Masked Singer's Ship talks 'bizarre' memory with Dawson's Creek cast and not knowing 'how huge the show would become'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Masked Singer season 12, episode 3, "Soundtrack of My Life Night"

Boost those speakers and dip into that nostalgia, because it's Soundtrack of My Life Night on The Masked Singer!

This particular theme has been used on the show in the past, and as always it meant the remaining singers on Wednesday had to perform songs with personal meaning to them. To that end, Ship sang “Because the Night” by Patti Smith Group, Woodpecker sang “Put Your Records On” by Corinne Bailey Rae, and Buffalo sang “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve. It was a night for bringing back old favorites apparently, as host Nick Cannon told the panel and audience at the top of the episode that the Ding Dong Keep It On bell — which can only be used once all season in one of the group finals — is making its return.

Barring someone ringing that, this being the Group A finals, so two people had to go home. The first contestant eliminated was Woodpecker, who was revealed to be Black-ish star, actress, and producer Marsai Martin, which no one on the panel correctly guessed. This sent Ship and Buffalo to the season's first Battle Royale, where they were both tasked with singing their own take on “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac.

In a shocking and sure to be somewhat controversial decision, the panel opted to save the Ding Dong Keep It On bell for later in the season, and sent Ship sailing. Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg finally got on the board this season as the only one to correctly guess that Ship was Grammy winner Paula Cole. Other guesses included Sarah McLachlan (Rita Ora), Alanis Morissette (Ken Jeong), and Amy Lee (Robin Thicke).

Ahead, Entertainment Weekly chats with Cole, who reminisces about a wild memory with the Dawson's Creek cast, how that show's theme song, the "evergreen, everlasting anthem" "I Don't Want to Wait," is the song of her life, and her surprising link to Taylor Swift.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I've got to say I am shocked to be talking to you right now. I thought you were shoo-in to win it all.

PAULA COLE: Well, thank you for your vote. I appreciate it. Listen, I don't need to win. I don't need to win awards and things. I'm doing this for other reasons. I love music. It was a fun experience. It's all good fun. I was always kind of practicing my Buddhist non-attachment to it, just enjoying it, even though I enjoyed having an alter ego, and the Ship was a beautiful alter ego, a beautiful costume. It was fascinating being in the inner workings of a television show, and it was fun to dance and give a little joy to my elderly parents who sit in their La-Z-Boys and watch a lot of television as elder folks do, and my kids. It's fun.

You mentioned on the show that you are a big introvert, and being there was kind of stressing you out. Did you end up finding a sense of calm as it went along?

Oh, definitely. I mean, being on a television set, it's much more intimate than it appears, and I loved my crew. I loved my costumer and my sewers. I was very attached to them, so I felt like there was team energy. I was sad to leave. I loved the experience. I loved singing and dancing and being part of something and being in that company. So I did shed a little tear when I got off stage after I died, and had to be unmasked, just because I was sad to leave, but I felt very uncomfortable being in a battle with music. I don't like that. Music is a unifier, not something to be competitive over. So I kind of personally hated the Battle Royale. Everyone was really talented. I think it's fine for me to go home. I have a lot to do. It was kind of a relief in a way, but I was sad. It's a lot. It was kind of exhausting and fascinating and fun. So I'm glad I said yes, and I got over myself and my judgmental snobbery because I didn't even know the show, and I had to do a deep dive to research it all. And then it was pretty interesting. I don't think I would've done it if I had to be some furry amoeba or something, but they gave me this gorgeous costume and it was all very grand.

Speaking of television, your beloved hit "I Don't Want to Wait" — the theme song to Dawson's Creek — played on national TV during the Emmys this year when Joshua Jackson took the stage and he hilariously made a comment about it. Over the years, have you had the opportunity to talk to the cast about how that song has been part of a defining moment of their careers?

I haven't met anyone from the cast in some years, and everybody's kind of branched out in their own life. But it's funny, we did some promo together when they were still shooting, and I met the cast and it was so bizarre. But we ended up watching the Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield match together that night. I think it was with Michelle Williams and James Van Der Beek. We watched that match together and they're lovely people and I love them. James was such a good human being. Totally kind and down to earth and was a big fan of my music. So I really, really appreciated him. I don't think any of us knew how huge the show would become, and the show was so much bigger than me, and people latched on to the song. It holds this sentimental place in people's hearts, and it's become the song of my life, and it's crossed generations. You sing it and the entire audience starts to sing along. It's a very moving and joyful thing to be part of. I feel very lucky about that, to have a song like that, even though "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" had higher chart status, but "I Don't Want to Wait" is this kind of evergreen, everlasting anthem and people love it. And for me it means something else, it's about my grandfather and our family, but it just has all this meaning for people. So it's very sweet.

And when that show went to streaming a few years back, you ended up re-recording that song to own the masters of it. Essentially, you pulled a Taylor Swift before Taylor Swift!

Yeah, we did that back in 2015 or 2016. I re-recorded and re-released the masters for "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" and "I Don't Want to Wait" so that I have a little more control over my songs, because otherwise the music business is full of sharks and I signed some bad deals, and I didn't have control over that song. It could get used at whim. The record company would just use it. So I think it was oversaturated, overexposed. And you don't get to control life. None of us do. You don't get to control your career per se. You do your best in surfing and navigating those tides and those waves that come at you. But I did what I could so I re-recorded the masters so I could have more semblance of maintenance of my work.

Right, and that's essentially why Swift did it as well.

Totally. Girl power mode. Yeah, and I love that [Swift] highlighted that conversation, and India.Arie recently kind of left performing live. She's highlighting just how difficult the music business is for artists, and I'm glad that we're making it more a part of the conversation. There has been real abuse in the music business, especially to women.

What's next for you? What are you working on that you're excited to share with fans and viewers of The Masked Singer?

So I've been touring behind a new album called Lo, and that's going very well. And I've gone back to Europe, the U.K. for the first time in 25 years after raising a family, and that felt redemptive. I was really heartened by the reception I got in London, so that all went fantastically. And I'm going to be doing more touring. Some more dates will be announced later. I'm kind of winding down this tour. So I finish my touring at the end of this month, but in 2025, you'll see a lot more tour dates that'll be posted soon. And I'm about to go in about a five month period of writing right now. Sometimes you have to be an extrovert and promote, talk about your projects and interviews, do tour travel. And then I really am an introvert. So I am at home and coming back to my writerly self, and I kind of regard myself as a writer first before a singer. 

So I'm happy to wind down the tour at the end of the month and begin some writing again. And I'm focused on a musical, which is all very new and nascent. I can't even talk about it. It's all very, very new. But I'm going to be working on that and also a book. And of course if a song or two comes out, great. But I'll be doing that until I resume touring again, which will be late spring of 2025, and people can always come to my socials or my website and see me, and I'm there on the other side of the internet. I just have white hair now. [Laughs]

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The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.