LeAnn Rimes enjoyed showing her "rebellious side" on 'The Masked Singer'.
LeAnn Rimes
The 'Can't Fight the Moonlight' hitmaker was unmasked as The Sun when she won the celebrity singing competition earlier this week and she admitted she loved the freedom of being able to perform songs from a broad variety of genres because it's something she's faced criticism for in the past.
She told 'Entertainment Tonight: "There was so much thought that went into the costume and the song choices, it was a lot of work.
"I really had a very specific story that I wanted to tell and The Sun was like this very visual representation of everything I'm putting out in the world right now with my own music.
"I started out with Blue, and very, very, deep country, and you know, then crossed over. And I kind of got my hand slapped for that. The lines weren't as blurred as they are now and that wasn't invited.
"I've kind of fought that for a long time of people not knowing where to put me and they want to put me in a box and the more people want to do that, the more I want to claw my way out of it. It's just my rebellious side.
"I got to really kind of embrace that on this show and actually celebrate that. 'Cause every song was different, from a different genre."
The 38-year-old star found performing in her heavy and elaborate costume a "challenge".
She said: "It was definitely heavy, and being a singer, of course singing is my focus. Like, I don't care what I look like, I don't care what move I'm doing, I have to sound good. So it was challenging to work with that much weight on my body when trying to sing these, like, really powerful songs."
Throughout her stint on the show, only LeAnn's husband Eddie Cibrian - who has sons Mason, 17, and 13-year-old Jake with ex-wife Brandi Glanville - and her manager knew about her involvement.
She said: "Eddie was the only person who knew. Eddie and my manager. The kids did not know.
"I told [the kids] last night, I looked at them at the dinner table I was like, 'I can finally tell you, I was on 'The Masked Singer'
"My little one, he goes, 'Dang it! I lost a bet with my mom.' I was like, 'Sorry, bud.'"
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