Sing! China (season 1)
The first season of the Chinese reality talent show Sing! China premiered on 15 July 2016 on Zhejiang Television. The show is loosely based on a similar competition format in the Netherlands, The Voice of Holland. The show is hosted by Li Yong. Jay Chou, Na Ying, Wang Feng, and Harlem Yu are the coaches.
On 7 October 2016, Jiang Dunhao of Team Wang Feng was announced as the winner of the season, with Nathan Hartono of Team Jay as runner-up. Wang Chenrui of Team Na Ying, Xu Geyang of Team Wang Feng, Yang Meina of Team Harlem, and Jeryl Lee of Team Na Ying finished in third, fourth, fifth, and sixth place respectively.
Coaches and hosts
Teams
; Colour keyBlind auditions
The taping of the blind auditions began on 19 June 2016.; Colour key
| Coach pressed his or her button | |
| Artist defaulted to this coach's team | |
| Artist elected to join this coach's team | |
| Artist eliminated by coach before the Cross Fighting rounds | |
| Artist eliminated with no coach pressing his or her button |
Episode 1 (15 July)
The four coaches performed a medley of each other's songs – Na Ying performed Harlem Yu's "只有为你", Wang Feng performed Jay Chou's "安静", Yu performed Na's "不管有多苦", and Chou performed Wang's "满" – and concluded the performances with Chou's "我要夏天".Episode 2 (22 July)
Episode 3 (29 July)
Da Shan, Tan Xuanyuan and Ika Zhao, artists from Team Harlem on the previous seasons of The Voice of China, performed "我要给你" at the start of the show to celebrate Yu's 55th birthday.Episode 4 (5 August)
Host Li Yong performed a medley of songs by the four coaches – Wang's "春天里", Yu's "情非得已", Na's "征服", and Chou's "听妈妈的话" – at the start of the show.Episode 5 (12 August)
The Fighting
In this revamped version of the show, the Battle and Knockout rounds from The Voice franchise were combined and rebranded as the "Fighting rounds". The battling element from the Battle rounds – two artists paired together for a duet – did not return due to copyright concerns from show's producers. Only the concept from the Knockout rounds were kept and presented in the Fighting rounds – an artist performing a solo song against another artist from their own team, with their respective coach picking the winner among the two to advance to the Playoff rounds. The Fightings episodes were aired on 19, 26 August and 2, 9 September 2016.The coaches' advisors for the season are Tanya Chua for Team Wang Feng, Fei Yu-ching for Team Jay, Mavis Fan for Team Harlem and Lang Lang for Team Na Ying. Occasionally, the advisors would provide recommendations to their respective team coach on who they should advance to the next round. However, the recommendations would not have an effect on the outcome of the results as the final decisions lie solely on the team coaches themselves.
; Colour key
| Artist won the Fighting and advanced to the Playoffs | |
| Artist lost the Fighting and was eliminated |
| Order | Performer | Song |
| 6.1 | Tanya Chua | "当我想你的时候" |
| 7.1 | Fei Yu-ching | "青花瓷" |
| 7.2 | Fei Yu-ching & Jay Chou | "千里之外" |
| 8.1 | Mavis Fan & Harlem Yu | "快乐颂" |
| 9.1 | Lang Lang & Na Ying | "相爱恨早" |
The Playoffs & Live Show
The Playoffs began on 16 September and comprised episodes 11, 12, and 13, aired over three weeks. They were followed by the live show on the fourth week, the final phase of the competition.From this point on in the competition, the remaining artists went head-to-head against artists from the other teams, which introduced the possibility of having a group of finalists without equal team representation.
Week 1–2: The Cross Fightings (16 & 23 September)
The first two weeks of the Playoff rounds featured coaches competing with an opposing coach with their remaining artists. Through the drawing of lots, it was decided that coach Na Ying would be given the opportunity to pick her opposing coach, and the remaining two coaches who were not picked by her would go head-to-head against each other in a separate episode. Na eventually picked Harlem Yu, and competed with him in the twelfth episode; while Team Jay competed with Team Wang Feng in the eleventh.In a Cross Fighting, an artist would be sent by his or her coach to compete against an artist from the opposing team. The selection of the artists and their order of appearance were all decided by their respective coaches, and all of which were done without the knowledge of the opposing coach. Therefore, the pairings were completely by random, and would only be revealed when the coaches revealed their selection on stage. At the end of each Cross Fighting round, the artist receiving the most votes from the 51-person professional judging panel would advance to the next Playoff round. Each member of the judging panel was entitled to one vote per pairing.
