‘Vocaloid’ as a Medium for Blending the Historical and Modern
This essay was written for Prof. Bogucki’s Socioeconomic Influences on the Arts and Literature class (AH156) at Minerva University in October of 2022.
A hologram of a 16-year-old girl, with floor-length turquoise hair in twin ponytails, materializes on stage in front of thousands of eager fans. She greets the audience, introduces her band, then begins to sing songs in a high-pitched, slightly robotic voice while her animated figure dances along. As strange as it sounds, this is Hatsune Miku, mega-popular Japanese virtual pop star. Her name means “the first sound from the future,” and it’s easy to see why (“Hatsune Miku” n.d.).
Hatsune Miku is a Vocaloid, a commercial singing synthesis software developed by Yamaha and Crypton Future Media. Any person who buys the software can create their own songs using Miku’s ‘voice,’ which is actually the voice of a human singer who previously recorded diphone and sustained vowels for the program (Kenmochi 2010, 1). Users can choose the tone, length, intensity, and vibrato of the synthetic voice, even adding pauses for fake breaths, in a process called ‘tuning.’ Depending on the tuning, Vocaloids can sound robotic or barely distinguishable from a human. A person who creates songs using Vocaloid is called a producer, and if their songs become popular enough on sites like Nico Nico Douga or YouTube, they could be chosen to be sung in the next sold-out concert. Hatsune Miku is only one example of a Vocaloid: there are dozens of other voicebanks available, each with its own anime-style avatar created to sell the product.
In this essay, I will use the Hatsune Miku song “Ohedo Julia Night” to explore the Vocaloid art world, demonstrating how the reflexive and postmodern nature of Vocaloid as a medium contributes to its success at modernizing and paying homage to Japanese cultural traditions.
The Vocaloid Art World
A common confusion surrounding Vocaloid is, “Why choose to listen to a synthesized voice instead of a real one?” The answer is that Vocaloid provides, for its listeners and producers, a creative freedom that a real voice cannot. Vocaloid doesn’t require a professional studio, meaning producers can create music on their own time, from their own bedrooms. Vocaloid also solves the issue of humane treatment of pop-stars: unlike Justin Bieber, a virtual diva like Hatsune Miku can play concerts every week without burnout or scandal. Plus, many fans simply enjoy the sound of Vocaloid over traditional singers. Though the original Vocaloids were released in Japanese, Vocaloid has since expanded to English, Chinese, Thai, and numerous other languages (“Hatsune Miku” n.d.). With the release of new Vocaloids each year (and with some users even developing their own Vocaloid software), the medium is constantly evolving. The synthetic voices can be used for any genre, be it pop, dubstep, rock, heavy metal, or R&B.
Vocaloid is a reflexive medium, since its strengths and limitations are sufficiently defined so that producers can comment on them within the medium itself. For example, one Vocaloid song mentions the versatility and open-source nature of Hatsune Miku: “Open secrets / Anyone can find me / Play me, break me, make me feel like Superman / You can do anything you want” (HatsuneMiku 2016). Another song reflects on the idea that Vocaloids are mere machines given ‘consciousness’ by producers: “I know nothing else but 0 and 1 / Yet you taught me about ‘I’” (googoo888 2015b). Producers, then, are keenly aware of the synthetic and ‘inauthentic’ nature of Vocaloid and work around this constraint, exploring its unique musical potential.
Like how DJs synthesize existing records into a new soundscape, Vocaloid is postmodern, allowing producers to use existing voicebanks in novel and cooperative ways. Online video-sharing websites (like Japan’s Nico Nico Douga) allow for massive online collaborations, since videos can be re-purposed without permission from the original creator. A Vocaloid video is posted online, then re-posted with different lyrics, then re-mixed, then commented on, then featured on a weekly ranking video, etc., repeating many times. These series of network interactions lead to a phenomenon called “Nth fanfiction” (Hamasaki, Takeda, and Nishimura 2008; Kenmochi 2010).
There are numerous actors in the Vocaloid art world. Central are the Vocaloid producers who create songs using the synthetic voice (plus other instruments) and post the music online—these producers often are fans themselves, blending the line between artist and consumer. Music videos require illustrators, translators, and animators. Fans interact with producers by streaming and buying their music, re-mixing songs, creating fan art, and purchasing merchandise of the avatars (figurines, shirts, hats, pens, food items, etc.). These fan-producer interactions create positive feedback loops, increasing the volume and popularity of Vocaloid music across different platforms.
There are various companies involved in commercializing Vocaloid, including those creating and marketing the software, those designing and selling merch, and those putting on concerts (including developing hologram technology). Vocaloid has expanded beyond the Japanese market, with Hatsune Miku collaborating with Western musicians such as Lady Gaga, Pharrell Williams, and Ashnikko: these kinds of collaborations necessitate agents and bilingual teams to bring projects to life (Ashnikko 2020; Creators 2014; youthnet 2014). Hatsune Miku even features in SEGA video games and Domino’s pizza ads, which require the cooperation of numerous sectors.
