HATSUNE MIKU

With a name that translates as "The first Sound from the Future" in Japanese, Hatsune Miku is truly a product of 21st-century technological ingenuity; one of the first virtual synthetic voice programs, known as Vocaloid, to become a fully-fledged international popstar. Developed and distributed by Japan's Crypton Future Media company, who had previously put their name to the Yamaha vocals Meiko and Kaito, Hatsune Miku's voice was sampled from Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita and her debut release arrived in August 2007. The first Vocaloid to be created by the company itself, she was envisioned by Crypton to be "an android diva in the near-future world where songs are lost" and made her on-stage debut in August 2009 at Animelo Summer Live. She went on to appear as the opening act for Lady Gaga on her Artpop tour in spring 2014. In February 2016, she was the focus of installation/performance Still Be Here, which premiered at Berlin's CTM Festival and was based on an idea from conceptual artist Mari Matsutoya and scored by Laurel Halo. The following year, a compilation featuring her voice, Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku, became the first Vocaloid album to top the charts. Hatsune Miku's vocals have since been used on over 100,000 released songs, including tracks by Big Boi of Outkast, Pharrell Williams, and more. In December 2020, she was featured on a remixed version of American rapper Ashnikko's song "Daisy," titled "Daisy 2.0".