‘The Masked Singer’ Season 9: All the Evidence Macaw Is This ‘American Idol’ Heartthrob
Macaw made his debut on The Masked Singer Season 9’s “Country Night” episode on March 22. Many viewers and the panelists were shocked to hear the celebrity’s incredible voice — it was even good enough to knock Fairy off her throne as Queen of TMS. Now that Macaw is headed to the quarterfinals, it will be a few weeks until we learn his identity. However, many viewers are confident they’ve already figured it out: an American Idol fan-favorite.
[Spoiler alert: The following story contains spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 9 Episode 6, “Country Night.”]
Macaw’s height and voice on ‘The Masked Singer’ are a match to David Archuleta
Ahead of the episode’s airing, The Masked Singer shared a preview of Macaw singing Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying.” The first thing many fans noticed was Macaw’s shorter height compared to host Nick Cannon. Then, as Macaw hit high notes and marched around the stage, viewers realized it had to be American Idol Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta making his The Masked Singer debut.
Back in 2008, Archuleta developed a huge fan base as the adorable heartthrob of Idol Season 7. Teens everywhere were devastated when he narrowly lost to David Cook. Still, his devoted fans continued to follow his career after the singing competition, and they could recognize his voice anywhere.
For comparison, David Archuleta’s height is 5 feet, 5 inches, which appears similar to Macaw’s height. His most recent singing video on Instagram, posted in January, shows him singing Jennifer Paige’s “Crush.” Macaw added a country twang to his voice on TMS, which is out of Archuleta’s usual pop/R&B wheelhouse, but the general vocal tone matches Archuleta’s. Now, let’s get into the clues.
How the Macaw clues fit David Archuleta on ‘The Masked Singer’
Macaw’s clue package made many fans feel even more dead-set on Archuleta. The masked celeb revealed that he was excited to become Macaw because he’s “flashy, confident, and sings country music.”
Macaw has performed since he was young, but he wasn’t always passionate about it and his father “bribed him with quesadillas to perform at our local Mexican restaurant.” The pressure from his father caused Macaw to have anxiety. Eventually, he learned to take breaks, and soon fell in love with singing. Macaw vowed to be braver this year on stage and in his life. Visual clues included a salsa jar, arrows, colorful flowers, and a silver medal.
Archuleta recently reminded fans on Twitter that he started singing at 6 or 7 years old, which seems like more than a coincidence. He has also been open about his struggle with confidence and anxiety, especially on American Idol at age 17. His mother is salsa dancer Guadalupe Mayorga. His father, Jeff Archuleta, controlled his son’s career.
The silver medal likely represents Archuleta’s second-place Idol win. As for the bright colors, they could point to Archuleta’s recent role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Archuleta is back and better than ever after vocal surgery last year
This is the perfect season for Archuleta to rock The Masked Singer stage, as he’s a year out from his vocal surgery in 2022. Archuleta had to postpone and eventually cancel his tour due to a vocal cord hemorrhage that led to him needing surgery and several months of vocal rest. However, he got back on track by the end of the year and performed several Christmas shows.
In addition to his vocal transformation, Archuleta has been making strides in his personal life. He announced in 2021 that he was part of the LGBTQ community, but he struggled with his Mormon faith. He then revealed to People in 2022 that he took a step back from religion and was “learning” to love himself.
Overall, Macaw’s clue package did well to not give away too many obvious hints pointing to Archuleta, like references to American Idol or his song “Crush.” However, it still wasn’t enough to throw his biggest fans off his trail. Fans will have to wait until The Masked Singer Season 9 quarterfinals for confirmation that Macaw really is David Archuleta, though.
New episodes of The Masked Singer air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Next-day streaming is also available on Hulu.
