I Can See Your Voice


I Can See Your Voice is a television mystery music game show franchise created by Lee Seon-young and produced by CJ ENM, which originated from the South Korean program of the same title.

Background

In 2012, producer and creator Lee Seon-young initially planned to develop a singing reality competition show that includes "good singers". She would unusually add elements with "bad singers", lip sync, and "guessing game" flairs, creating a unique format that would become the "mystery music game show" in the process. Also, she originally envisioned a program that will allow anyone to be the main character regardless of their appearances, inspired by Kim Bum-soo who struggled to gain recognition because of his look.
I Can See Your Voice made its debut on Mnet and tvN on February 26, 2015, with host Kim Bum-soo playing the game as a guest artist. Despite the poor reception in its first season, the show went on to become an instant success in South Korea, forcing to renew for a second season.

Gameplay

Formats

Original format

Presented with a group of "mystery singers" that identified only by their occupation or alias, the guest artist and/or contestant must attempt to eliminate bad singers from the selection without ever hearing them perform live, over the course of several rounds. They are also assisted with clues regarding singers' backgrounds, style of performance, and observations from a celebrity panel. At the end of a game, the last remaining mystery singer is revealed as either good or bad by means of a duet between them and one of the guest artists.

Battle format

The "battle format" is a variation of the original South Korean rules that introduced in Giọng ải giọng ai, when two opposing guest artists eliminate one singer each during the proper game phase, and then remain one singer each to join the final performance. At the end of a game, the following conditions for winning mystery singers chosen by opposing guest artists, depending on the outcome of final performances, if:
For Veo cómo cantas in Mexico, two oppposing contestants must eliminate one mystery singer from an assigned group. At the end of first two or three rounds, the contestant having of a least one or two bad singer eliminations will proceed to the next round.

Players

The game's main element, "mystery singers", are a lineup of selections catered to guest artist that divide into uncertain number of good and bad singers. Actually, the winning mystery singer can perform freely without accompanying guest artist. Aside from that, it also includes civilian or celebrity contestants, taking the role of "eliminators". Some lineup variations include:
  • For a mixed group, if all of mystery singers are good but to include of at least one bad singer, they are reclassified as "bad".
  • The "surprise" entrant, when a mystery singer stands inside an enclosure and remain concealed until its revelation by being eliminated or a final performance by one of the guest artists.

Rewards

Throughout the game, mystery singers, contestants, and to lesser extent guest artists have given rewards such as prize money, trophy, or recording contract. Some commonly used methods include:
  • The eliminated or winning mystery singer, regardless of being good or bad, gets a cash prize. With contestant involved, they get a cash prize if the last remaining mystery singer is good, or to the winning bad singer selected by them.
  • The contestant must eliminate one mystery singer at the end of each round, receiving a petty cash if they eliminate a bad singer. At the end of a game, if the contestant decide to walk away, they will keep the money had won in previous rounds; if they decide to risk for the last remaining mystery singer, they win its main prize if a singer is good, or lose their all winnings if a singer is bad.

Rounds

For its game phase, the mystery singers must examine for legitimacy through different rounds with varying mechanics.

Visual rounds

The guest artist and contestant are given some time to observe and examine each mystery singer based on their appearance.
  • A muted video of each mystery singer that reveals only 0.3 seconds of their singing voice is played as an additional hint.
  • Each mystery singer is given two different identities as a good and bad singer, with one of them is a real identity.

Lip sync rounds

Each mystery singer performs a lip sync to a song; good singers mime to a recording of their own, while bad singers mime to a backing track by another vocalist.
  • Also for the pair and batch variations, the guest artist and contestant eliminate one mystery singer from each group.
  • The mystery singer lip syncs to the good singer's recording, then a bad singer's recording comes in the middle of the performance.

Evidence rounds

Each mystery singer reveals an evidential piece. Good singers have own evidences, while bad singers had their evidences fabricated.
  • The hosts have randomly assigned clues about the mystery singer, and then the guest artist and contestant must choose a clue for each one.
  • The guest artist and contestant are presented with a video package containing possible clues by one of the mystery singers; this includes "house tour", "personal life", or "witness" variations.

Rehearsal rounds

Each mystery singer reveals a pre-show rehearsal piece, but their voices are actually concealed through audio distortion.
  • Three random panelists are wearing headphones to listen to a recording of assigned mystery singer that lasts for a short duration. Afterward, the panelist defends the mystery singer and convince the guest artist and contestant to choose them as the winner.
  • The guest artist and contestant are presented with video from a recording session by one of the mystery singers, but pitch-shifted to obscure their actual vocals.

Interrogation rounds

The guest artist and contestant may ask questions to the remaining mystery singers. Good singers are required to give truthful responses, while the bad singers must lie.
  • Each mystery singer has to confess what kind of identity they have if the singer is bad.

Game variations

The American second season introduced the use of Golden Mic, in which the guest artist and contestant may hear additional clues and observations to mystery singers from celebrity panelist off-stage.
For the third season of Peesh ili luzhesh, the Golden Switch can be used by panelists during the proper game phase to apply one randomly-selected mystery singer as an additional hint; the guest artist could still eliminate that, even if they are revealed as good or bad.

Reception

Legacy

I Can See Your Voice can be preferred as a game show alternative, unlike the existing reality competition programs such as Idol, Rising Star, The Voice, or The X Factor. It also served as a "stepping stone" for participants to perform effortlessly, describing it as the "second coming of National Singing Contest", specifically due to sudden impact on their careers and its contribution to the local music industry. Certain mystery singers such as Hwang Chi-yeul and Samantha Irvin went on to have further successful careers, while others like Lee Sun-bin, Kim Min-kyu, Ninety One, and Black Pearl also performed there, despite having already established their careers earlier.

