Originally broadcast as
Immortal Songs 2 as a part of KBS
Saturday Freedom, each episode featured six
idol singers who would perform songs by the singer of the episode. After restructuring in 2012, the show returned on April 7 as an independent program and rebranded as
Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend. Each episode now features seven singers or groups from diverse backgrounds and years of experience, ranging from members of popular K-pop idol groups to legendary solo artists. As before, they each perform their own reinterpreted versions of famous songs by the legendary singer of the episode. A noted feature of the new format is the "special episodes" which revolve around specific themes, such as festive or commemorate events. Guest singers are seated in a waiting room with the three hosts, where they introduce themselves to viewers. The order of performances is decided randomly by presenter Shin Dong-yup drawing a ball containing the performer's name, and the 500-member audience vote after each round for their favorite performance. The performer with the most votes on the episode wins. Starting February 15, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the votes were done by 20 special judges (mostly KBS employees). They scored the artist, but the score was not shown on screen and instead a light was used to indicate the winner. Starting August 22, 2020, the show was re-branded as
Immortal Songs. Moon Hee-joon & Jung Jae-hyung both left the program after being part of it for 9 & 8 years respectively and it was announced that Kim Jun-hyun and Kim Shin-young would be replacing them. The show's third waiting room host, Kim Tae-woo, left in June 2021 after 3 years. He was replaced by trot singer Shin Yu in July 2021 but he left the show in October and was replaced by a series of guest hosts (see below). Kim Shin-young also left the show in November and Lee Chan-won was named as a permanent host on November 20, 2021. On November 4, 2021, KBS announced that it will reopen their music shows to a live audience for the first time since January 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Immortal Songs began taping episodes with a reduced live audience in late November and episode 536 was the first episode to air with an audience on December 11, 2021, with the light system remaining as the method to indicate a winner. Crossover quartet
Forestella holds the unique record of most consecutive wins on the
King of Kings special in the show's history, with 6 overall wins. They also had 28 consecutive matches with no losses in their 1st selection round. They are also the group with more trophies in the show, with 14 victories total in the general count sharing the top three with solo singers Jung Dong-Ha and Ali. == Cast ==