Stars Academy is a Hong Kong singing competition television series to find young singing talents. The second season, also known as Stars Academy 2, premiered on 11 June 2022 and concluded on 2 October 2022, spanning 15 episodes. The competition followed a similar structure to the previous season, with individual and group performances and eliminations based on scores. Eric Kwok and Hanjin Tan served as coaching supervisors, alongside a team of coaches consisting of Vincy Chan, JW, Eman Lam, Phil Lam, Gin Lee, and Alan Po. Jasmine Yam was announced as the winner on 2 October 2022. Throughout the competition, Yam gained notable popularity, securing the top position on the audience popularity list for nine weeks. A post-competition live concert titled Prom Night was held on 1 November 2022 featured performances by most contestants, with a special appearance by Eric Kwok.
In July 2021, TVB initiated the audition process for the second season. Out of 1,000 applicants from both local and overseas, 23 contestants were selected, including 17 individuals and a 6-membered girl group. The members of the girl group, XiX, was initially introduced to the public through the youth talent singing show Stars Academy Juniors (2022). Investment of approximately 3,000 hours of training, including singing, dancing, nutrition, and make-up classes, was made, with a cost estimated at HKD $2 million per contestant. From April to June 2022, promotional activities for the show commenced, introducing the season's theme, "Surpass Myself". A music video and theme song with the same title were released. Its writing team included several contestants from the previous seasonâÂÂAska Cheung, Archie Sin, Kaitlyn Lam, and Rock HoâÂÂcarrying the message of "passing the fire to the next generation".
The show retained Johnny Yim as the music director, and Sunny Wong served as the dance director. The set design was inspired by the Hong Kong Coliseum, featuring a 4-sided stage with motorised moving platforms and 5D hologram technology. The season premiered on 11 June, with the finale taking place on 2 October 2022. In addition to the Hong Kong region, TVB extended auditions and held smaller-scale singing competition shows in Malaysia and Australia. The winners from these shows eventually competed in Hong Kong against the winners from the domestic region in a friendly match. The match was featured in a two-special-episode spinoff programme titled Stars Academy 2 Kick-off Match, which concluded the Stars Academy 2 franchise in its entirety with its last airing date on 12 November 2022. The winner, Jasmine Yam, performed a live rendition of her tailor-made song "Breath Away", written by the season's coaching supervisors, Eric Kwok and Hanjin Tan, during this programme.
The second season of the competition maintained the same basic structure as the previous one, but with some modifications. Like before, the competition consisted of multiple rounds, and apart from the live finale, the majority of the show was pre-recorded. Each round was typically broadcast within one, two, or three episodes. A panel of 25 professional music judges was also assembled for each round. Eric Kwok and Hanjin Tan, previously judges in the first season, were invited to become coaching supervisors for the second season.
The season began with Episode 1, introducing the contestants to the audience. In Episode 2, the contestants performed in groups of three or four, with the coaches selecting and forming their individual teams. For any contestants who faced the possibility of elimination after not being chosen, a second chance was given to showcase their talent individually. In Episodes 3âÂÂ5, the contestants were divided into three groups of six. Each coach sent one of their contestants to compete in each group. Following the performances, three contestants who received the lowest score in each group were eliminated.
The remaining fifteen contestants were divided into two teams and competed against each other in the subsequent three rounds (Episodes 6âÂÂ12). Under the leadership of Eric Kwok, the groups formed by Vincy Chan, Phil Lam, and Gin Lee composed the Red team. Hanjin Tan led the groups consisting of JW, Eman Lam, and Alan Po, forming the Blue team. Competing for a total cumulative score, the coaches of the losing team would disqualify one or two contestants according to the guidelines established for each round. In Episodes 6âÂÂ8, the teams engaged in individual head-to-head battles. In Episodes 9âÂÂ10, a concert-mode battle format was adopted, where both teams presented five sets of performances resembling those seen at a typical concert, including opening acts and encores. In Episodes 11âÂÂ12, each contestant performed in pairs, either with a coach or another contestant from the same or opposite team.
Episodes 13âÂÂ14 marked the return to individual competition for the top ten contestants, as they competed one-on-one for placement in the top five. The season finale, held on 2 October 2022 in Episode 15, utilized a scoring system that weighed both the judges' scores and audience votes equally. After the top five finalists performed, Jasmine Yam and Janees Wong emerged as the top two and faced off in a final round. Jasmine Yam ultimately claimed the winning title, earning a prize of HKD $100,000. Janees Wong placed as runner-up, with a prize of HKD $50,000, while Sabrina Chiu became the second runner up and received a prize of HKD $30,000.
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Besides the final audience vote, which contributed directly to the finale score, the show also kept track of viewers' favorites through a weekly online popularity list. Throughout the season, Jasmine Yam dominated the list, securing the top spot for nine consecutive weeks and solidifying her status as one of the most popular contestants. Among the most viewed on YouTube, Sabrina Chiu's performances took the lead, with Jasmine Yam closely following in second place. Notably, Yam's rendition of Sandy Lam's "Crazy" (), performed during the finale, stood out as the only performance to trend at the number one spot on YouTube's local Hot Trending list. The finale reached its peak viewership with 1.16 million viewers.
Prom Night was a live concert showcasing all the contestants, with the exception of Maggie Chiu and Nicole Siu, who were absent due to their personal reasons. The event took place on 1 November 2022, at MacPherson Stadium. The setlist primarily consisted of songs previously performed by the contestants during the singing competition. As a special addition, Eric Kwok made a guest appearance as a performer.
In May 2023, Aster Lau left the girl group XiX to pursue a solo career under All About Music. The remaining five members of XiX signed a record deal with Universal Music Hong Kong and made their official debut in September 2023. In May 2025, Janees Wong released her first single "Work of Art" (æÂÂÃ¥ÂÂé½æ¯èÂÂè¡ÂÃ¥ÂÂ) under All About Music.