The Masked Singer winner Charlie Simpson releases new EP

Virgin Radio

19 Feb 2023, 14:22

The Busted star won last night's grand finale.

The Masked Singer 2023 is over, and the winner, under the Rhino mask, was one Charlie Simpson.

Charlie revealed his identity after beating both Fawn and Phoenix, who were unmasked as All Saints star Natalie Appleton and Kaiser Chiefs singer - and Virgin Radio drivetime presenter - Ricky Wilson. 

The Fightstar/Busted member looked like he had the judges well and truly fooled, but judges Rita Ora and Davina McCall correctly guessed his identity at the end.

Judge Jonathan Ross thought Rhino could have been singer James Arthur, while Lee Mack floated the idea of the big beast being George Ezra.

James Arthur responded to Ross' suggestion on Twitter, writing: “Honoured to be compared to @CharlieSimpson by the way. It’s about time he got the recognition he deserves.”

Cleverly, winner Charlie used the final's big reveal to drop a new EP.

Titled 'KIFARU' - the Swahili word for Rhino - the record features songs that Charlie sang during the series, with 'Use Somebody' by Kings of Leon making the track-listing.

To announce the EP, Charlie shared a video on Instagram after his win, which showed him removing a different rhino mask. He wrote a message on the video, saying: “Well this has been a hard secret to keep. Reading all of your comments each week has been awesome.

“I’ve been so blown away by the support so I’ve decided to release a few songs I sang on the show as an EP named KIFARU the Swahili word for Rhino. I hope you like it, big love x”

You can listen to the EP on Spotify, here.

"My bandmates in both Busted and Fightstar guessed it was me within the first two seconds of hearing Rhino sing," said Charlie, after he had been crowned.

He continued, "When you spend that much time on stage with people and spend so much time in the studio, it would be very hard for them not to get it pretty much instantly."

Speaking of his time on the show, Charlie said: "I was very happy when [host] Joel [Dommett] called my name. I have never been in a singing competition before so I found the whole thing quite surreal. I think 'Use Somebody' by Kings Of Leon was my favourite song to sing. It is a song that I feel very comfortable performing and know very well."

"I also knew the words better than most of the other songs, so I felt as though I could just enjoy performing it," Charlie added.

And we very much enjoyed listing to you singing it, pal!