![]() While watching the show, it was difficult to discern if the spectacle was a total gimmick or offered a visionary glimpse into the future-perfect.Ī high-wattage projector glowed from behind the screen, delivering vocaloids onto the stage, and fading them away after each song. It also featured five of Miku’s lesser-known vocaloid counterparts - all owned by Sapporo, Japan-based firm Crypton Future Media. The “expo,” as organizers call it, unfolded on a wide frosted screen mounted onstage. Said fashion model and photograher Marcel Castenmiller, an avid Japanophile: “So many of these people, like myself, spend a lot of time inside playing video games and it’s good for them to get out and meet other people.” The idea is to build a community around songs that are fan-made.” “We are all here to see her, but she doesn’t exist. ![]() Dressed in neon pink platform boots and an iridescent biker jacket, she declared the Hatsune Miku phenomenon as, “Clap if you believe. They sang along nonetheless.Īmong them was Lily, an 18-year-old from New Jersey who coordinates social media for a medical marijuana firm. While Miku’s entire two-hour act is performed in Japanese without subtitles, the majority of fans surveyed by WWD didn’t speak the language, or had ever traveled to Japan. Most ranged in age from their mid-teens to early 30s, and wore Cosplay ensembles or outfits emulating early-Aughts Harajuku attire. In the hours before each show, fans queued for an entire block’s stretch of 34 th Street, snaking well down Ninth Avenue. Like a human pop star, Miku’s saccharine radio edits take on a rawer edge when seen in the pixelated flesh. She was accompanied onstage by four professional musicians, who lend a rockish grit to what is otherwise a surreal experience. Miku landed in New York on Saturday to play two sold-out shows that drew a combined audience of nearly 7,000. is the manifestation of a whole community rather than just one person’s work,” she added. For the most part you don’t know what they look like or who they are - anyone can do it. “All the songs playing are made by normal people who bought the software and got famous online because they’re talented. I’m a tech fan so I feel like I’m seeing what’s going to be new for the future,” said Eunice, an 18-year-old student from Flushing, Queens, who asked that her surname not be used. “I like the idea that it’s a hologram and a lot of people judge you for the fact that it’s not a real person - but I feel like that’s the coolest part. While Miku’s persona - a 16-year-old school girl arbitrarily measuring just over 5 feet and weighing 93 pounds - is entirely made up, fans treat her with the same ardor they would a human act. RELATED STORY: They Are Wearing: Hatsune Miku’s New York Concert > Earlier this month, Riccardo Tisci gave the vocaloid a sartorial makeover in his gothic haute couture. In 2013, Marc Jacobs was named as the digital wardrobe designer for her virtual opera tour, “The End.” Jacobs clothed Miku in a monochromatic checkered outfit inspired by designs from his spring 2013 collection for Louis Vuitton. In addition to techies and futurists, Miku has spurred interest from the fashion world as well. ![]() Miku’s albums are sold as compilations and credit the online username of each song’s creator as its track artist.Ĭhristian Siriano Teams Up With Bombay Sapphire Gin for Holiday Hosting Should a track take off within Miku’s active Internet community, the song can become part of her onstage act. Her voice is computer-generated and her song catalogue is entirely the creation of everyday people - a phenomenon known as “vocaloid.” For about $200, aspiring producers can purchase software loaded with Hatsune Miku proprietary voices - the only method used to compose her songs. Miku’s only human quotient is the community of fans who conceive her. Rather, the hysteria was directed at Hatsune Miku - a hologram pop star from Japan touring North America. But such entrancement wasn’t aimed at a human performer. The performer’s buoyant teal pigtails, pleated miniskirt and coy lyrics drew amorous howls. NEW YORK - At Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday, the day’s headliner coquettishly shimmied across the stage - sending the audience into frenzied screams, their glow sticks raised in a unified sway.
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