Each of the coaches was allowed to save one losing artist from their respective team, and they had to decide on the spot if they would like to exercise the power on the artist once he or she was announced as the loser of a Cross Fighting. If the losing coach decides not to, the artist would be immediately eliminated. The two artists that were saved by the coaches would then perform again in the "coach's save" round, with the one receiving the most judges votes moving on to the Top 12. In the event when there was only one saved artist as the opposing coach failed to exercise his or her power, the only saved artist would be given walkover and automatically advance to the next round without having to perform again.
; Colour key
| Artist won the Cross Fighting and advanced to the Top 12 | |
| Artist lost the Cross Fighting but was saved by coach | |
| Artist won the Cross Fighting in the "coach's save" round and advanced to the Top 12 | |
| Artist lost the Cross Fighting and was eliminated |
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 11.1 | Jay Chou & his team | "恒星" / "烟花易冷" |
| 11.2 | Wang Feng & his team | "蜗牛" |
| 12.1 | Na Ying & her team | "靠近" / "命中注定" / "报告班长" / "热情的沙漠" / "整晚的音乐" |
| 12.2 | Harlem Yu & his team | "白天不懂夜的黑" / "Pretty Boy" |
Week 3: Top 12 (30 September)
The Top 12 performed on the third week of the Playoffs for a spot in the finals. The order of appearance was decided through the drawing of lots by the coaches. In deciding who moves on, a professional judging panel made up of 51 veteran record producers, music critics, and media practitioners from various media companies; as well as the studio audience made up of 350 members of the public were given an equal say. Each of the voters was entitled to one vote per artist, and they can either choose to vote or not vote for a particular artist. The total number of votes cast by the professional judging panel and studio audience were converted into points accordingly to the weightage. The six artists with the highest accumulated total points would advance to the finals.; Colour key
| Artist received the highest accumulated total points and advanced to the finals | |
| Artist received the lowest accumulated total points and was eliminated |
| Episode | Coach | Order | Artist | Song | Judges votes | Public votes | Total points | Result |
| Episode 13 | Jay Chou | 1 | Yutian 羽田 | "小镇姑娘" / "Come Together" | 24 | 239 | 57.67 | Eliminated |
| Episode 13 | Harlem Yu | 2 | Zhao Xiaoxi 赵小熙 | "我要我们在一起" | 18 | 302 | 60.79 | Eliminated |
| Episode 13 | Na Ying | 3 | Jeryl Lee 李佩玲 | "我知道你很难过" | 39 | 306 | 81.95 | Advanced |
| Episode 13 | Wang Feng | 4 | Xu Geyang 徐歌阳 | "异类" | 40 | 344 | 88.36 | Advanced |
| Episode 13 | Jay Chou | 5 | Nathan Hartono 向洋 | "Desperado" / "忘不了" | 47 | 333 | 93.65 | Advanced |
| Episode 13 | Harlem Yu | 6 | Jike Hao 吉克皓 | "滚滚红尘" | 29 | 337 | 76.57 | Eliminated |
| Episode 13 | Na Ying | 7 | Su Lisheng 苏立生 | "私奔" | 30 | 327 | 76.13 | Eliminated |
| Episode 13 | Wang Feng | 8 | Jiang Dunhao 蒋敦豪 | "傻瓜" | 33 | 348 | 82.07 | Advanced |
| Episode 13 | Jay Chou | 9 | Lokey 低调 | "夜空中最亮的星" / "星晴" | 26 | 322 | 71.49 | Eliminated |
| Episode 13 | Harlem Yu | 10 | Yang Meina 杨美娜 | "春泥" | 38 | 311 | 81.68 | Advanced |
| Episode 13 | Na Ying | 11 | Wang Chenrui 汪晨蕊 | "你还要我怎样" | 44 | 323 | 89.28 | Advanced |
| Episode 13 | Wang Feng | 12 | Liu Wentian 刘文天 | "地心" | 34 | 308 | 77.33 | Eliminated |
Week 4: Finals (7 October)
The Top 6 performed in the two-part season finale on 7 October 2016, held at the Beijing National Stadium. In the first round of the competition, the six finalists performed a duet or trio with their respective coach and a finalist from their team, then a solo song. Based on the public votes received from the live audience at the end of the first round, the bottom four artists with the fewest votes were eliminated.The final two artists then sang their winner's song in the second round of the competition, with the 81-person professional judging panel and live audience voting for the winner. Every member of the professional judging panel was entitled to one vote, and the total number of votes received by each artist were converted into percentage points based on the total voting strength, 81. Similarly, the public votes received from the live audience were also converted into percentage points based on the total number of the votes received by the final two artists. The artist who received the higher total average points was announced as the winner.
