Hikari makes soft-power moves with anime and Vocaloid covers
In 2021, the performer launched Singing Cosplayer Hikari, a multiplatform project anchored by her YouTube channel, to harness the booming popularity of anime and Japanese music.
Ado's defiant hit is a coming-of-age moment for Japan's Vocaloid culture
Ado caused a moral panic in Japan with her catchy and rebellious track "Usseewa," a track influenced by the cultural conventions of Vocaloid that are taking Japanese music by storm.
Sing on key with Yamaha This December Yamaha is finally releasing to the public something that vocaloid fans have been waiting for: the Vocaloid Keyboard. Designed as a keytar, the Vocaloid Keyboard allows musicians to play singing voices, including that of the turquoise-haired character Hatsune ...
Animated pop star Hatsune Miku is only 10, but she has had a huge impact on music
People rarely geek out over the 10-year anniversary of a specific instrument, but Hatsune Miku isn't your usual music store purchase. The aqua-haired singer serves as the most famous avatar for Crypton Future Media's line of Vocaloid singing-synthesizer software, a program developed by Yamaha that ...
Sharp's singing vacuum aims to tug users' heart strings
The Sharp Corp. robot vacuum cleaner on display at the ongoing CEATEC trade show is no mere machine. Dubbed Cocorobo, it collaborates with a singing voice synthesizer software called Vocaloid and can hold simple conversations and even sing to people. The Osaka-based firm has been gearing ...
Hatsune Miku: the 'nonexistent' pop star
My 2015 kicked off with a January concert by Hatsune Miku, Japan's digital pop star, in Las Vegas. It is winding down with a visit to Miku's creator, Hiroyuki Itoh, at his company's head office in Sapporo, Hokkaido. I've long learned to temper my skepticism ...
Virtual pop idol Hatsune Miku performs first 'live' show in China
Japanese virtual pop sensation Hatsune Miku has toured the world, performing "live" on stages from Singapore to Los Angeles and even opening for Lady Gaga. But despite legions of adoring fans and worldwide recognition, the computer-generated star, who made her first concert appearance overseas in ...
Taking vocal software beyond Miku
Tokyo-based electronic musician mus.hiba has worked with a handful of vocalists during his short stint as a producer. However, many of them haven't been human. His go-to voice belongs to Sekka Yufu, who boasts a light delivery that fits with mus.hiba's slowly unwinding swirl of ...
Composer Shibuya tests limits of music
One November evening in Paris, Theatre du Chatelet was packed with people who came to see the French premiere of a new opera by a Japanese composer. But it was nothing like opera as we know it. Instead of an orchestra and singers performing the familiar ...
Roppongi Hills gets love on its 10th anniversary
Roppongi Hills was unlike anything Tokyo had ever seen before. Until it opened 10 years ago, Roppongi was more often seen as a "High Touch Town," where businessmen partied with foreign hostesses and off-duty soldiers packed the nightclubs.
On her own, Japanese pop superstar Hatsune Miku can't sing. Nor can she rap, dance or DJ. She is drug- and alcohol-free because she can't indulge in either, and she can't have affairs or engage in offstage shenanigans fit for YouTube scandals or tabloid ...
