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The eighth season of Chinese television series Singer (Chinese: 歌手; previously titled I Am a Singer) was broadcast on Hunan Television between February and April 2020. Singer 2020 was produced by Hong Tao, and its music director was Hong Kong senior musician Kubert Leung. The season premiere was first taped on January 3, 2020, and it was announced that the season will be subtitled Year of the Hits (Chinese: 歌手:當打之年; pinyin: Gēshǒu: Dāngdǎ zhī Nián), and this was the second season to feature returning contestants, after season five. For the first time in this series, return performances were absent for the entire season. The season premiered on February 7, 2020, and ended on April 24, 2020.

Hua Chenyu, a Chinese singer who previously competed in season six, was named the winner, making him the first previous season returnee to win I Am a Singer, while Tia Ray and Jam Hsiao, both also previously returning singers from season five, finished second and third respectively. This is also the first time none of any new initial singers (outside returning singers) made it to the final round. Additionally, runner-up Ray's became the highest-placing singer who was previously eliminated and advanced via the Breakout round following Aska Yang and Gary Chaw, who also made it to the final round not higher than third place, and Sitar Tan and Lao Lang, both not higher than fourth place.

Despite the announcement on 22 September 2020 that the series would be ending, Mango TV announced in November 2023 that the series would return after nearly four years of hiatus.

Competition rules

Like the previous seasons of I Am a Singer and Singer, it features five rounds of two stages, Qualifier and Knockout, with seven singers performing for a 500-member audience each week. The electronic voting, first appeared as a pre-voting twist in season six and introduced permanently on season seven, where voting (up to three votes) was conducted throughout the performance and accounted for 50% of the final score. As such for past seasons, the scores from both weeks are combined to decide the eliminated singer who received the fewest votes. Unlike the last season, separate scores for paper and electronic votes are not revealed.

The competition reverted to the pre-season three format with Challenge rounds (a round which featured a new singer requiring to rank in the top four to avoid elimination) removed, but instead replaced with a variant round known as Surprise, which in-turn functions similarities to the Substituted singers as well. Three new singers were introduced at the start of the Qualifier round and along with the managers; while on backstage, the singers watched their performance while seated with a microphone stand lever. During the performance, a contestant may pull the lever to issue a challenge to the current contestant, but any current contestants are not aware from their existence until the performance ended. After the challenger performed, an electronic vote will immediately conduct with the results being revealed afterwards (previously after the episode prior to the first round). All three Surprise challenges do not need to be performed on a single episode, but challengers must challenge to a singer within the current elimination round. If at least one challenger succeed in the Surprise round, one contestant from the current lineup will be eliminated at the end of the current Knockout round; if multiple challengers succeed, a re-vote will conduct between the successful singers and the singer with a higher vote advance will replace the eliminated singer, but all successful singers, regardless if they lose the revote will be guaranteed a place in the Breakout round. If all three challengers were unsuccessful, all seven contestants are safe from elimination itself. The final round features a small change in which the Challengers were reduced to two, and no re-vote was conducted for multiple successful singers, meaning that the singers are immediately advanced to the competition and eliminations are conducted as usual. A variant of this twist also apply on the Breakout and Grand Finals where singers who lost the duel were eliminated from the competition regardless of the outcome of the round.

As the season is subtitled Year of the Hits, the contest is suggested for a pool of younger singing talents with an age range of 18 and 35. Contestants are no longer restricted to the songs selection, and may freely choose a song they composed on their own or on someone else.

Postponement of premiere and COVID-19 pandemic

Like most episodes of I Am a Singer, each episode began taping one week before the airing of the episode. The season began filming on January 3, 2020, with a premiere date announced on January 10; however, the premiere was rescheduled to January 31 to avoid clashing with the Chinese New Year holiday. On January 29, Mango TV announced that the show will be postponed for a week to February 7 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and production was postponed until further notice.

After the first Knockout round, all singers returned to their home countries (Hua, Huang and Ray in Beijing, Zhou in Shanghai, Hsiao and Hsu in Taipei, and Misia in Tokyo) to record their performances, known as a "cloud recording"; the host for the first two episodes, Jam Hsiao, was replaced by his manager, Eliza Liang as the host for the remainder of the season, besides Surprise singers, the studio band ensemble, and host Hong Tao, who were the only members present in the studio premises. All of the performances were either pre-recorded or performed live, and results were instead shown through a remote video conference between host Hong Tao and the singers.

