I Am a Singer

Singer, previously known as I Am a Singer, is a Chinese singing competition show broadcast on Hunan Television. It is based on the Korean show I Am a Singer. The competition was opened to well-known professional singers from the music industry across worldwide, and featured a rotating cast of singers performing each week, usually with seven singers, who performed in front of a 500-member audience. The votes cast from the audience were the sole determinant for the results and one singer who received the fewest votes is eliminated while a new singer substituted in place of that singer, featuring a constantly changing lineup of artists throughout the series. The first season featured 12 contestants, but later increased to as many as 22 due to twists and competition rules added in later seasons. The inaugural series was first taped on 10 January 2013 and premiered on 18 January 2013. After four seasons under the name of I Am a Singer, in 2017, the competition show went on a re-branding with a simplified title of Singer, but retaining similar competition format. The eighth and final season, entitled Singer 2020, or Singer: Year of the Hits, began taping on 3 January 2020; the season was initially slated for a premiere on 10 January 2020, but was postponed twice; the season was first announced to premiere on 31 January 2020, but was again postponed to 7 February 2020 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that occurred prior to the intended premiere date. The series finale aired on 24 April 2020. On 22 September 2020, Hong Tao announced during the Hunan TV's Merchants Association meeting that Singer will cease production after eight seasons of air, citing a gradually lower viewership ratings and its competition against other rival programs in the current Chinese reality television landscape. Competition rules Each round of I Am a Singer had seven singers (or eight in some weeks) who performed for a 500-member studio audience each week, whom play a role on deciding the results for the singers. The order that they performed was determined through ballot or based on prior performances, depending on each week. 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. Since season 7, with the implementation of Electronic voting (which was conducted thrice throughout the show), each scores accounted a 50% weightage towards final results.