I Am a Singer (Chinese TV series)
| I Am a Singer | |
|---|---|
 I Am a Singer logo (Chinese) | |
| Also known as | Chinese: 我是歌手; pinyin: Wǒ Shì Gēshǒu |
| Presented by |
Hu Haiquan (Season 1 (except Episode 2 and Grand Finals) and 2 (Semi-Finals, 2014 Biennial Concert)) Chen Yufan (Season 1, Episode 2) Sha Baoliang (Season 1 Grand Finals), He Jiong (Seasons 1-2 Finals, Season 4-), Wang Han (Seasons 1-3 Finals) Phil Chang Yu (Season 2, Episode 1–10) Liao Fan (Season 2, Breakouts) Leo Ku (Season 3, Episodes 1-7) Sun Nan (Season 3, Episodes 8–11 and Breakout), Shen Mengchen (Season 3 Biennial Concert) Hacken Lee (Season 4, Episodes 1–11) Kim Ji-mun, Su Yunying, Chao Chuan, Shin, Daichin Tana, Guan Zhe, Elvis Wang, Wang Yang, Joey Yung, Jeff Chang (Season 4 Breakout) Liu Ye (Season 6-) Angela Chang (Season 6, Episodes 1-12, Breakouts) |
| Theme music composer | Kubert Leung |
| Country of origin | China |
| Original language(s) | Standard Chinese |
| No. of series | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 83 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Hong Tao |
| Production location(s) | Chang Sha |
| Running time | 2 hour 10–20 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | HBS: Hunan Television |
| Picture format |
576i (16:9 and 4:3) (SDTV), 1080p (HDTV) |
| Audio format | 5.1 surround sound |
| Original release | 18 January 2013 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Korea: I Am a Singer |
| External links | |
| Website | |
I Am a Singer (Chinese: 我是歌手; pinyin: Wǒ Shì Gēshǒu) is a Chinese reality show broadcast on Hunan Television. It is based on the Korean show of the same name. Each week seven talented and well-known Chinese singers perform for a selected audience, who vote for their favorites. The singer with the fewest votes is eliminated and another singer joins the competition the following week, with the lineup of artists constantly changes throughout the series.[1]
The program was first taped on 10 January 2013 and premiered on 18 January 2013. In 2016 the program's name was changed to Singer (Chinese: 歌手; pinyin: Gēshǒu), and the rules of the competition were changed to eliminate a singer in each episode.[2]
Competition rules
Each round of I Am a Singer had seven singers (eight in Seasons 4 and 5) (首發歌手) who performed for a 500-member audience (500位大众听审) each week. The order that they performed was determined through ballot or based on prior performances. Each audience member then cast votes for the top three singers of their preference, and these votes were tabulated to determine each singer's placement for the night.
The competition was usually divided into four or five rounds, each consisting of usually non-elimination "Qualifiers" (排位赛) and "Knockouts" (淘汰赛). The votes for both rounds were combined and the singer who ranked last was eliminated from the competition. Eliminated singers (淘汰歌手) were entitled to a Return Performance (返場) on the next show and a chance to return to the competition via the Breakout Round. Eliminations could also be cancelled if another singer chose to withdraw from the competition (退賽). At the end of each round, a new singer (補位歌手) would take the place of the eliminated/withdrawn singer and the competition cycle would repeat until the last knockout round (dubbed as "Ultimate Knockouts" (終極淘汰賽)) was completed. At the end of the episode a table was usually shown to indicate the rankings.
As part of the "2+1" format introduced in Season 3, the "Challenge" round (踢馆赛) followed each Knockout round, where the number of rounds was usually one less than that of Knockout rounds. A new singer (usually dubbed as "Challenger" (踢館歌手) and "New Generation singer" (新生代歌手)) would substitute for an eliminated singer during the start of the round, and was given a challenge in which the singer was required to beat half of the other singers (finishing within top four) in order to stay in the competition. If the challenger fails (踢館失敗), he or she would be automatically eliminated; otherwise (踢館成功) the remaining singers (在线歌手) were eligible for elimination which was decided on which singers received a lower count of votes. Unlike Knockouts, the votes for the Challenge round were factored independently of other votes. Season 5 replaced Qualifiers with Challenge rounds immediately after the first Knockouts, to accommodate two substitute singers coming to the competition (one of which was a challenger). Season 6 revised the format, where the challenger enters the competition during the Knockouts and had to avoid last place on their first week in addition to finishing in the top four on the second week (in a combination of both Knockout and Challenge rounds); failing either challenge eliminated the singer immediately.
