Advertisement

Mandarin format of ‘The Voice’ in Singapore and Malaysia announced months ago: Producers

The Voice Singapore & Malaysia (Photo: StarHub)
The Voice Singapore & Malaysia (Photo: StarHub)

The Mandarin format for upcoming singing competition show, “The Voice决战好声” (translated to The Voice: Battle Of Voices) was licensed and announced a few months ago, co-producers mm2 Entertainment said on Monday (8 May).

The show will be a direct adaptation of the original Dutch reality talent show “The Voice Of Holland”, but drew criticism from some over its call for auditions last week that said contestants needed to be able to speak Mandarin.

“As we had announced a few months ago, mm2 Entertainment had acquired the format licence to produce the ‘The Voice’ in Mandarin in Singapore and Malaysia,” a spokesman from mm2 Entertainment told Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore.

Despite having similar formats to “The Voice Of China (中國好声音)” and “Sing! China (中國新歌聲)”, “The Voice决战好声” is a separate show that will only feature Mandarin-speaking contestants from Singapore and Malaysia. The decision was criticised as being exclusive given the diversity of culture in the two countries.

In response to the backlash, the spokesperson from mm2 Entertainment said, “While we are heartened by the enthusiastic response following the announcement, we have also received feedback asking about fluency in Mandarin as a requirement and would like to make some clarification.”

“The Voice is a very successful singing format that has been licensed internationally. In acquiring the format, each market needs to determine the specific language that will be used. We acquired the format license from Talpa Media to produce “The Voice” in Mandarin in Singapore and Malaysia.”

“The ability of the contestants to communicate effectively in Mandarin becomes a necessity for the execution of the production, as contestants are required to engage the judges extensively, including during the coaching sessions which are integral to the show format,” the spokesperson added.

“The Voice决战好声” will be broadcast on StarHub (Hub E City) and Astro (AEC) in Singapore and Malaysia respectively. The Singapore and Malaysia entertainment company will be co-producing the show along with StarHub and Malaysian TV broadcaster, Astro.

Last Friday (5 May), StarHub announced that online auditions for “The Voice决战好声” were officially open. In addition to filling up a form, participants were to submit a 90-seconds video clip of themselves singing (without any accompanying music track) in any language and genre.

Over the weekend, the show received backlash over the ‘lack of inclusivity’ for non-Mandarin speakers. Former Singapore Idol contestant and current radio DJ, Joakim Gomez, also voiced his disappointment about the show in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“Sing! China”, which Singaporean singer Nathan Hartono finished second for, was formerly known as “The Voice Of China”. The show changed names in 2016 after Chinese TV production company Star China Media got embroiled in a legal dispute with “The Voice” copyright owners Talpa Media.

Follow Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore on Facebook.