'Masked Singer' Champion Medusa Shares How Her Infant Son Influences Her Performances (Exclusive)

Medusa
Michael Becker/FOX

The reigning season 9 winner was crowned on Wednesday, and she spoke with ET about her emotional 'Masked Singer' journey.

*Caution: Spoilers ahead!*

With every appearance during the ninth season of The Masked Singer this year, the character known as Medusa delivered raw, powerful, emotional performances that raised the bar for the show as a whole. On Wednesday, fans finally got to see who was under the beautiful and elaborate mask.

After all the panelists made their final guesses at the end of the grand season 9 finale -- in which Medusa faced off against the defeated The Macaw -- the golden-voiced gorgon unmasked and was revealed to be songstress Bishop Briggs.

ET spoke with Briggs on Wednesday, and the "River" singer opened up about her time on the show -- which came just a few months after she and husband Landon Jacobs welcomed their son.

"At the time of filming, I was six months postpartum," Briggs recalled. "So I was pumping, I was performing, I was showing multiple different sides of myself at once. So being able to lean into that... made a huge difference."

In Wednesday's finale, both she and The Macaw -- who was revealed to be singer and American Idol alum David Archuleta -- belted out two songs each, and both gave stunning, emotional performances.

Archuleta, as The Macaw, sang "Hold Back the River" by James Bay and Eric Carmen's "All By Myself." Meanwhile, Briggs belted out Sia's "Elastic Heart" and closed out the season with a pounding, powerful performance of "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance.

Both performers won over the hearts of the show's stalwart panelists -- including Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger and Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg -- and host Nick Cannon, but Briggs' wild and explosive final performance won over the audience in a big way.

The "Wild Horses" songstress explained to ET how she took inspiration from the women of the world who have been in a similar place, raising children and working and dealing with personal pressures.

"Balance is a myth, and I think the biggest takeaway is women do this every single day. Women are the most inspiring people ever," Briggs said.

And yet, she tried to balance as best she could -- making sure to focus on her son when she was home, and her work when she was on set, to make the most of her experiences. But it was her young son, in part, that made her vocals stand out so significantly during the season.

"When I was with my son, I was present, and then when I was at the show, I could lean into that emotion," Briggs recalled. "Whenever I was really missing him, which was all the time, I could lean into that emotion and put it into the music."

The celebrated songstress also reflected on her striking and memorable Medusa costume, and reflected on how the character helped to inform her performances as well.

"When I go onstage, I feel like I get to be empowered, and wear my vulnerability and feel proud of it," Briggs shared. "So, with Medusa, she's someone I feel is really misunderstood and has these complexities."

The complexities added a layer of intrigue and mystery to her appearances throughout the season, undoubtedly. And when it came to performing inside an ornate costume, Briggs credited her son for that as well, in a way.

"Something that worked to my advantage was when I was seven months pregnant, I performed at Coachella," Briggs shared. "So I experienced the heat and being very pregnant and performing, feeling that weight on me, it kind of prepared me for this [costume]."

Congrats to Briggs for her big Masked Singer season 9 victory!

Briggs and Archuleta's appearance in The Masked Singer finale comes one week after they beat out The California Roll -- or, more accurate, the California Rolls, as they were unmasked, after an epic Battle Royale, and revealed to be The Pentatonix.

Check out the gallery below for a look at every single contestant who has ever had to "take it off" throughout the history of the show!

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