Do you ever think back to the entertainment of your youth, to the wild and fantastic ideas that sprouted from the minds of its creators, and realise the future they foretold has become a startling possibility thanks to the modern technological revolution?
I’ve got news for you: it’s not just a possibility. It’s a reality, and it has been for some time.
Case in point, holographic pop star Hatsune Miku.
Miku’s name translates into English as ‘The first sound from the future’, signifying her position as the first virtual idol from Japanese developer Crypton Future Media. The character made her first live appearances at the 2009 Animelo Summer festival, and has since toured internationally.
Though Miku is set to complete her headlining tour of North America and Mexico in the first week of June, 2016, you may be surprised to learn it doesn’t mark the first time she’s made an appearance in the region. In fact, Miku was the opening act for Lady Gaga’s The Artpop Ball in 2014, before going on to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman.
It feels strange to write about Hatsune Miku as if she is a real person, especially considering her origins.
Rather than the digital performer she is today, Miku was initially designed as a singing synthesiser application based on Yamaha’s Vocaloid technology.
Based on voice samples provided by voice actress Saki Fujita, Miku’s software has been sold over 60,000 times, resulting in 100,000+ songs created by a range of musicians. These include Pharrell Williams, who featured her in his remix of Last Night, Good Night, and Supercell, a Japanese producer who uses Miku as the vocal artist on all his songs. One of these songs, World is Mine, reached #7 on iTunes’ Top 10 singles in the world upon release in 2011.
Miku’s popularity isn’t limited to music either. In 2012, it was estimated that sales of all Miku branded merchandise had brought in over 10 billion yen in revenue over five years. She has her own manga series, Maker Hikoshiki Hatsune Mix, and is a playable character in a range of Japanese video games.
In March of 2014, Miku sung in real-time alongside the band Bump of Chicken for their music video, Ray. This was made possible by incorporating motion tracking into Miku’s programming, allowing her to react to camera movement.
While Hatsune Miku might seem like something only exists because someone realised it was possible for it to exist, the program has proved itself incredibly helpful in allowing musicians to retain control of the creation of their music without having to worry about the cost or reliability of a real-world vocalist.
The latest version of Miku features the option for English vocals, but the language’s definite syllables makes it less effective than the fluid linking that Japanese allows for. As such, Miku and her virtual-colleagues aren’t currently fronting many English bands, but if there’s one thing we’ve learnt, it’s that we should expect that to be happening some time very soon.