Ride the Wind 2026 乘风破浪7, set to premiere on April 3, is now on its seventh season. To shake things up, the Chinese reality show will be introducing a new format. For the first time in the show’s history, performances will be delivered in a fully live format, without autotune, editing, or delay. This means that any mistakes will be exposed in real time, raising the pressure on contestants as elimination is expected to begin even on their initial stage.
Out of the 33 contestants, more than half come from acting backgrounds, including Li Xiaoran, Tang Yixin, Zhang Yishang, Huang Cancan, Chen Yao, Zhang Huiwen, Sun Yi, Kan Qingzi, Dai Si, He Xuanlin, Grace Chan, and Tao Xinran. With fewer than ten singers, such as Christine Fan, Ulan Tuya, Pets Tseng, Angelica Lee, C-pop idols Xu Mengjie and An Qi, even the stars themselves have expressed their worries. Li Xiaoran admitted that acting is her comfort zone while Winter Olympic champion Wang Meng humorously described her singing and dancing abilities as “problematic.” Meanwhile, Christine Fan has faced a lot of criticism over her performance on Singer 2025 last year.
Other stars joining include Vietnamese actress Trang Pháp while Taiwanese singer-actress Stephanie Hsiao (Xiao Qiang), at 57, is the oldest contestant this season. She previously revealed that she had been invited multiple times in the past, that money didn’t matter, and that she believes, “if it’s meant to happen, it will happen,” and it looks like now is the time.
