"Sing! China" is one of the most popular TV singing competitions in the country. (Photo : Facebook/Sing! China)
Marcus Lee, a 25-year-old student at the National University of Singapore, returns to the popular TV singing competition "Sing! China" to represent his country this season, Straits Times reported.
Lee, who failed to make it in last year's auditions, wowed the panel of judges with his new audition pieces.
His rendition of "Actually (I) Still Love You," which is an original by Taiwanese Real Huang, earned him 90 points from judge Hu Haiquan.
Hu, the other half of the Chinese rock duo Yu Quan, also lauded Lee's performance of "Last Train," a song penned by Singaporean composer Lee Wei Song.
"You had a good understanding of the song and we weren't wrong to choose you for the final five," Hu told Lee in Mandarin.
Lee, along with 11 other finalists, showed off their singing chops on Saturday at the Capitol Theatre. The 12 contenders were trimmed down to five.
The final challenge for the "Sing! China" aspirants was to sing a song assigned by each of the judges.
The Singapore auditions for "Sing! China" featured Hu, radio disc jock Eeva Chang and local producer Billy Koh as judges. Chang's firm, Eeva Productions, served as the event's organizer.
After winning in the auditions, Lee will be flying to China to compete in the second season of the well-followed singing competition. "Sing! China" is scheduled to return to TV in July.
For the show's sophomore edition, Mandopop superstar Jay Chou and Chinese singer Na Ying will reprise their roles as the contest's mentors. The third mentor will be Hong Kong's Eason Chan, a first-timer in the competition, while the fourth mentor is yet to be revealed.
Asked about his return to the show, Lee said that he is preparing by "listening to more Mandarin songs, especially those that are popular in China, because they are now [his] audience."
Last year, Nathan Hartono represented Singapore in the said competition.