The round after the Ultimate Knockout round was the "Breakout" round (突围赛, called "Revival" round (复活赛) in Season 1), which featured eliminated singers (but not those who withdrew) performing for a chance to reinstate in the competition and take part in the finals. In Season 1, all of the remaining singers were exempt from this round, leaving eliminated singers to compete for the only one spot in the Semi-Finals. Starting in Season 2, any remaining first-round singers were exempt while the other singers had to participate the Breakout round to vie for the number of spots, which was determined by how many first-round singers were exempt, in order to complete the sever-singer lineup (Season 5 briefly increased the number of finalists to ten). The outcome was decided on which singers received a higher count of votes; singers who were successful on the "Breakouts" (突围成功) were qualified in the Semi-Finals or Grand Finals, while the losers (突圍失敗) were eliminated from the competition.
The last stage of the competition, the Finals (總決賽), was usually divided into Semi-Finals and the live-broadcast Grand Finals (dubbed as "Winner of Battle" (歌王之戰)), held on two separate nights. The finalists had to sing from two to three songs (one duet and one or two solo performances), with audience voting for their performances in-between each round. For the first two seasons, the scores were weighted in favor of the final performance (30%–30%–40%), but subsequent seasons used the sum of the votes cast to determine the winner of the season (Season 6 factored only the final round instead of combined votes). The host usually announced the top candidates as "Ultimate Winner Candidates" (歌王候選人) before revealing the winner of the season.
Since Season 2, a live-telecast Biennial Concert (巔峰會) was featured to showcase the best singers of the season plus selected singers from former seasons.
Twists
Pot Luck
The viewing audience voted online for "Pot Luck" songs (輪盤抽歌) featured during episode 8 of Season 1. Meanwhile, each singer chose three songs which he or she did not want to sing. If the audience picked one of these songs, the singer could choose another. Pot Luck did not return after Season 2.
Tiebreakers
If the lowest combined scores were tied (并列) after an elimination round, the eliminations were postponed to the following show; the singer who received a lower vote would be eliminated regardless of overall placement, while elimination (if applicable) went ahead as normal. The first tiebreaker happened in Season 4, when two singers were tied for seventh place during the first elimination round (scramble round (搶位賽)).
Hosting Roles
Hosting Roles were introduced in Season 3, where singers may be elected to be the show's host in addition to contesting at the same time, with the role managed by his or her manager. The role would be vacated once the singer was eliminated, and would be replaced by another singer. There were no hosting roles in Season 5, as well as in the finals.
Return performances
These were exhibition performances (返場) which showcased the singers who were eliminated the previous week. Since Season 2, singers who voluntarily withdrew from the competition without performing have not been eligible for Return performances.
Singer Voting
Singer voting (參賽歌手投票) was introduced in Season 3 and removed in Season 6. Following the performances the singers could make predictions on which three singers would get the most audience votes. Guessing correctly could entitle a singer to a small advantage in the next round. These predictions were not tabulated into the final results.
I Am a Singer – Who Will Challenge
An online spin-off, I Am a Singer – Who Will Challenge (我是歌手—誰來踢館), was produced during Season 4. The online viewing audience would cast votes for potential contestants of the broadcast show.
Pre-audience Voting
Pre-audience Voting (预投) was introduced in Season 6 as a twist on Singer Voting. Midway through the program, when only four singers had performed, the audience members were asked to make early predictions (one vote) on which three singers would receive the most votes after the remaining performances of that episode. Like Singer Voting, Pre-audience Voting does not count towards the tally and has no impact onto the outcome of the competition (with one exception).
Seasons
As of 2018, six seasons have been broadcast, as summarised below.
| Season | Premiere Date | Finale Date | No. of contestants | No. of episodes | Winner  |
Runner-up  |
Third place  |
Other Finalists [upper-alpha 2] | Comments | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 January 2013 | 12 April 2013 | 12 | 13 |  |
 |
N/A | |
Only season to feature Pot Luck. | ||
| 2 | 3 January 2014 | 11 April 2014 | 12 | 14 | |
 |
 |
Introduced new Breakout round format and Biennial Concert. | |||
| 3 | 2 January 2015 | 3 April 2015 | 13 | 14 | |
|
 |
|
Introduced Contestant Hosting roles, Challenge Rounds and Singer Voting, and replaced weighted finals percentage with combined votes. | ||
| 4 | 15 January 2016 | 8 April 2016 | 14 | 14 |  |
|
|
|
First season with eight first-round singers, and an online spin-off I Am a Singer – Who Will Challenge. | ||
| 5 | 21 January 2017 | 22 April 2017 | 16 | 14 | |
 |
|
|
Series renamed to Singer Only season to feature returning singers from previous seasons, and ten finalists. | ||
| 6 | 12 January 2018 | 20 April 2018 | 14 | 14 |  |
|
|
|
Introduced modifications of Challenge round lasting two shows, and Pre-audience Voting. | ||
| 7 | January 2019 | TBA | |||||||||
Ratings
References
- ↑ (in Korean)Description of Program, MBC, Retrieved on November 15, 2011
- ↑ 賀雅佳 (December 15, 2016). "《我是歌手》更名《歌手》 競演卻比此前任何一季都激烈" (in Chinese). people.cn. Retrieved December 15, 2016.