Blending the Historical and Modern
“Ohedo Julia Night” is a song by producer Mitchie M, created as part of Hatsune Miku’s 10th anniversary. It features the synthetic voices of Hatsune Miku and KAITO (stylized in all-caps), a male Vocaloid with dark-blue hair and a characteristic scarf. The music video is 2D-illustrated with minor animations. The video was published to YouTube on September 1, 2017 and became massively popular, amassing more than 13 million views (Mitchie M 2017). The song has since been featured in several holographic concerts (MikuConcerts 2020).
“Ohedo Julia Night” is rich for analysis since its lyrics and video blend two historical periods in Japan—the Genroku bubble during the Edo period in the 1690s, and the Heisei bubble of the 1990s. This is shown quite literally 26 seconds in, with a text pop-up that says ‘1990s’ flipping around to show ‘1690s.’
“Ohedo” is an elegant term used to describe the expansion and prosperity of the town of Edo (present-day Tokyo). The Edo period in Japan was a peaceful time under the military regime of the Tokugawa shogunate, leading to rapid urbanization and a flourishing of poetry, fiction, theater, and intellectual life. The demand increased for luxury items and drug foods like sake and tobacco (Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais 2008, 286). There are two pleasure zones associated with the Genroku era from 1688 to 1704: the brothel district and the Kabuki theaters. These constituted the “floating world” (ukiyo), celebrated in woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) of courtesans and actors (see Fig. 1), along with pornography. However, the shogunate debased the quality of coins in circulation as a strategy for financing the appearance of continuing Genroku prosperity. This led to abrupt inflation and an economic bubble, which required later reforms to address (Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais 2008, 287).
From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s (the Heisei period), Japan again experienced massive inflation. Real estate and stock prices skyrocketed, leading to a “bubble economy” (Wood 1992, 2). Because of consumers’ over-spending, Tokyo’s nightlife boomed for a short time. A popular discotheque, Juliana’s, was a magnet for salaried men and women in their 20s (see Fig. 2). The men would wear office suits and watch while the women, dressed in snug-fitting bodycon dresses, high heels, feather boas and fans, danced on raised platforms in a “battlefield of video screens, lasers and pumped-in fog” (Sterngold 1992).
Tokyo’s famous discotheque Juliana’s, early 1990s.
“Ohedo Julia Night” is aptly named both for the Edo period and for Juliana’s, serving as a historical comparison between the two bubble periods. The song itself is fast-paced techno, reminiscent of 90s EDM, with the inclusion of traditional Japanese wagakki instruments. This historical juxtaposition is furthered with Miku and KAITO’s outfits. Miku wears an Edo-period kimono with long sleeve pouches, a traditional han-eri collar, and an obi sash cinched at the waist. On her feet, she wears geta elevated clogs (Shiozaki 2017). However, her outfit is modernized and sexy: the kimono is bright pink and blue, tight-fitting, and features a miniskirt and thigh-high stockings (see Fig. 3). KAITO, too, dons traditional dress with a modern twist: the ends of his scarf are ornate tassels, and the three stripes along his sleeves are reminiscent of Adidas. The characters in “Ohedo Julia Night” dance and sing in front of a palace-turned-nightclub, a mix of traditional Japanese architecture and giant disco balls. Hatsune Miku provides the higher-pitched melody, while KAITO’s lower register provides one-liners and a rap during the song’s bridge.
Hatsune Miku’s outfit in “Ohedo Julia Night.” Her modernized kimono takes inspiration from the dress of both the Edo period and the 1990s.
The music video’s 2D animations appeal to lovers of the Japanese animation style of anime and give the historical comparison a light-hearted, cartoonish feel. The use of predominantly blue, pink, and purple in the video aligns with the coloring of Hatsune Miku and KAITO’s avatars. Bright yellow is sparingly used to display gold/riches, thus drawing the viewer’s eye. This helps express the abundance and importance of wealth in the bubble era, such as 0:42, when the characters literally swim in a sea of gold. The video editing is fast-paced and synced to the techno beat, keeping the viewer entertained. It also works to enhance the video’s humor. For example, at 1:45, Miku is shown wearing a long, flowing kimono, looking very feminine. At the beat drop, the video immediately switches to Miku wearing a men’s white suit, while KAITO next to her prances in a pink dress. This gender role-reversal is comedic since the editing made the contrast so clear.
