Jana Kramer on her music career, acting and her newfound appreciation for Miley Cyrus

Season 12 of “The Masked Singer” continued Wednesday night on FOX with the Group C finale of “Peanuts Night.” After the audience vote in the studio, Royal Knight was the first singer eliminated (and the ninth overall this season), revealing actress, singer and author Jana Kramer. Watch our video interview above.

“The information was a bit sad, but it was the unfortunate truth,” says Jana Gold Derby. “Which I think made the costume what it was. It felt great to steel yourself, go out, sing and prove that you can get through difficult times and still go out and fight and have fun and love.”

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After assessing the competition, Jana says: “I pretty much knew I wouldn’t make it to the quarterfinals. I know I’m not the best singer. I was surprised at how well I felt. When I heard the other contestants singing, I thought, “I’m definitely not going to make it to the end.” I’m very competitive, and I thought, “Maybe I need to rearrange my songs.” But then I just thought, “Get out.” and have fun.’ That’s exactly what I did.”

SEE ‘The Masked Singer’ Eliminated Contestant Because He Was Compared To Joe Jonas: ‘It Made Me Feel Good’ (Watch)

Panelists Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Ken JeongAnd Rita Ora For most of her appearance on the show, she had difficulty identifying the singer, but Jenny eventually figured it out. “I knew she would do it as soon as she saw the podcast notice,” Jana admits. “She was just on my podcast. We just talked about all of these things (in my clue packages). Living in Nashville, hard times and stuff like that. I knew she would get me.”

Discussing her rise to fame and her connection to music, Jana explains, “The only reason I got my record deal was because I was on ‘One Tree Hill.'” When I was on that show, I thought, ” Let me try to dedicate myself to music a bit.” It was interesting because I had never seen people doing both. As a woman back then, it was like, “You can’t do both.” You’re an actress and country radio isn’t going to believe you if you keep acting, so you really need to stop acting. “My label made me Leaving the final season of One Tree Hill to do my radio tour. I gave up acting for a while, but then I realized that I love acting. Acting is number one for me. Yes, I’ve enjoyed the last five years of touring, but I wanted to do both. Then I turned things around and took control into my own hands. I’ll try to do it my way. I enjoyed this journey. “The Masked Singer” made me realize how much I miss being on stage, but there’s nothing better than being on set.”

Artists like Patsy Cline, James TaylorAnd The Eagles were Jana’s biggest musical influences. “Those were probably my top three,” she says. “Now it’s a little different. Honestly, I still listen to it, but now it’s really what my kids listen to, and that’s a whole different story.” She reveals that her favorite performance on The Masked Singer is her cover of “When I Look At You “was Miley Cyrus. “I got to dedicate this song to my husband, which was really sweet. To be honest, I didn’t even know this song. I love Miley Cyrus, but that was a song I didn’t know. I was nervous about even hitting some of the notes. We lowered the key significantly. “I always knew Miley was a good singer, but when I actually tried to sing one of her songs, I thought, ‘Damn, this girl has range!’ I have a much more appreciation for her and her musical talent.”

Jana tells Gold Derby that she’s doing “a few films” next year, but they haven’t been announced yet. She also has a song that she wrote with Lee Brice, Sarah Brice And Jerrod Niemann titled “Heart Shift,” which fans can expect to hear soon.

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