Amber Riley is a winner and she’s not stopping anytime soon. After suffering the big loss of being on set with Matthew Morrison for six years, Riley has secured a series of career wins. First, it was Dancing With the Stars; then it was the Olivier Award (the Bri’ish Tony) for her work as Effie White in Dreamgirls on the West End. Now, she’s won season eight of The Masked Singer as the Harp. Riley was always a contender for the win, following her first performance of “I Have Nothing†that made people say (1) That Harp can sing and (2) That Harp is definitely Amber Riley, whose voice is extremely recognizable from her time as Mercedes Jones on Glee. Incredibly, Nicole Scherzinger was the only judge who managed to get Riley right, which means that Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, and Robin Thicke never watched Glee. Yeah, it’s the most chaotic show ever made, but they should still get on that.
For her final performances, Riley sang Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory†and John Mayer’s “Gravity.†The performances led to her triumph over the trio known on the show as the Lambs, but were actually, as it turns out, Wilson Phillips (emphasis mine). While they must be sad they lost, there’s a good song to encourage them … one about keeping going through pain … about moving forward in life … about holding on. So, what should Amber Riley win next? While she told EW that it wouldn’t be RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race, let’s think bigger. How about a Senate seat?