing and prove that you can go through some tough times and still go out there and fight and have fun and love.”

After ramping up the competition, Jana says, “I pretty much knew I wasn’t going to make it to the quarterfinals. I know I’m not the best singer. I was surprised at how well I did. When I heard the other contestants sing, I thought, ‘I’m definitely not going to make it all the way.’ I’m very competitive, so I thought, ‘Maybe I should rearrange my songs.’ But then I just thought, ‘Go out there and have fun.’ That’s exactly what I did.”

SEE ‘The Masked Singers’ eliminated contestant after being compared to Joe Jonas: ‘It made me feel good’ (Watch)

Panelists Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Ken Jeongand Rita Ora had trouble identifying the singer for most of her run on the show, but Jenny eventually figured it out. “I knew she would when she saw the podcast track,” admits Jana. “She was just on my podcast. We were just talking about all these things (in my clue packets). Living in Nashville, hard times and stuff. I knew she was going to get me.”

Discussing her rise to fame and connection to music, Jana says, “The only reason I got my record deal was because I was on ‘One Tree Hill.’ When I was on that show, I was like, ‘Let me trying to pursue music a little bit, because I hadn’t seen people do both at the time, they were like, ‘You can’t do both, and country radio won’t believe you,’ if you continue with to act so you really have to stop acting.’ My label made me leave the last season of ‘One Tree Hill’ to do my radio tour, but then I realized that I love acting. Yes, I enjoyed the last five years with touring, but I wanted to do both. That’s when I turned things around. I’ll try to do it my way. Doing ‘The Masked Singer.’ ‘ made me realize how much I miss being on stage, but there’s nothing better than being on set.”

Artists like Patsy Cline, James Taylorand The eagles were Jana’s biggest musical influences. “That was probably my top three,” she says. “Now it’s changed a little bit. Honestly, I still listen to them, but now it’s really what my kids listen to, which is a whole different story.” She reveals that her favorite performance on “The Masked Singer” was her cover of “When I Look At You” by Miley Cyrus. “I got to dedicate that song to my husband, so it was a sweet one. I didn’t even know that song, to be honest. I love Miley Cyrus, but it was a song I wasn’t familiar with. I was nervous if I could even hit some of the notes. We lowered the key significantly. I always knew Miley was a good singer, but when I actually tried to sing one of her songs, I was like, “Damn, this girl has range!” I have so much more appreciation for her and her musical talent.”

Jana tells Gold Derby that she will be filming “a couple of movies” next year, but they haven’t been announced yet. She also has a song she co-wrote Lee Brice, Sarah Brice and Jerrod Niemann called “Heart Shift,” which fans can expect to hear soon.

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