Today is the birthday of the world's most popular singing synth anime robot superstar, Hatsune Miku. This makes her 15, but she's supposed to be 16 year old according to Crypton, the company that made her. Unless it's like, she was 16 in 2007 at launch and she's in her 30's now. I don't know.
Anyway, Miku Hatsune. She is the most popular Vocaloid. Vocaloid is a line of singing synthesizer software that started in 2004, but really hit its stride when it updated to version two, and with version two came Miku, the first Japanese voice in the Vocaloid 2 line. A number of composers were able to get a lot of really good songs out of Hatsune and the character became popular internationally. They are still making Vocaloids and now Miku is trilingual, with her having official voicebanks in Japanese, Chinese, and English.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Just in case your knowledge of Japanese grammar is rusty, Miku is the character’s given name, or what we would call a first name in English, while Hatsune is what we’d call a family name or last name. In Japanese, that name comes first, so you’re likely to have heard her name spoken as Hatsune Miku more frequently. I also thought about explaining the “Miku created Minecraft” meme here, but decided not to. Huzzah!]
I would of written this one if you let me in the writers room earlier, I have a ton to say about vocaloid, but I will admit, this is probably not a bad way to explain miku to someone who doesn't know who she is. I would love to see one of her live shows someday. I know it's just a projection but she's a computer program that's the only way she can physically be there onstage and visible.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKU