Grab the popcorn (the food, not the costume) and settle in because the fourth season of The Masked Singer (Wednesdays at 8ET/5PT on CTV) kicked off on Wednesday night, and if the first five performances were any indication, this is going to be a wild season. Panelist Nicole Scherzinger called it best when she said it felt like a finale, not a premiere.The singers brought it, the pyrotechnics were on point and the judges were actually making good guesses this time around. Wow, go off, Season 4!

Some Format Tweaks

While this show is always about the cool costumes and trying to guess who is delivering the performances, host Nick Cannon did kick off the night by introducing a few format changes this year. It appears as though the contestants are once again grouped into different heats, but this time instead of narrowing each heat down into the top contestants, the show will rotate between the groups on a weekly basis. That means that while this week introduced Group A, next week fans can expect performances from a whole new group of masked celebs in Group B.Also new this year is the Golden Ear—a trophy that goes to the panelist who has the most correct “first impression” guesses. Heading into Season 4, Jenny McCarthy has had 16 correct guesses, which gives her a 20 per cent chance of winning. Nicole has 17, so she’s at 25 per cent. Robin Thicke is the scoreboard leader with 20, so he has a 55 per cent chance of winning. And then there’s Ken Jeong, who has somehow correctly guessed three celebrities in the past, but according to the show retains a zero per cent chance of winning. Naturally.

Your two favorite panelists have arrived! #TheMaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/KUCTyvaVPP

— Robin Thicke (@robinthicke) September 24, 2020

Add in a brand new stage with some cool lights and a combination of live audience (or past audience footage, we assume) and a new hybrid voting system, and it really just feels like this show is getting slicker and more well-tuned. Or as Nick described it, “Finally we have something fun involving masks.”

The Performances

One other new thing worth mentioning is that this year the show includes a duet couple in the form of the Snow Owls. The pair were the last members of Group A to perform, and their rendition of “Say Something” by A Great Big World was so perfect that Nicole was basically on her feet with her mouth open the entire time. They weren’t the only jaw-dropping performance of the night though.

#SnowOwlsMask singing to perfection! What did y’all think about that performance?#TheMaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/xknqALadvm

— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) September 24, 2020

The Sun kicked off the night by belting out an amazing performance of “Cuz I Love You” by Lizzo, while giving cryptic clues (possibly) about the movie Frozen, having dealt with depression, and something involving Mickey Mouse ears. While the panelists thought she could be Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Katharine McPhee or even Demi Lovato, her real identity is remaining a secret for now.Giraffe, who appropriately has the tallest costume in the show’s history, had a fun but average performance of Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started,” (the panelists were getting some Vanilla Ice vibes), Dragon slayed it with his powerful performance of LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” (Nicole and Robin were convinced it was Busta Rhymes), and Popcorn was all about sharing her kernels with Nick on that stage after doling out “What About Us” by Pink. “If there ain’t history, there’s gonna be a future, I’ll tell you that!” Nick said in response to her flirting.[video_embed id='2041403']MORE TV NEWS: Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton join 'The West Wing' reunion [/video_embed]

The First Elimination

Is there actual history between Popcorn and Nick? That’s TBD, because even though the panelists were getting some Tina Turner or Mary J. Blige vibes from her performance and clue package, Popcorn had enough audience votes to remain in the game for now. In the end it was Dragon who surprisingly had the lowest number of votes, and just like that he was eliminated from the competition.So who was under the mask? Nicole, Robin, and Robin’s luscious quarantine hair were right—they called Busta Rhymes and, sure enough, that's exactly who popped out from under that mask with a giant grin. “I definitely felt like that was an oxygen tank without oxygen,” he said of being under the heavy looking costume. And with that he gave his final performance and the season is officially underway.

.@BustaRhymes lit up the stage as #DragonMask! ?? Let's hear what he has to say about his #TheMaskedSinger experience!

Head to our Facebook for his full interview: https://t.co/3xa8txi2tl pic.twitter.com/FL1eu7KVu9— The Masked Singer (@MaskedSingerFOX) September 24, 2020

Don’t expect the rest of the episodes to be that easy though—everyone knows Busta has a pretty distinct voice. Of this year’s contestants there are three world-record holders, 10 Hall of Fame inductees, five Super Bowl appearances and four with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One also has a street named after them; one has appeared on TIME’s annual list of the Most Influential People, two are New York Times Bestselling Authors, and there’s one Oscar winner in the major four categories.Now it’s all of our jobs to guess who they are.Watch The Masked Singer Wednesdays at 8ET/5PT on CTV.[video_embed id='-1']BEFORE YOU GO: Alaskan Malamute howls along to the Happy Birthday song [/video_embed]