Niecy Nash ‘biting my nails’ over new season of ‘Don’t Forget the Lyrics’

Niecy Nash kicks off her second season hosting “Don’t Forget the Lyrics,” Fox’s musical competition series in which contestants try to lip-sync to songs with missing lyrics for the chance to win cash.

“What I’m most looking forward to is just watching the contestants’ journeys,” Nash, 53, told The Post about the new season, premiering May 23 (9 p.m.) 

“It’s such a fun season. I just love being able to connect with the contestants. I’m biting my nails; I’m wringing my hands. You want them to do well.

“We’ve just come out of a pandemic, so you want people to be able to win money for just doing things that they do all the time – you sing in the shower. I am definitely their biggest cheerleader.”

Nash, currently starring as Simone Clark in ABC’s “The Rookie: Feds,” has done a wide range of comedies (“Reno 911!” “Claws”) and dramas (”When They See Us,” “Selma”). She’s also snared several Emmys (for the HBO comedy “Getting O,” and for hosting the Style Network show “Clean House”). 

“I like work,” she said. “So, I don’t have a favorite [genre]. With comedy, you make people laugh; with drama, you make people feel.”

For “Don’t Forget the Lyrics,” she said that if she was a contestant, she would do well if the music category focused on the ’90s and early 2000s.

“That was when we had great groups – Destiny’s Child, TLC, the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC. That was my era. Beyond that, don’t ask me!”

Nash also has a personal connection with “Don’t Forget the Lyrics,” because her wife, musician Jessica Betts, 40, who she married in 2020, is also involved with the show. 

“I’m back with my better half [Jessica]. My spouse is a member of my [house] band,” she said. “So, every day is like ‘Bring your spouse to work day’. We love that. I could do it every day. When you are with the right person, it doesn’t even feel like work.

“We don’t get tired of each other.”

Nash was also recently in Netflix’s controversial hit, “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” which could earn her yet another Emmy (this year’s nominations will be announced July 12). 

“You always hope that your work is well-received,” she said, about her potential Emmy prospects. 

“The main thing for me with ‘Dahmer’ was wanting my peers to see me like I see myself, which is multi hyphenate when it comes to tone and genre. A lot of people know me for being funny. I wanted to re-introduce myself to my peers and say, ‘You can trust me with work that has more weight to it.’ That was the hope.”

Meanwhile, ABC has yet to make a decision on a second season for “The Rookie: Feds,” and Nash said she doesn’t know about its prospects for renewal.

But, if it does get a second season,“There’s always so much fun in unpacking Simone’s love life,” she said. 

“I would like to see her have more challenges when it comes to her children, because that’s real life. And I’d also like to see her partake a little bit more in the action.”