Concerns and controversies

Plagiarism

According to TV Report, CJ ENM suspected on two Chinese programs, God of Singing by Shenzhen TV and X-Singer by Beijing TV, of plagiarism; they also both implemented on "modified" game mechanics, which are strikingly identical to the original format of I Can See Your Voice without granting permission from the said company. One unnamed employee stated in a phone call that they did not emulate the South Korean program, proving both respective broadcasters had acquired rights to produce local adaptations, likely of Is That Really Your Voice? ; as a follow-up, they would immediately enforce countermeasures to avoid such occurrences. FormatBiz later revealed during an interview by CJ ENM's head of formats Diane Min in June 2020 that there was also a dispute of its own with the latter, in which I Can See Your Voice was accused as being plagiarized from their format.
In a subsequent similar case by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange Berlin correspondent Lee Yu-jin published on the Korea Creative Content Agency in July 2021, CJ ENM had been also suspected on a then-upcoming ProSieben program , citing its comparisons to I Can See Your Voice in terms of format elements, that was noticed on his deleted tweet by Oliver Pocher. The show's production company Brainpool TV and producer Stefan Raab were also concerned of the issue, saying it was an original concept, which is leaning on The Voice-styled competitive approach with singers performing inside a soundproof dome. Later, an RTL Deutschland spokeswoman formally responded in an interview from Focus that both two programs have "good and bad singer" elements, but they were different formats; she had also initially refused to comment about ProSieben's attempt to acquire rights for another South Korean program as it succeeded in The Masked Singer.

Gameplay issues

Guest artists have been also intended to perform along with unsuspected people before proceeding to the actual duet in-game as a "mystery singer", which is considered to be an act of cheating. One such example was occurred in a second season episode of Peesh ili luzhesh on November 24, 2024, when Orlin Goranov committed to remain with good singer Beatris, Judy Halvadjian's daughter, as the winner. However, it was later noticed that they had recently performed together during BNT's Christmas Matinee concert in 2023.
There are some games that have been considerably flawed, such as situating on mystery singers with only one bad singer on their lineup while using the American-modified original format. In a third season episode of Sedato that happened on April 14, 2025, contestant Akhil Royinbagh left empty-handed by eliminating five good singers, leaving with sole bad singer Amir Fadajan as the winner for a duet performance by returning guest artist Amir Mohammed Kamirpour.

Accolades

I Can See Your Voice has been nominated for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment Program at the 44th International Emmy Awards, Best Light Entertainment Program at 2020 Venice TV Awards, and Studio Entertainment Award at 2023 Rose d'Or.

International versions

I Can See Your Voice commenced franchising with a joint agreement by CJ ENM and Chinese broadcaster Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation in June 2015, to acquire the rights for producing its first locally-licensed adaptation. On the other hand, Thailand was the first country to air its own local adaptation, debuting on January 13, 2016. Since then, the ICSYV franchise produced 32 adaptations, airing in 31 countries and territories.
Giọng ải giọng ai is a Vietnamese program technically included as part of the I Can See Your Voice franchise, airing between 2016 and 2020; this also introduced a "battle format", which would later implement to existing ICSYV counterparts. Catch Me If You Can, an unofficial adaptation of its Russian original counterpart Ya vizhu tvoy golos, used the same format, applying to opposing teams of guest artists and mystery singers.

Overview



Pending franchises

Aside from these countries having already adapted, 14 other countries have formally announced their intention to produce local adaptations of I Can See Your Voice:
  • Slovakia and Czech Republic — Slovakia first reported the inclusion by The Korea Economic Daily in December 2018, and then a press release by CJ ENM in March 2019; Czech Republic also followed, as both countries signed a co-deal between CJ ENM and Fremantle in November 2020, with a possibility of having a joint adaptation.
  • Australia and Italy — Both two countries first reported the inclusions through a press release by CJ ENM in December 2019.
  • Poland and Turkey — Both two countries first reported the inclusions by El Español in October 2020.
  • *Poland was one of the countries to have signed a co-deal between CJ ENM and Fremantle in November 2020. Meanwhile, WPtv did also air the American counterpart under its title, Śpiewają, czy udają?.
  • *In Turkey, Acun Medya acquired the rights to produce its own local adaptation, as per dealing with Eccho Rights in April 2021; TV8 is assigned to air under its tentative title, Sesini görebiliyorum.
  • India and Norway — Both two countries signed a co-deal between CJ ENM and Fremantle in November 2020.
  • Greece — According to report by Grigoris Melas of NewsIt on August 20, 2021, Alter Ego Media formally acquired the rights to produce a Greek adaptation, with Silverline Media assigning on production duties; Mega Channel is assigned to air under its tentative title, Boró na do ti foní sou, with as host.
  • Serbia — In September 2021, a then-upcoming formally acquired the rights to produce a lone Serbian adaptation, with Videostroj assigning on production duties. Initially, a multinational adaptation was proposed, but the network's halting of operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia scrapped that plan.
  • Ukraine — In February 2022, a post from Novyi Kanal's official Instagram page announced the auditions for a proposed Ukrainian adaptation of I Can See Your Voice.
  • Colombia — The country first reported the inclusion by iMBC News in February 2023.
  • Japan — The country first reported the inclusion through a press release by CJ ENM in April 2023; Mnet Japan's official website had also a translated title of I Can See Your Voice.
  • Brazil — The country first reported the inclusion by El País in February 2024, as related to then-upcoming Uruguayan adaptation of Veo cómo cantas.