Production resumed on February 17, 2020, with further measures enacted such as staggered filming dates. The returning performance for Mao Buyi planned for week three (who was eliminated after the second week) was cancelled, making it the first time eliminated singers (outside previously withdrawn singers) were not given Return performances. The 500-member audience were also absent but instead viewed through live-stream and had votes cast via the Mango TV special livestream website or through their mobile application. These changes were initially enacted until the third Knockout rounds where Mainland Chinese singers were allowed to return to the studios, but other singers remained on their respective cities till the end of the season.

On the finals on April 24 when the show resumed live audience, though safe distancing measures were taken effect. During the finale, host He Jiong revealed the information that the 251 members of the 500-member audience undergo a DNA testing and safety checks before being permitted entry to the studios, while the remaining members watched and judged the performances online.

Almost all of the episodes (with the exception for the tenth week) were delayed from the scheduled time slot at 8.00pm (7.30pm in the finals) due to the extended coverage by Xinwen Lianbo.

Contestants

The following Singer 2020 contestants are listed in alphabetical order. Singers without a placement for the final are listed as finalists and singers who withdrew are listed as withdrawn.

Key:

  – Winner

  – Runner-up

  – Third place

  – Other finalist

  – Eliminated (not eligible for Breakouts)

Unless otherwise stated, Surprise challenge singers were assigned with temporary music partners, either Jeffery G (round 2 and 3) or Kuo Tao (round 4 or 5). Singers who were not assigned to their partners were reflected as N/A in the Music Partner column.

New singers

The list only shows successful Surprise Challengers and other contestants with qualifying status.

Returning singers

This is the second season to feature former I Am a Singer contestants returning to the competition, after season five. All four singers were given Initial singer status.

Non-contestants

The list of all contesting singers who appeared, but lost in their respective Surprise Challenge, are listed in the table. All of these singers only appeared for one week and were ineligible for the breakouts.

Results

	Singer	Broadcast Date (2020)
		7 Feb	14 Feb	21 Feb	28 Feb	6 Mar	13 Mar	20 Mar	27 Mar	3 Apr	10 Apr	17 Apr	24 Apr
		1st Round		2nd Round		3rd Round		4th Round		5th Round		Breakouts	Final Round
		Qualifying	Knockout	Qualifying	Knockout	Qualifying	Knockout	Qualifying	Knockout	Qualifying	Knockout		1st Round	2nd Round
1	S6 Hua Chenyu	1	1	2	3	1	5	6	3	2	1	—	1	1
2	S5 Tia Ray	6	3	5	4	4	2	5	7	—	—	1	2	2
3	S5 Jam Hsiao	4	2	6	6	6	4	7	4	5	2	—	3	3
4	Summer Jike	—	—	—	—	—	—	4	6	8	—	2	4	4
5	S4 Lala Hsu	5	6	4	1	5	6	2	2	1	4	—	5	—
=6	Charlie Zhou	2	5	3	2	2	1	3	1	3	3	—	—	—
=6	Misia	3	4	1	5	3	3	1	5	4	5	—	—	—
=8	Mao Buyi	7	7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	—	—
=8	Life Journey	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6	7	4	—	—
=10	Super Vocal	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7	6	—	—	—
=10	Huang Xiaoyun	—	—	7	7	7	7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=10	Gen Sihan	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=10	Hu Xia	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=14	Ai Re	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=14	Taiyi	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=14	Qi Fan Qi	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=14	Zeng Yiming	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=14	Pax Congo	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=14	Ge Bi Lao Fan	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=14	Lexie Liu	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
=14	Jeryl Lee	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Competition details

First round

Qualifying

• Recording Date: January 3, 2020
• Airing date: February 7, 2020

The first two Surprise Challengers introduced this week were Jeryl Lee and Huang Xiaoyun.

Knockout

• Recording Date: January 10, 2020
• Airing date: February 14, 2020

The Surprise Challenger introduced this week is Lexie Liu. Due to Huang Xiaoyun being successful in her Surprise Challenge last week, one singer would be eliminated this week.