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 15.1 | Joker Xue & Vinida 万妮达 | "丑八怪" / "给我一个吻" |
| 15.2 | The Top 40 | "光明" |
- Before the commencement of the solo performances in the first round, it was revealed Nathan Hartono 向洋 and Xu Geyang 徐歌阳 were leading in the number of public votes.
- Nathan Hartono 向洋 received 35,577 votes in the first round, and accumulated 45,613 votes by the end of second round.
- Jiang Dunhao 蒋敦豪 received 39,962 votes in the first round, and accumulated 59,852 votes by the end of second round.
- Even though it was confirmed only 81 judges cast their votes, the total professional judging panel vote count added up to 92 instead of 81, due to a technical glitch. As the vote count was acknowledged on the show and the producers have yet to respond to the irregularity, the percentage points were converted based on the total vote count, 92, instead of the supposed 81.
Non-competition shows
The Mid-Autumn Special (15 September)
; Colour key| Artist won the Cross Fighting | |
| Artist lost the Cross Fighting |
| Episode | Coaches | Order | Artist | Song | Result |
| Episode 10 | Na Ying & Harlem Yu | 1.1 | Bai Jingchen 白静晨 | "小幸运" | Lost audience's vote |
| Episode 10 | Jay Chou & Wang Feng | 1.2 | Shan Liang 单良 | "悟空" | Won audience's vote |
| Episode 10 | Jay Chou & Wang Feng | 2.1 | Bao Shiyu 包师语 | "安和桥" | Lost audience's vote |
| Episode 10 | Na Ying & Harlem Yu | 2.2 | Yang Shan 杨山 | "九月" | Won audience's vote |
| Episode 10 | Na Ying & Harlem Yu | 3.1 | Li Ruixuan 李瑞轩 | "谢谢侬" | Won audience's vote |
| Episode 10 | Jay Chou & Wang Feng | 3.2 | Lv Junzhe 吕俊哲 | "没时间后悔" | Lost audience's vote |
| Episode 10 | Na Ying & Harlem Yu | 4.1 | Emily Guan 官灵芝 | "给自己的歌" | |
| Episode 10 | Jay Chou & Wang Feng | 4.2 | Liu Xuejing 刘雪婧 | "就是现在" | |
| Episode 10 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Episode 10 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Episode 10 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Episode 10 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Order | Performer | Song |
| 10.1 | Joker Xue | "你还要我怎样" |
| 10.2 | Na Ying | "花一开满就相爱" |
| 10.3 | Harlem Yu | "我最摇摆" |
| 10.4 | Wang Feng | "谢谢" |
| 10.5 | Jay Chou & his team | "说走就走" |
| 10.6 | Fei Yu-ching | "花好月圆" |
The National Day Special (3 October)
; Colour key| Artist is a winning member of the "Best Team" |
| Episode | Coach | Order | Artist | Song | Result |
| Episode 14 | Harlem Yu | 1.1 | Zhao Xiaoxi 赵小熙 | "Kiss" | Team Na Ying lead |
| Episode 14 | Na Ying | 1.2 | Su Lisheng 苏立生 | "寂寞有多长" | Team Na Ying lead |
| Episode 14 | Jay Chou | 1.3 | Yutian 羽田 | "那些花儿" | Team Na Ying lead |
| Episode 14 | Wang Feng | 1.4 | Liu Xuejing 刘雪婧 | "See You Again" / "再见" | Team Na Ying lead |
| Episode 14 | Harlem Yu | 2.1 | Jike Hao 吉克皓 | "找自己" | Team Harlem lead |
| Episode 14 | Wang Feng | 2.2 | Zheng Jiawen 郑迦文 | "Goodbye My Lover" | Team Harlem lead |
| Episode 14 | Na Ying | 2.3 | Yang Bo 杨搏 | "十万毫升泪水" | Team Harlem lead |
| Episode 14 | Jay Chou | 2.4 | Lokey 低调 | "Bad" | Team Harlem lead |
| Episode 14 | Wang Feng | 3.1 | Liu Wentian 刘文天 | "梦回唐朝" | Team Jay won |
| Episode 14 | Harlem Yu | 3.2 | Yao Xi 姚希 | "小苹果" | Team Jay won |
| Episode 14 | Jay Chou | 3.3 | Zeng Minjie 曾敏杰 | "我是不是该安静的走开" | Team Jay won |
| Episode 14 | Na Ying | 3.4 | Vinida 万妮达 | "给我一个吻" | Team Jay won |
| Order | Performer | Song |
| 14.1 | Harlem Yu | "静静的" |
| 14.2 | Wang Feng | "你走你的路" |
| 14.3 | Jay Chou & Lokey 低调 | "告白气球" |
| 14.4 | Harlem Yu | "缺口" |
| 14.5 | Na Ying | "相见不如怀念" / "默" / "白天不懂夜的黑" / "征服" |
| 14.6 | Wang Feng | "再见蒲公英" |
| 14.7 | Jay Chou & Yutian 羽田 | "算什么男人" |
Elimination chart
Overall
;Artist's info;Result details
Team
;Artist's info;Result details
Reception
CSM52 ratings
