Although many people felt that the Black Swan was going to take home the Season 5 crown, the win actually went to the Piglet. 

There were a lot of solid clues that pointed to the artist JoJo, not to be confused with JoJo Siwa, who was unmasked as the Black Swan as the runner-up of “The Masked Singer” season 5. 

JoJo, born Joanna Noëlle Levesque, began performing when she was only 6 years old, and the now 30-year-old singer has a dedicated following of over 2.1 million followers on Instagram. 

Like many former contestants, JoJo revealed that she struggled to perform underneath the costume. 

“I realized that I was more claustrophobic than I ever knew,” she revealed. “And I did have a bit of a panic attack, I didn’t have a full-blown one, but I really had to breathe through it and talk myself down from freaking out. And feeling afraid or feeling like I was going to faint. And gradually it did get easier.”

“It’s heavier than you think it is, and hotter than you think it is, but it’s also pretty cool to be so anonymous, and to have this beautiful, ornate majestic costume as armor.”

JoJo decided to do the show after she watched gal pal Tori Kelly compete as the Seahorse during Season 4. 

“Once I watched it I literally became addicted, every week,” she said. “Me and my friends were in a group chat and we were talking about our theories and I just got super into it. So when I was asked to do this season, I was just like, yeah, I think this would be a good thing for me. Because somewhere along the way I developed some stage right and just a weird relationship with my voice. I figured that this would be a really great place for me to try to push through that.”

The Black Swan amassed a dedicated following for her unique twists on the songs she chose to perform, including the hit song, “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon, that quickly propelled her to fan favorite. 

“I’m such a music nerd that it was just really exciting to have this completely open playground, to do whatever in,” she shared. “I wanted to choose songs that hadn’t been done before. We came up with a really eclectic list of songs over the span of time, and most of them were songs that I had just loved over the years and wanted to try, like ‘In My Blood,’ by Shawn Mendes. But then a song that I didn’t think about for myself was the Kings of Leon song. It ended up being one of my favorite performances.”

After she was unmasked, JoJo took to Instagram to thank her fans, along with the cast and crew of the show. 

“I’m so glad I said YES to something I was initially scared of,” she wrote. “After canceling my 2020 tour due to covid I felt particularly disconnected & confused about life, & wondered if I was good at singing/performing anymore. Somewhere over the last few yrs I developed stage fright that has impacted me mentally & physically & sometimes makes it feel like I’m choking. I knew I had to do something about this feeling, & I wanted to stop taking myself so seriously. I figured donning a 15 lb bedazzled swan costume + headpiece while anonymously singing my heart out might be a good way to do that.”

She continued, “I didn’t say yes to this show to win it-saying yes to the show was truly the win I needed. If it weren’t for this experience, I may not have shaken from my funk & been able to make new music. But now I feel invigorated & light moving forward. Connected with my gift & my love for music once again.”

Keep scrolling to see how fans were able to put the clues together for themselves and figure out it was JoJo underneath those black feathers weeks before her elimination!