The seventeenth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar began on 4 January 2020 on RTL. As in the previous year, the jury consisted of Dieter Bohlen, Oana Nechiti, Xavier Naidoo and Pietro Lombardi; before the live shows began, Xavier Naidoo was excluded from the jury, his place took Florian Silbereisen. Alexander Klaws was the new host. The season ended on 4 April 2020 with Ramon Roselly as the winner, after having received 80.82% percent from the public.
After 12 casting episodes, recorded on the Drachenfels, on Forggensee and on the Hanse Gate Hamburg, the 126 progressed candidates went to the "Recall" in Sölden. They initially appeared in larger groups, and amongst those who progressed thereafter in groups of two, three, or four. 22 of them - plus the four winners of the Golden CDs - received a ticket to South Africa. There, they were supported by the vocal coaches Juliette Schoppmann and André Franke. The remaining 11 candidates competed in an additional Recall in the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord for the Top 7 in the live shows. Groups of men and women sang in groups of two or three, after which the jury sent four participants on to the live shows. The remaining seven superstar aspirants had to perform solo performances, which led to the decision for the remaining three places. For the first time in the history of the show, there were only 7 contestants performing on the live shows.
For the first time, the remaining three jurors each have a CD, on which they can give their live show candidate their 5% voting right.
In the semi-final, the top 5 performed two single songs: a "loud" and a "quiet" song.