Chinese Na Ying accused of rigging 'Singer' competition

Chinese singer Na Ying was declared the winner of the 2024 Chinese reality TV competition program ‘Singer’. However, many have been questioning if her win was indeed a legitimate one, with accusations such as favoritism directed towards her, reports The Star.

All images are from Weibo unless otherwise stated.

Na Ying is a Chinese singer who is also more currently known for her work as a musical judge. According to Hello! Asia, she rose to prominence for judging on reality TV singing competitions with her work on ‘The Voice of China’ in 2012.

Born on 27 November, 1967, Na Ying's journey into stardom started when she was discovered by the Chinese renowned composer Gu Jianfen during a singing competition, reports Phoenix News.

The report from Phoenix News continued with stating Na Ying then came under the singing tutelage of Gu Jianfeng. This was a significant point in Na Ying’s career, as Gu Jianfen is considered one of China’s biggest composers and is also a council member for many organisations, including those in the government.

In 1994, Na Ying released her first solo album, ‘Thinking of You Day and Night’. However, she only rose to prominence with the release of her second album in 1998, titled ‘Conquer’.

Sina reports that ‘Conquer’ was China’s top-selling Mandarin album that year, and in the following year, Na Ying was granted the Best Female Singer Award in CCTV’s first joint music award ceremony with MTV.

In 2006, Na Ying had retired from the music industry to focus on her marriage and family. However, this was not the end of Na Ying’s career as she returned to entertainment in in 2009 with a music tour, Sohu reports.

Sannian Life reports that Na Ying began to start a separate career for herself as a music judge since being appointed as one for ‘The Voice of China’.

The show was considered one of China’s biggest reality TV competitions and boosted Na Ying’s popularity to great heights. She had also taken up tenure with judging for ‘Sing! China’, a rebrand of ‘The Voice of China’.

Back in 2023, Coco Lee took her own life and left a damning voice record detailing her experience with being a judge on ‘Sing! China’ in 2022, with accusing showrunners of unfair treatment and result manipulation, reports 8days.

According to Yahoo, following Coco Lee's death, Na Ying and her producer sister, Na Xin, allegedly had a hand in controlling the behind-the-scenes of 'Sing! China' and were accused of doing so by singer Ocean Hai in 2023.

Yahoo reports that the accusation had a negative impact on Na Ying's reputation, prompting the singer to take a nine-month hiatus from showbiz, until she decided to return on the variety show ‘Youth Perilous’.

Following that, Na Ying had also returned to music related shows by participating in ‘Singer’ as a contestant in 2024 and subsequently won the competition amongst many other talented singers from all over the world, reports The Straits Times.

Now, Na Ying’s win on ‘Singer’ has been questioned, according to Today, as the star has been accused of being involved in rigging the results of the competition as she had not been expected to win the competition as had been placed fourth in initial rankings.

The Star reports that Chinese netizens had expected stronger contestants such as Morocan-Canadian singer Faouzia and Amerrican singer Chanté Moore to win the competition, and they had ranked higher than Na Ying in overall rankings before the final results.

What sealed the deal in landing the final blow on why netizens are skepitical of the legitimacy of Na Ying’s win was that as the show was being broadcasted live, there was no time to edit what was said by Kazakh contestant Dimash Qudaibergen. He told Faouzia this: “They said, it must be Chinese before you.”

Hence, Na Ying’s win has been questioned due to netizen speculation of the results having been rigged in her favor. This is especially ironic because The Straits Times reported that Na Ying had previously departed 'Sing! China' in 2017 over disagreement with how showrunners were allegedly fixing the show's outcomes.