Singer 2017 was the fifth season of the Chinese television series of the rebranded version of I Am a Singer. Due to the banning of Korean-related brands and artists in China, the series went with a rebranding under a simplified title of Singer, but otherwise retained similar competition format from the past four seasons of I Am a Singer. This is the only season in which no singers doubled their roles as the hosts, and He Jiong, who hosted the finale after a year's absence, served as the host.
In spite of the renaming of the show, the format was otherwise similar from previous seasons of I Am a Singer. As seen in the last season, the competing singers performed on stage and the 500-member audience panel voted, deciding the outcome of the results. At the end of each Knockout round, the singer with the fewest votes combined from both Qualifier and Knockouts was eliminated.
The Challenge round twist first seen in the third season, also returned with a modification with two singers (one Challenger and one Returning Singer from previous seasons) entering the competition. As in the previous series, in order to be safe, challengers, but not returning singers, had to beat a majority of singers by ranking in the top four or better, while the results from the Challenge rounds were counted individually.
This is the only season to have an increased number of finalists (ten), and the first season to feature returning singers from previous seasons. This was the last season to feature Singer voting which was introduced in Season 3.
Contestants
The following singers participated in Singer 2017 are listed in alphabetical order (singers without a placement for the final are listed as finalists; singers eliminated before the finals are listed as non-finalists; singers who withdrew are listed as withdrawn):
Key:
– Winner
– Runner-up
– Third place
– Other finalist
– Withdrew
– Withdrew (Initially eligible for Breakout round but did not participate)
This is the first season to feature former I Am a Singer contestants returning to the competition. All four singers were given Substitute Singer status and entered the competition on the start of their respective Challenge round.
Note: The grey colour items mean it don't appear in the broadcast version.
First round
Qualifying
Taping Date: January 10, 2017
Airdate: January 21, 2017
The order of performance for this episode was determined through audience voting for their anticipated songs; singers may discuss their re-arrangement of performance order, which was reflected in the table. As there were eight first-round singers, the first round featured elimination for the singer who receive the fewest votes.
Tia Ray would have been eliminated for finishing last; however, Ray was later declared safe following Hins Cheung's sudden withdrawal; Cheung was later revealed to have participated in the political Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong after the episode was taped. Cheung's appearance (with the exclusion of a shot with him and Teresa Carpio) and performance were unaired and edited out of broadcast.[5][6]
^ a. Hins Cheung withdrew from Singer 2017 prior to the episode's airing. Cheung was ranked seventh, but his performance was excluded from the tally. Footage of his performance was edited out from the episode re-runs and in video-sharing websites as well.
The third returning singer was Li Jian from Season 3, while the third challenger of the season was Diamond Zhang.
Two days after the episode was taped, Tan announced her withdrawal from the competition, and footage of Tan's performances for this episode were edited out in broadcast due to privacy.[7] Due to the sudden withdrawal, the rules of this round was changed to a Qualifying round, and consequently Diamond was declared safe after being initially eliminated for failing the challenge as she finished last this round.
The fourth and final returning singer was Julia Peng from Season 1, while the fourth and final challenger of the season was Liang Bo. Jason Zhang would have been eliminated for finishing last, however, Bo was unsuccessful in his challenge (finished 6th) and was eliminated instead.
Three of the six singers who were initial singers (Lam, Lion and Kudaibergen) were exempt for this round, while the other three singers (with the exception of Cheung, Tan and Lei; Lei was however eligible but unable to take part due to scheduling conflicts on his concert[8]) participated with eliminated singers for a chance to enter the semi-finals. The order was decided on ballot, with the exception of surviving non-initial singers (Li, Lin and Jason) who could choose their performance order for the night without ballot.
For the first time, the number of finalists was increased from seven to ten, thus seven Breakout spots were offered, and the top seven singers receiving the highest number of votes advanced to the semi-finals.
The semi-finals featured double elimination, and the two singers receiving the fewest votes were eliminated. For this round, singers went with a ballot with the singer who performed last going first. After the performance, the singer then choose a second singer to perform next among the remaining nine singers until only six singers remain, after which another ballot will take place and chooses the next four singers performing next in order, followed by a third ballot for the final two singers who draw first and last.
During the finals, each singer invited a musical guest to perform with him or her on the first song. The winner was determined based on the combined number of votes accumulated during the semi-finals and the finals.
Before the final results were announced, the host named Kudaibergen, Lion, Lam, and Li as "Ultimate Winner Candidates". Lam was declared as the winner of Singer 2017 with 22.74% of the combined votes cast.
^ a. The percentage counting towards the total votes does not include votes cast from Carpio and Peng, who were eliminated at the semi-finals.
Biennial Concert
Airdate: April 22, 2017
The concert featured nine singers, which include Season 3 winner Han Hong, Season 4 winner Coco Lee, as well as the top seven singers Lam, Kudaibergen, Lion, Li, Lin, Diamond and Ray.
Singer 2017 Biennial Concert April 15, 2017 Host: Wayne Zhang
Sources：衛視這些事兒, 衛視小露電, 瀟湘臥龍, Hunan Television official WeChat (ID: happychina1997).
The ranks are according to all variety shows aired on Saturday nights, and do not have to be at the same timing.
The actual broadcast time period is according to the starting time of the standard version.
Notes
^Zhang was made a substitute singer following Tan Jing's withdrawal, while Week 7 which was initially planned as a Challenge round (which would have caused Zhang to be eliminated) was modified as a Qualifier round.
Names in Bold indicate the winning singer, while Italics indicate the runner-up singer. Singers are listed based on their original season appearances, returning singers (who participated in seasons 5 or 8) are not repeated.
Singers participated in groups are listed in parentheses. Initial singers first listed in order of official announcement, followed by Substitute/Challenge Singers in order of appearance.
