The Voice of China concluded its second season by creating another grassroots idol, 23-year-old Li Qi. He may not have the look of a star but has obviously touched the hearts of many with his unpretentious and affectionate singing style.

Once a self-effaced boy, Li faced rounds of criticism bravely. Some commented that he won because of his crowd-pleasing voice.

Controversy aside, as arguably the first successful foreign TV program format in China, Voice of China will continue to strengthen local TV stations' obsession with foreign formats, especially those related to talent shows. In fact, there's a growing trend of importing formats among second-tier satellite channels, the prospect only expected to be dimmed by government restrictions.

None of the other imported formats, however, are expected to come close to the Voice's success. While many talent shows shifted their focus to entertainment, Voice is highly valued for its attention to singing itself, though it was equally criticized at some point for using dramatized portrayals of contestants' lives.

The quality is guaranteed by a cast of four A-list singer judges. They are mainland pop diva Na Ying, Taiwan's veteran pop artist Harlem Yu, mainland rock star Wang Feng and Taiwan pop queen A-Mei. The show also boasts a top-notch sound system, reportedly supported by Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony sound director Jin Shaogang to ensure high-quality sound.

As many as 40 directors travel to all the provincial capitals where local market insiders are ready to offer their lists of recommended talents. They also visit music schools and pubs to scout for qualified singers.

Their voices are recorded and these potential contestants, some of whom are already known singers, are then put through auditions and finally, shortlisted to appear on television.

The arduous selection process results in a high level of professionalism that helped Voice stand out from a list of tough competitors including Hunan Satellite TV's Super Boy which has been criticized a lot this year for the pretty boys' inability to sing.

According to a survey by Beijing-based Data Topia, the audiences of Super Boy are mainly females born in the 1990s and Shanghai Dragon TV's Chinese Idol is watched by mainly people born in the 1980s. Voice enjoys a much wider audience ranging from teenagers to 40-somethings.

Audience ratings aside, there's a more serious concern about whether these music shows can serve to be a talent pool for the music industry. Since Hunan TV launched its Super Girls series in 2004, China's 10-year talent scouting has provided no more than five sustainable singers who regularly release quality albums.

A rapidly shrinking music market is surely to blame. But is the Chinese mainland's immature pop music capable of producing quality pop stars? There is also the aesthetical concern.

Last year, when rock boy Liang Bo of Na Ying's group won the Voice of China, many people saw him as a reproduction of Wang Feng, Na's friend. That's probably part of the reason why Wang became a judge this year.

Wang gathered in his group many rock singers with noticeable influence from his style. The same thing can be said of Na Ying, who was technically searching for reproductions of herself, or Wang Feng again, by showing preferences for either leather-lunged female singers or middle-aged rock men.

It seems the only judge with a little experimental spirit is Harlem Yu. With an avant-garde music taste influenced by Taiwan's mature music industry, his preference for unconventional singers and creative adaptation of classic songs both proved to be eye-openers.

If indeed the Voice is looking for China's next generation of pop stars, shouldn't they all eye something ahead of current trends?

As Evergrand Music's Wang Yi said, it's after all a TV program that has its own rules to fit and a massive crowd to please. Therefore, Wang said, the contestants are not necessarily as boring and mediocre as seen. Once their crowd-pleasing orthodox performance wins them a position in the music circle, they'll then have the chance to present their unique style.

So it's probably a naive notion to look for a trend-setting voice on a platform that's designed for a certain style.

Just as how Nanjing University's professor of communications Du Junfei sums up the Voice pattern on his micro blog: the color of the tone will lose to the volume of the sound, and singing quality to physical capacity; what talent shows find are bound to be the square type of singer; a heavenly voice can hardly be heard in the hubbub.

(China Daily 10/10/2013 page18)