“Ohedo Julia Night” succeeds in appropriating old symbols and combining them with new ones—there are several references throughout the song to both Edo- and Heisei-period themes and objects. The song features sound effects common in Edo-period Kabuki theater, including the consistent use of tsuzumi, a drumlike instrument that makes a “pon!” sound, and the “yoo~ooh” calls at 0:02 and 3:37, which announce a character’s entrance or exit (Brandon, Malm, and Shively 1978). The lyrics from 0:33-0:58 refer explicitly to the Genroku bubble and its extravagance: “The time is Genroku, the bubbly world / Gonna spend the money like water / Feeling high of upturn” (“Ohedo Julia-Night” 2017). At 1:17, Hatsune Miku sings, “T99 rocking the floor” while KAITO adds, “Anastasia,” referring to the 1991 techno hit “Anasthasia” by T99 (DeejaayMrEd 2012).
The references to the Edo period, widely considered to be Japan’s “golden age,” may appeal to the viewer base’s nationalistic tendencies. Similarly, the 90s EDM and references to Juliana’s touch on nostalgia—it is probable that the costumes, music, and objects depicted in the video remind some viewers of their own youthful endeavors. At 2:18, Hatsune Miku sings, “TR-909 on the drums,” and KAITO adds, “Not 808,” referring to the massively-influential Roland drum machines: the earlier TR-808 was dominant in rap and hip-hop, while the TR-909, which debuted in 1983, left a lasting mark on EDM music styles like techno, house, acid, and industrial, all played at Juliana’s (“TR-909: Software Rhythm Composer” n.d.). At 2:40, the song enters a bridge as KAITO begins to rap. His bars mention Matsuo Basho, famous haiku poet of the Genroku period. When Hatsune Miku asks KAITO for a 5-7-5 haiku in the style of Basho, KAITO recites, “Natsu shiba ya / bodekon domo ga / yume no ato,” which translates to, “Bodycon girls on the summer lawn, all in the dream.” This lyric uniquely combines Edo-style poetry with the sexually-liberated costumes of Tokyo’s nightclubs.
Right after the rap, the music pauses. A man begins beating a taiko drum, slowly increasing tempo while two figures playing traditional instruments join in. The camera pans up to Miku and KAITO on a platform in front of a massive disco ball (not unlike the platforms at Juliana’s). The drum sound becomes faster and faster before dissolving into a high-pitched electronic noise, creating suspense: this follows the Kabuki style of uchiage, a continuous beating which increases in volume and tempo until it thunders through the theater (Brandon, Malm, and Shively 1978, 109). An image of a rooster appears, in a style reminiscent of ukiyo-e: a loose comparison could be made to Utagawa Hiroshige’s woodblock print The Plum Garden in Kameido (see Fig. 1) with its flowering branches, ombre coloring, and sparse shading. Immediately after, the music resumes with Hatsune Miku singing the chorus, “Ohedo Julia Night, the legendary dance site.” This entire scene, though it lasts only ten seconds (from 2:57-3:07), does an exceptional job at bridging the Edo and Heisei historical periods through its juxtaposed display of instruments, costumes, and art styles.
Examples of Edo-period ukiyo-e woodblock prints: Ukagawa Toyokini’s Two Women Dancing and Utagawa Hiroshige’s The Plum Garden in Kameido.
“Ohedo Julia Night” is only one example of Vocaloid being used as a medium for historical hybridization. The massive Vocaloid hit “Senbonzakura” (lit. ‘One Thousand Cherry Trees’) is a Hatsune Miku song produced by Kurousa-P, released in 2011. It quickly went viral, accumulating over 46 million views on YouTube (googoo888 2015a). Its lyrics reference the westernization of Japan and the transitional imperialistic Taishō era, and the music video features Miku in a modernized military-esque uniform. There have been numerous covers of the song (an example of “Nth fanfiction”), including one by American dubstep violinist Lindsay Sterling (Lindsey Stirling 2015). Along with historical references, some Vocaloid songs take modern spins on Japanese legends, such as “Feathers Across the Seasons” that references the folk tale The Grateful Crane (“Shikiori No Hane” n.d.).
Vocaloid songs and music videos like “Ohedo Julia Night” and “Senbonzakura” pay homage to Japanese cultural traditions, showcasing historical musical techniques and instruments, clothing, architecture, artwork, and symbols alongside more modern ones. The distinctive style of anime has arguably become a new Japanese cultural tradition, having become associated with Japan’s global cultural influence: thus, the anime style of the songs blend both past and present traditions. It is in this historical “re-mixing” that the unique medium of Vocaloid shines: its reflexive and postmodern nature allow it to hybridize historical themes seamlessly, even humorously. Beyond just the synthetic voice technology (which is a patchwork of its own), the larger Vocaloid community and art world represents artistic compounding on a national and global scale. It is only fitting that such a modern, dynamic medium tackles historical subjects in a fresh and nuanced way. The massive success of music like “Ohedo Julia Night” reflects a fascination among the Vocaloid fanbase with Japanese cultural traditions, and a desire for their rejuvenation.
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