The recently concluded ninth season of the popular TV singing competition show Singer 2024 offered fans something new this year — live performances from seasoned Chinese and foreign singers.

Week after week, the artists' performances captivated Chinese and global audiences, becoming one of the most talked-about topics among Chinese netizens.

According to Hunan Satellite TV, the ratings for all 12 episodes of the show ranked No 1 among all shows aired during the same time slots. More than 14,400 hashtags about the show have trended at different social media platforms.

UNESCO has twice liked the show's posts on its official Sina Weibo account. Additionally, the program has been endorsed by the Embassy of China in Estonia, the Latin American and Caribbean Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, and the Embassy of Canada in China.

The season concluded with its final episode airing on Friday night, with a slew of stunning performances by Chinese and international artists that led to lively discussions on social media platforms.

Chinese A-list star Na Ying won the competition, while the performances of international singers such as Chante Moore from the United States and Moroccan-Canadian songbird Faouzia Ouihya also garnered acclaim from many Chinese fans.

Since the season's first broadcasts on Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV on May 10, huge interest was generated thanks to its live performances — a rarity on Chinese TV, where performances are routinely pretaped and touched up in postproduction.

Na's apparent nervousness during the first episode and being outperformed by fellow veteran singers Moore and Faouzia shocked Chinese audiences, who were unfamiliar with the foreign singers. The episode created great enthusiasm among netizens and boosted the popularity of the show.

Na has been one of the most acclaimed pop stars in China since the 1990s. She performed at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games and has won various music awards.

Her performance at the show was not consistently good, and she was criticized for being too nervous and having flaws in her pitches.

After winning the competition, she said it was "like a dream" and a magic journey.

"It was such a wonderful journey that I have been tortured and finally persevered. Getting the top prize is something worth talking about for the rest of my life," she said.

The Singer series — originally called I Am a Singer — initially began airing in 2013. It taped eight seasons before organizers decided to pull the plug on the show in 2020, citing lower viewership compared to rival singing competition shows. After a four-year hiatus, they decided to revive the show as Singer 2024 and do away with its pretaped format, opting for live performances instead.

This year's show also invited former American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert and Australian singer Lenka Kripac to perform in latter episodes, while Kazakh crooner Dimash Qudaibergen, a veteran of the show, performed with Moore in a duet at Friday's finale.

During the finale, seven singers competed in two rounds for a shot at the crown.

Moore failed to make it to the second round. Faouzia did, but she wound up in fourth place after "Singing Queen" Na and Chinese singers Tan Weiwei and Sun Nan, who placed second and third, respectively.

Commenting on her performance on Friday, Faouzia said she was proud of what she had accomplished during the show.

"Everybody here knows that it's not easy to do this every single week live. There's a lot of stress that goes into it. They just make it look really easy," she said. "But I'm just really proud of myself for making it all the way till the end. And I really had no expectations when I came here. And so, this is beyond my expectations. And I'm very, very happy."

She said she is very honored that she was welcomed with open arms in China.

"I feel like I found a second family. Even though it's the end of the show, it's just the beginning of my journey and my endeavors here in China." she said.

In the eighth episode, Faouzia performed a Chinese song, The Devil from Heaven, impressing the Chinese audience and securing second place that night.

She said she would love to record and write a song in Mandarin. She also asked fellow contestant, Chinese singer-songwriter Wang Sulong, to help her.

Looking back on her journey over the past three months, Moore said every week was like a rollercoaster ride — intense with ups and downs.

With the season now over, Moore said she felt relieved, accomplished and ready to celebrate. She said she was welcomed with open arms and honored to be a part of the Singer family.

"We all are winners, no matter what. We all have gone through a lot, and we have succeeded," she said.

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