Surprise Challenge results

Overall ranking

Huang Xiaoyun had succeeded in her challenge and was given contestant status, which resulted in the lowest-ranked contestant, Mao Buyi, to be eliminated.

Second round

Qualifying

• Recording Date: February 17, 2020
• Airing date: February 21, 2020

The new Surprise challengers were Ge Bi Lao Fan and Pax Congo.

Knockout

• Recording Date: February 23, 2020
• Airing date: February 28, 2020

The Surprise Challenger introduced in this episode was Zeng Yiming.

Surprise Challenge results

Overall ranking

Huang Xiaoyun would have been eliminated for finishing last but due to all three Contestants failing their surprise challenge, all seven contestants were declared safe from elimination.

Third round

Qualifying

• Recording Date: February 29, 2020
• Airing date: March 6, 2020

The Surprise Challengers introduced this week are Qin Fan Qi and Summer Jike. Cai Chengyu temporarily replaced Enti Jin as Shen's manager for this round. Hsiao was not allowed to be challenged because of him being challenged twice in a row.

Knockouts

• Recording Date: March 6, 2020
• Airing date: March 13, 2020

The Surprise Challenger introduced this week was Hu Xia. Due to Summer Jike being successful in her Surprise Challenge last week, one singer would be eliminated this week. Starting this week, remaining Mainland Chinese singers returned to Changsha to do their pre-recorded performance; the 500-member audience would still have to use the Mango TV app watch and vote on their performances.

Surprise Challenge results

Overall ranking

Both Summer Jike and Hu Xia were successful in their Surprise Challenge, which resulted in the lowest-ranked contestant, Huang Xiaoyun, to be eliminated. A revote revealed Jike receiving a higher vote than Hu and replaced Huang from the competition. Since Hu was successful in his surprise challenge, he is eligible for Breakouts.

Fourth round

Qualifying

• Recording Date: March 13, 2020
• Airing date: March 20, 2020

The two Surprise Challengers introduced this week were Taiyi and Super Vocal.

Knockouts

• Recording Date: March 20, 2020
• Airing date: March 27, 2020

The Surprise Challenger introduced this week was Gen Sihan. Due to Super Vocal being successful in their Surprise Challenge last week, one singer would be eliminated this week.

Surprise Challenge results

Overall ranking

Both Super Vocal and Gen Sihan were successful in their Surprise Challenge, which resulted in the lowest-ranked contestant, Tia Ray, to be eliminated. A revote revealed Super Vocal receiving a higher vote than Gen and replaced Tia from the competition. Since Gen was successful in his surprise challenge, he is eligible for Breakouts.

Fifth round

Qualifying

• Recording Date: March 30, 2020
• Airing date: April 3, 2020

The number of Surprise Challengers in the Ultimate Round were reduced by one to two singers. Unlike previous rounds, singers who won the Surprise challenge were immediately qualified as a place in the round, while other singers were eligible for elimination. The Surprise challenger this week is a band named Life Journey. Due to a successful challenge by The Life Journey, the singer with a lower vote count, Summer Jike, was eliminated. Unlike previous Qualifying rounds, this round only reveal the first and last placed singers and the middle placements for the other five were not shown until the next episode.

Knockout

• Recording Date: March 31, 2020
• Airing date: April 10, 2020

The final Surprise Challenger introduced this season is Ai Re. Due to the shorter gap between airing of the last episode and taping of this episode, the episode was spoiled as it was revealed that Summer Jike was eliminated prior to the previous episode's airing (since she didn't appear on this episode) and its Surprise Challenger, Life Journey (later revealed to have ranked 6th in the previous episode), replaced Jike as a result of the successful challenge.

Surprise Challenge results

Overall ranking

Breakout

• Recording Date: April 11, 2020
• Airing date: April 17, 2020

The five initial singers, Jam Hsiao, Lala Hsu, Hua Chenyu, Misia, and Charlie Zhou, were exempt in the Breakout round. The eight participating in the Breakouts, Gen Sihan, Hu Xia, Huang Xiaoyun, Summer Jike, Life Journey, Mao Buyi, Super Vocal, and Tia Ray, compete for the last two places in the Finals.

