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Japan's Latest Rockstar Is a 3D Hologram
kkleiner writes "Hatsune Miku is a Japanese pop diva who's just started to play massive stadium concerts to sold out crowds. Her hair is blue, she dresses like Sailor Moon, and she'll only appear in concerts via a 3D 'hologram.' Oh, and did I forget to mention that she's completely fictional? Created by Crypton Future Media, Hatsune Miku and her virtual colleagues have gone on limited tours in Japan."
Erm... yes, that's great and all. Except Hatsune Miku has been around since 2007, and versons of the the Vocaloid software that powers "her" has been around a good bit longer (since 2004 or so, I think). I'm pretty sure I heard reference to special-effects-heavy concerts more than a year ago.
The software can be used, with a lot of practice, to do reasonably convincing versions of Japanese language songs. Attempts to use the Hatsune Miku vocaloid to do anything in English are usually hilariously awful. Fans of the game portal may be amused to note this rendition of the game's famous closing song... erm... Steal A Lamp.
In fairness, there are Vocaloids which can handle English much better, but this story seemed to be specifically about Hatsune Miku.
Really? What stadium?
I mean just a little reality check here. ... that would be "I heard of her" not "oh my god she's so popular..ponies..". Sheesh.
1. "She" isn't, and has never been in any of the top music 50 charts in Japan.
2. I just asked around, nobody in my office has ever heard of this. (My Japanese office... full of IT workers...). Maybe someone who:s not here has heard of her, but
For J-Pop, Perfume (and that stupid ABK group) are popular right now. Utada Hiraru and Amuro Namie continue to release hits and refuse to go out of style. There are a lot of others, but nobody (Except perhaps extreme nerds who specialize in that kind of stuff) knows who Hatsune Miku is.
Only online can stuff be blown so out of proportion by people who don't even live here.
So Sharon Apple in Macross Plus was a hologram. She was an experimental AI but her emotions were provided by a human. Eventually she fell in love and gained her own emotions, and then tried to try to kill everyone after hacking into every military computer on the planet...
what was my point......OH YEAH...dont trust singing Japanese holograms.
they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
macross plus predates simone by about 10 years...sorry bro
they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
William Gibson's Idoru too, back in '96. I don't think the idea of having entirely synthetic pop-idols is that new...
Pop idols have a huge tendency to disappoint their fans with their human behavior and accompanying personality deficiencies. Lo and behold, they're not actually idols. I can see the appeal in having a digital, holographic entity to fawn over. She'll never let the fan down with any scandalous behavior, she'll always have a perfect voice, and she'll never age.
On the other hand, it's not really that different from Gorillaz.
I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
Music is entertainment. If we can feel for an trash compacter or a deer, then why not for an animated human being? Not real? TV/Movies ain't real. Every pop-star opens a concert with "I am so happy to be here, you [insert locale here] are the greatest". Can't be true so the sentiment is false, fake, a performance.
Is the best singer selected, or the one with the prettiest face. Sometimes the producers get lucky and get both and then she turns into a publishity disaster because she can't keep mouth shut or her legs closed.
Remember "My fair lady"? You can clearly hear that the singing is dubbed over. But it works because Hepburn is pretty and acts the part out well but can't sing. Well, not good enough. We all were so happy for Susan Boyle, but lets face it, the reaction initially is what keeps any producer from attempting this for real with an unknown. Do not like it? Then change human nature. Even opera stars got to look the part these days. Used to be fat old women singing the parts of beautiful young girls and nobody cared if it was the bearded lady as long as she had shaved recently.
So, these producers got the perfect star. She won't cause a sex scandal, won't get sick, won't refuse to sign a new contract, can perform in two places at the same time, doesn't need rest, won't forget her underwear unless scripted etc etc.
Yes, some of you may hate the fakeness and prefer "real", but as said, what is real? Most music gets polished before release and is written to be sold. So the artists writes what he thinks will sell. Only a tiny handful produce music absolutely only because they want to with not a single thought for the audience. And even if that audience is a non-paying one, pandering for regonizition makes the product just as "fake". That is why so many people complain about the Tate. Why does every piece of non-commerical art have to to be so bloody big? Status? If you produce art for the status, you are no different then when you make something for the mass market.
If you do not like this type of music, don't listen to it. There will be other types produced, so why begrudge those that like this their own music? It is still written, still performed, still sung. What is fake about it? I think a lot of people are upset because they can see the mechanism in the Turk they thought was real. All pop music is fake, this one is just a bit more obvious about it.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Sharon Apple for the win. Information High
Megazone 23 (1985) has that beat by about 10 years. The character of Eve Tokimatsuri is a computer-generated popular singer.
Himitsu Kudasai - Megazone 23, Part II
I find the concept of a holographic band to be outrageous. Truly, truly, truly, outrageous.
Actually, this article is horrible, and totally fails to describe what the whole Hatsune Miku phenomenon is actually about. It's not simply about a fictional singer, like Gorillaz.
What it is is a piece of software, with a fictional character attached to it. Crypton made the software, and the character, but they don't do anything else. The rest is up to the users. People use the software and make the songs. People also carry the character forward. The whole thing is extremely decentralized. There's nobody who says what Hatsune Miku can or can not do, it's up to whoever is creative enough to put the software to use.
This 3D-effect concert is just a gimmick. Sega bought up the rights for many popular Vocaloid songs, and produced a rhythm game out of them. They also used them to create these concerts.
This is all fascinating for the way it completely turns the usual pop music production model on its head, not because of a 3D model.
Hatsune Miku can do English songs fairly well if the people using her are smart enough, some of them are fairly listenable. As she only sings Japanese syllables she's always going to have a bit of a Japanese accent. Here's a sample of some of the better done ones, some:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HATpOha7DFg - Heaven is a place on Earth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaSZ0siQjXA - Never ending story (duet with an english vocaloid)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6m2NzdN7o0 - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)