Singer (Chinese: 歌手; pinyin: Gēshǒu), previously known as I Am a Singer (Chinese: 我是歌手; pinyin: Wǒ Shì Gēshǒu), is a Chinese singing competition show broadcast on Hunan Television. It is based on the Korean show I Am a Singer. The competition is open to well-known professional singers from the music industry worldwide, and features a rotating cast of (usually) seven singers performing each week in front of a 500-member audience. The votes cast from the audience are the sole determinant for the results and the singer who receives the fewest votes is eliminated, with a new singer substituted in their place. The first season featured 12 contestants, but later increased to as many as 22 due to twists and competition rules added in later seasons. The inaugural series was first taped on 10 January 2013 and premiered on 18 January 2013.

After four seasons under the name of I Am a Singer, in 2017, the show was rebranded as Singer (Chinese: 歌手; pinyin: Gēshǒu), but retained the same competition format. The eighth season, entitled Singer 2020, or Singer: Year of the Hits (Chinese: 歌手:当打之年; pinyin: Gēshǒu: Dāngdǎ zhī Nián), began taping on 3 January 2020; the season was initially slated for a premiere on 10 January 2020, but was postponed twice; the season was first announced to premiere on 31 January 2020, but was again postponed to 7 February 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred prior to the intended premiere date. The series finale aired on 24 April 2020.

On 22 September 2020, Hong Tao announced during the Hunan TV's Merchants Association meeting that Singer will cease production after eight seasons of air, citing a gradually lower viewership ratings and its competition against other rival programs in the current Chinese reality television landscape. However, on November 12, 2023, Mango TV reversed the decision and decieded to revive the series, allowing a ninth season to premiere on May 10, 2024 after a four-year hiatus.

Each round of I Am a Singer has seven singers (or eight in some weeks) performing for a 500-member studio audience each week, who decide the results for the singers. The order that they perform is determined through ballot or based on prior performances, depending on the week. Each audience member cats a vote for the top three singers, and these votes are tabulated to determine each singer's placement for the night. Since season 7, with the implementation of Electronic voting (which was conducted thrice throughout the show), each score accounts toward 50% of the final results.

Each season of I Am a Singer is divided into four or five rounds (first 10 or 11 weeks), which consist of usually non-elimination "Qualifiers" and "Knockouts" (renamed to "Ranking" and "Revelation" rounds from Season 9, respectively). Votes are accumulative on both rounds and the singer receiving a lower count of votes at the end of the Knockout round is eliminated. Eliminated singers are entitled to a Returning Performance on the next show and a chance to return to the competition via the Breakout Round, though eliminations may also be cancelled if another singer chooses to withdraw from the competition, or if any contestant is given a bye due to health conditions. At the end of each round, a new singer takes the place of the eliminated/withdrawn singer and the competition cycle repeats until the final Knockout round was completed. At the end of the episode a table is usually shown to indicate the rankings.

As part of the "2+1" format introduced in the third season, the "Challenge" round follows each Knockout round. A new singer (dubbed a "Challenger") is substituted for an eliminated singer during the start of the round, and given a challenge in which they are required to beat a majority of the singers (finishing within top four or better) or face elimination; if the challenger succeeds, any incumbent singers are eligible for elimination, which is decided on which singers received a lower count of votes for this round alone (votes cast for the Challenge round are factored independently of combined votes from the Qualifier/Knockouts). Season 5 replaced Qualifiers with Challenge rounds immediately after the first Knockout round to accommodate two substitute singers coming to the competition (one of which was a challenger). Season 6 temporarily revised the format, where the challenger enters the competition during the Knockouts and had to avoid last place on their first week in addition to finishing in the top four on the second week (in a combination of both Knockout and Challenge rounds); failing either challenge eliminated the singer immediately. However, in Season 7, due to the season-exclusive Pre-Challenge Face-off (see twists below), the challenge round format was reverted to the season 3 to 5 format, with the challenger winning the face-off immediately facing the Challenge round. The Challenge round was absent in Season 8, instead replacing with another variant round (see Twists below).

"Breakout" round follows after the last Knockout round, which featured previously eliminated singers (except withdrawn singers) performing for a chance to return to the game and take part in the finals. During the inaugural season, Breakout rounds was called "Revival" and all remaining singers were exempt from this round, leaving eliminated singers to compete for the only place in the Semi-Finals. Beginning in the second season, the rules were modified for the remaining singers based on the entry status: initial singers (singers who entered the competition on week 1) were exempt from the Breakout rounds while other singers were required to participate the Breakout round to vie for the number of places, which was determined by how many initial singers were exempt, to complete the seven-singer lineup (with the exception of season 5 as the number of finalists briefly increased to ten). The outcome was decided on which singers received a higher count of votes, and the singers who were successful on the "Breakouts" were qualified (along with exempted singers) in the Finals. Since Season 6, additional twists were also featured where singers receiving a lower count of votes in a prior voting immediately losing the Breakout regardless of the outcome. Since Season 7, only contestants that were given full contestant status were eligible to participate in the Breakouts, making the first season not all eliminated singers (outside withdrawn singers) were eligible.

The last stage of the competition, the Finals, was usually divided into Semi-Finals and the live-broadcast Grand Finals, held on two separate nights. The finalists had to sing from two to three songs (one duet and one or two solo performances), with audience voting for their performances in-between each round. For the first two seasons, the scores were weighted in favor of the final performance (30%–30%–40%), but subsequent seasons used the sum of the votes (or since Season 6, only the final round votes) cast to determine the winner of the season.