Similar to the previous Breakout rounds since season six, mid-eliminations occur during the round - eight singers were each grouped into four duels of two, and while the first singer performed, any remaining singers can issue a challenge to perform; if none of the singers elected to perform, the singer have the choice to choose of his/her preference. After all eight singers have performed, an electronic vote will conduct for all four duels; defeated singers were immediately eliminated (Breakout failure), leaving victorious singers eligible for the finals (Breakout success), based on the votes received for this round.

For this episode, few of the solo singers (with the exception of band members) have prepared temporary Music Partners for the performances, indicated in italics.

Duel results

Total percentages of votes

Finals

The finals were divided into two rounds, with the first song being a duet with a guest singer and the second song being a solo encore performance. Similar to the finals since season six, votes cast were the sole determinant of the season's winner. The finals were conduct in a live studio using both live and online audience.

• Airing date: April 24, 2020

Round 1

The first round of the finals featured a guest singer's duet. For this round, breakout-success singers (Tia Ray and Summer Jike ) will still be able to do duels to any one of the five initial singers, with the losing singer eliminated from the competition; after all the singers had performed for the round, a second vote will conduct to eliminate a third singer from the competition.

Had Hsu, Misia and Zhou advanced to the next round, their encore songs were respectively "以上皆非", "Everything", and "不想睡".

Duel results

Round 2

The second round of the finals featured an encore song, and the singer who received the most votes (separate from the previous round's votes) was crowned the winner. The order of the round is determined by the placements from the first round.

Singer 2020 Finals Round 2 April 24, 2020 Host: He Jiong
Order	Singer	Music Partner	Song Title	Original Singer	Lyricist	Composer	Arranger	Rank
1	Summer Jike	Kuo Tao	"好女孩"	Josie and the Uni Boys Mavis Fan	Mavis Fan	Kubert Leung	Gu Li	4
2	Jam Hsiao	Eliza Liang	"猴笼"	Tones and I	Nai Liu		A Huo Zheng Ren Hao	3
3	Tia Ray	Wang Qiao	"Starfall"	Tia Ray	TetraCalyx	Zoe Tsai		2
4	Hua Chenyu	Li Weijia	"哥谭" (七重人格)	Hua Chenyu	Loo Yi Qiu	Hua Chenyu	Zheng Nan Hua Chenyu	1

Winner of Battle

Hua Chenyu was declared the winner of ''Singer 2020'' with 51.12% of the votes cast, leading by a 20.44% margin ahead of runner-up Tia Ray.

Ratings

Pre-show segments, such as Singer Gathering and Singer Announcement, and broadcast ratings from China Central Television are excluded from the rating and tally. Songs with red bold typeface indicate the highest-rated week for the season, and blue bold typeface indicate the lowest-rated week.

Notes

1. Replaced Huang Tingting as Misia's manager starting on week 2.
2. Cai Chenyu served as Zhou's manager on week 5 due to Enti's absence.
3. ^ Hsiao participated as a band named Lion during his original appearance in season 5.

References

1. ^ "《歌手2020》阵容曝光 萧敬腾惊喜回归". 8世界. January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
2. ""歌王之战"即将打响，李宇春联袂华晨宇成最大看点".
3. "《歌手》总决赛剧本痕迹太重·华晨宇夺冠唱功遭恶评". sinchew.com.my. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
4. 官博宣布《歌手》停办:以后的冬天不再有《歌手》. Sina Entertainment (in Chinese (China)). September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
5. Rui, Zheng (September 22, 2020). Yang, Lu (ed.). 是什么让《歌手》在8年后“真的不做了”. Beijing Business Today (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
6. "芒果四平台集中发布五大类180+精品内容 -新华网". www.hn.news.cn. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
7. "天天都有好"趣"处 湖南卫视、芒果TV五一编排耀眼集结！". www.163.com. April 30, 2024. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
8. 卢扬; 伍碧怡 (January 6, 2020). "首发阵容引争议 《歌手2020》靠什么"当打"". 北京商报. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
9. "湖南卫视《歌手》延迟至2月7日播出". Sina. January 29, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
10. "《歌手当打之年》启动云录制 取消现场大众听审团". 新浪娱乐. February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.

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• Singer (TV series)
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• Television series impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic