Hatsune Miku

I asked myself if this was a gimmick cartoon screen performance, like those done by Gorillaz.

NOPE. See this link ----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsune_Miku

She's a synthesizer?! No wonder I didn't like her voice very much. It isn't REAL! This basically is another way in which the Japanese obsession with technology and unrealistically proportioned girls/women, and their superiority at creating both. She is a technological triumph, but she is not, a musical triumph.

I feel as though I should be impressed by their ability to create a synthesized voice program that has pulled in no doubt millions of fans. But... her voice isn't anything special. If they had been able to completely synthesize a voice as strong as Christina Aguilera's or Aretha Franklin's... THEN I would be raving a bit more. But Hatsune Miku's voice, unfortunately, sounds synthesized. Thus, she doesn't sound any better than any of the over-produced, voice-corrected, hyper-synthesized music that's being put out there by "real" artists.

I say this, acknowledging that her voice is technically sampled from Fujita Saki's. Which makes me curious as to whether Saki-chan's voice is capable of singing these songs sans-synthesizer, or if she is tone deaf and Miku-chan is her improved counterpart. No doubt, I will have to waste countless hours researching this.

At the very least, I found a video of a talk show she helps host. And I found her voice incredibly grating. This does not bode well for any theories I might have about her being a great singer without her voice undergoing great technological modification. :-/