Could Hatsune Miku become properly massive in the UK?

Wishful thinking would lead me to proclaim it's not so much a matter of 'could' but 'when'...

But on a more serious note, with Miku-chan's stock higher than ever following that David Letterman performance and a series of high profile pieces in the Western press, it all begs the question, when will Miku 'go mainstream' in the West? As Japan - and arguably the world's - biggest and best virtual idol, it sort of makes sense that at one point or another, we'll reach some kind of Miku-singularity when the world at large finally sets up and says 'Hey, this blue-haired lass was actually on to something all along - why have Bieber when you can have Miku?'

Considering EDM/dance music's dominance of Western music charts at the moment too, you'd think that Miku's robotic, soul-less entity would be the perfect fit too - considering a great deal of club tracks these days are either mere vocal samples or auto-tuned so much they might as well be a vocaloid.

In my eyes though, there are four components that need to be considered in terms of scenarios where Miku could reasonably score a chart hit in the West.

1) Slow process of cultural osmosis and acceptance of Asian pop in the West.

The most idealised, but most unlikely situation. This supposes that over the next ten years or so, the UK will open up to both Japanese pop, and foreign language music as a whole. Unlikely, right? But hey, if that track off the opening title sequence to Scandi-thriller The Bridge can go half the distance, maybe Miku might just have the remotest of chances.

2) Viral hit

I sort of dread this one. After all, there'd be nothing worse than Miku being dismissed as a Gangnam style phenomenon. But what the heck, if it took a bonkers viral smash to get the average man and woman on the streets of Britain talking about her in the same breath as Ellie Goulding and Rita Ora, maybe it would be worth it. They could get her 'on the sofa' to chat with Philip Scofield and everything.

3) The Olympics

The irony here is that this purports that Miku will actually still be popular come 2020. But then, isn't that the whole point of a vocaloid. Miku will always be 16, no matter how many years go by. She will never age, never get wrinkles, never grow old, never stop spinning those leeks. If Miku is even half the Japanese institution in 2020 that she is today, expect her to make an appearance at the opening ceremony - and via its global broadcast, us fans can hold out hope that might somehow translate into a global hit.

4) DJ collab / guest feature / sample

In my eyes, probably the most likely as it stands. Pharrell's already done one, as has Zedd. If anyone is prone to utilize Miku in the way she has always been intended, it'll be the DJ/remix/production community. They 'get' Miku, as both artistic tool, production element and 'voice'. In that sense, she really is no different from any other sample. And this perhaps, holds the greatest hope for a Miku hit over here in the immediate future.

Now, where did we put our leek...?

 

What J-Pop is available on UK streaming services?

Short answer? Not a lot. Seriously, the amount of J-Pop available on UK streaming services like Spotify makes UK iTunes look like a veritable paradise.

That's the bad news out of the way. The good news? A few key releases and artists are actually available:

Perfume

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

Linked Horizon's Attack on Titan OP

Morning Musume

Utada Hikaru's English language album

Passpo

T.M Revolution

A couple of AKB48 tracks

Various Hatsune Miku songs (but unfortunately very little of the well-known stuff from the Project Diva games)

The Guardian: ''Hatsune Miku: Japan’s holographic pop star might be the future of music''

Via: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/05/hatsune-miku-japan-hologram-pop-star

Seriously, when I first saw this - and in the Guardian's weekend Guide accompaniment, no less - I was pretty over the moon. Coming as it did during the peak of my Miku obsession (I'd just got my hands on a copy of Project Diva F2nd, ok?) it felt like everything Miku-related was cresting toward some kind of cultural singularity.

She'd performed on David Letterman, mainstream Western press was writing about her - and seriously too, not as a gimmick to be dismissed out of hand. Give it another year or two, I told myself, and then we'll be really making some headway. Maybe she'd even have a Gangnam Style mega-viral hit and the gates of Heaven / J-Pop cornucopia would be unleashed on the West at long last.

Or maybe that's just wishful thinking...