Good timing and an impeccable character design all played into Hatsune Miku's legendary status. Back in , the otaku culture taking off stateside, so Hatsune Miku's unique branding appealed to a community looking for content like her. The pigtailed vocaloid dominated the market with her kawaii appearance and drew in fans who were starved for anime-related content.
Video-streaming sites like Nico Nico Douga and YouTube were still in their infancy, meaning they were open to all sorts of content. At the time there wasn't such a level of content oversaturation nor did they. There was something irresistible about the idea of a pretty, virtual idol who sang and danced flawlessly. Besides the lucky timing, Hatsune Miku's cute character design was a huge part of her popularity. Her appearance was simple yet charming with her turquoise color and iconic twin pigtails.
Things you buy through our links may earn New York a commission. She has opened for Lady Gaga, collaborated with Pharrell, and sung more than , songs, dabbling quite literally in every genre imaginable.
But both of these are the kind of misnomers that are liable to send her legions of die-hard fans — and there are 2. She is, depending on whom you ask, a harbinger of a radically collaborative future in pop music or a holographic horsewoman of the apocalypse. Modern Vocaloid technology dates back to , when development for commercial use began, although in its early days it was still a niche concern appealing only to music producers and software engineers.
Then a Sapporo, Japan—based music-software company with a name straight out of a William Gibson novel, Crypton Future Media, had an idea: What if you could market Vocaloid to a mass audience?
In it released its first Vocaloid voice-in-a-box: Meiko, a brunette pixie in a red pleather two-piece; in came Kaito, a brooding, blue-haired misterioso in a long white trench.
Her voice bank was recorded by the anime actress Saki Fujita. She was an instant star. Miku had perfect timing, hitting just as social media was beginning to democratize music production and distribution. The response was so overwhelming that within three months of her release, Crypton created Piapro. Of course Miku has a publicist — seven years after her release, she is now a full-fledged global phenomenon.
Vocaloid is a term mostly used to describe singing synthesizers that are used in the Vocaloid software. Back on topic, Hatsune Miku is one of the most popular Vocaloids out there, if not the most popular, and has been used in the production of a large number of Vocaloid songs in all sorts of different genres. She has even been used to promote certain brands including Family Mart and Honda.
You know, that one crowd of Vocaloids that tend to stand out and were released by Crypton Future Media, Inc. Not familiar? Well, let me introduce you to them. Miku's virtual status has allowed her to easily move into forms of media often ignored by real-world idols. In , Sega began releasing Project Diva , a music game series starring not only Miku but a large collection of other Vocaloid characters as well.
There are currently six games in the series with a seventh planned for later this month. Hatsune Miku has come a long way since her humble roots as a piece of composing software. While not originally intended to be anything like what she has become, a mixture of luck, fan creativity, and corporate support have turned her into the world's most popular virtual idol. The story of her evolution is an interesting one. But now we are left with the question, is Hatsune Miku a one-of-a-kind success story, or has she opened the flood gates for a music industry full of virtual idols?
Only time will tell. I just got done with a summer session in Japan a few days ago. In one of my classes a guy gave a presentation on Hatsune Miku and showed a few videos of her hologram concerts. I had heard she was popular, but I thought it was an isolated group of diehard fans.
So when I saw people from around the world completely losing their shit for a hologram of an anime girl it felt like I was having an existential crisis. I don't understand why she's so popular.
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