Controversy and criticism
On the day of the finals, as voting by the media commenced to determine the winner, host Hua Shao had announced multiple times that the number of judges who were to cast their ballots was 81. The judges, said to be industry and media professionals, were invited on stage to drop their vote in two ballot boxes. The boxes scanned each vote cast and the vote count was updated 'live' on a large screen. As Hartono took the lead at first by nine votes, organisers decided to take a two-minute commercial break after detecting a computer glitch. Not too long after the show had recommenced, Jiang caught up, and both were neck to neck since. By the time the vote tally reached 81, Hartono appeared to be leading Jiang by five votes.Had that been the case, Hartono would have stood a greater chance at being the first non-Chinese citizen to win the competition, and the first Singaporean to do so. However, the number of votes continued to increase, until eventually Jiang overtook Hartono with 47 votes to 45 – bringing the total number of votes to 92. It had also been reported that Jiang's decisive 46th and 47th votes were made by the same voter – as was caught on camera.
Many viewers, especially supporters of Hartono, took to social media to voice their disapproval over the voting process. Among Singaporean fans, some speculated that the contest was rigged, while others simply congratulated Hartono for having come so far as a foreign participant. Hartono was the first Singaporean to have made it past the blind auditions, since all of Singapore's representatives for seasons 3 and 4 of The Voice of China – Jeremy Teng, Alfred Sim and Tay Kewei – had been unable to do so. He was also the first Singaporean to make it to the semi-finals and to the finals; his second-place finish was the highest a Singaporean has clinched in the competition so far.
In spite of this, Hartono's mentor Chou said in an interview with Sina.com after the competition that he was pleased with all aspects of the show, but joked that "the media were dizzy from the cold , so maybe they voted wrongly." Hartono himself told Singaporean daily The Straits Times that he was not at all disappointed by the results. In a subsequent post on Facebook the next afternoon, he said, "Everybody has been asking me about my feelings towards the results. Well here they are: in short, I'm not bothered one bit. I couldn't have been happier to even be included in the finals. To then compete in the top two? That's just insane."
On the other hand, Jiang told Sina.com that he was just "dazed" after his win. He had expected either Hartono or Xu to be the champion, adding that there was "much he could learn" from Hartono. Asked whether the result was rigged because he has signed a contract with the producers, he said, "Yes, the company has given me a contract. To me, a boy from a Xinjiang border town, there was nothing shady. I had nothing. To get where I am today, besides my hard work, and my mentor's help, a large part was due to luck."
Alleged machine error
On 11 October 2016, four days after the grand finals, it was reported on The Straits Times that a machine error allegedly caused the mix-up.While the producer of the show himself has not commented on the discrepancy, sources close to the show have blamed a machine error, and confirmed that there were indeed only 81 judges. "One swipe on the voting machine is one vote," claimed the source. "We didn't expect that when a swipe took a long time to be detected, the voting machine would read it again." The system did not limit one person to one vote and due to the glitch, 11 more votes were swiped in total.
The source also claimed that Jiang's "popularity with the audience" was key to his defeating Hartono.