Singer 2017


Singer 2017 was the fifth season of 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 first 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.
The fifth season premiered on January 21, 2017, on Hunan Television, and ended on April 22, 2017. Hong Kong singer Sandy Lam was named the winner of the season, Kazakhstan's Dimash Kudaibergen and Taiwanese band Lion were named runner-up and third place, respectively.

Competition rules

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 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 currently the only season to have an increased number of finalists, 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 :
Key:

New singers

ContestantCountryMusic PartnerStatusWeek EnteredWeek ExitedResult
/Initial singer
Initial singer
Initial singer
/Initial singer
Challenger
Initial singer
Challenger
Initial singer
Initial singer
Initial singer
Challenger/Substitute singer
Challenger

Returning singers

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.
ContestantCountryMusic PartnerPrevious IAaS performanceWeek EnteredWeek ExitedResult

Future appearances

, Lion, Tia Ray and Diamond Zhang returned as guest singers for the Biennial concert on season six. Tia Ray and Kudaibergen appeared as guest assistant singers during the finals for season seven. Ray and Jam Hsiao returned as contestants on the eighth season where they finished as 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Outside Singer, Kudaibergen appeared in CBS's reality competition The World's Best but withdrew from the competition during the Top 12 rounds.

Results


Details of competitions

1st round

Qualifying

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 and performance were unaired and edited out of broadcast.

Knockout


2nd round

Challenge

The first returning singer was Jason Zhang from Season 2, while the first challenger of the season was Zhao Lei.

Knockout

3rd Round

Challenge

The second returning singer was Terry Lin from Season 1, while the second challenger of the season was Justin Lo.

Knockout

Tan withdrew from the competition after the Knockout episode aired, and results of her scores were displayed in grey text.

4th round

Qualifying

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. 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.

Knockout

5th round

Challenge (Ultimate Challenge 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 and was eliminated instead.

Knockout (Ultimate Knockout Round)

Breakout

Three of the six singers who were initial singers were exempt for this round, while the other three singers 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 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.

Overall ranking

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.

Finals

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.

Overall ranking (Winner of Battle)

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.

Biennial Concert

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.

Ratings