Hello and welcome to the first post of a newly planned feature of mine: Wide World of Vocaloid. These posts will bring you a wide range of songs that highlight the amazing potential of Vocaloid software. These works will range from the very popular to the obscure. I hope they will be a way for fans to discover something different and marvel at the creativity of various composers.
Today’s highlight definitely falls into the obscure category but the inspiration for it most certainly does not. I am sure that many readers here are familiar with Taiwanese pop-star Jay Chou. The four time World Music Award winner branched out a few years ago and produced a rather popular hit song by the name of 牛仔很忙 (tl:”Cowboy on the Run”). The music video, written and directed by Chou himself, can be seen below:
Apologies on not being able to embed the one with English lyrics, but you can follow this link to watch a video that includes them.
Well that is something rather different the usual C-Pop faire. While this blogger is admittedly not an avid follower of Chou’s, his ability to go off genre and create something different. Already unique in featuring Asian, mandarin-speaking musicians performing what amounts to a complimentary parody of Western-style music its adds several more layers of peculiarity when it is covered by a Japanese Vocaloid program (Miku Hatsune) singing outside of her native language in the hands of a producer who is likely bilingual as well. That’s a mouthful, but it exactly the notion that drew me to this song in the first place.
The Miku cover of “Cowboy on the Run” is part of the 2009 album 初音ミクの約束 (tl: The Promise of Hatsune Miku) which is composed by producer 失明少女 (tl: Blind Girl). Unable to find a NicoNicoDouga or Youtube link I have included an upload of my own with appropriate credit given to the producer and vocaloid:
It isn’t often that Miku Hatsune is seen singing country-style to a background of fiddle playing and “yee-haws!”. It provides another example of the highly varied styles found in Vocaloid productions. It can be argued that the vocals leave something to be desired in clarity and tone, Miku seems to perform more understandably in Mandarin than she does in English. To compare you can watch the almost unintelligible “Lemoned I Scream” cover from Miku’s 1st Song Album and judge for yourself (English “subs” provided):
Lets finish up with a little more information on the album itself. 初音ミクの約束 is not available for purchase at any online site that this blogger is aware of. It has also been rather difficult for to find links to any of BlindGirlP’s works on Youtube or NND. To amend this situation I have created a playlist for the album on YouTube, use it to discover and appreciate this excellent composer. If anyone finds a means of obtaining the album please let me know.
The Promise of Hatsune Miku (初音ミクの約束) by Blindgirl (失明少女):
1. Aim! To the Budokan! (目指せ！武道館へ) ft. Miku Hatsune (all fictitious musicians seem to aspire to this)
2. Fragment (欠片) ft. Gakupo (correction!!! this was not Kaito lol!)
3. With You (貴女と) ft. Miku Hatsune & Luka Megurine
4. Cowboy on the Run (牛仔很忙) ft. Miku Hatsune
5. MIZU☆MIKU ft. Miku Hatsune
6. Song of the Blind Girl (失明少女之歌) ft. Miku Hatsune
7. CAKE~CANDY~HONEY ft. Miku Hatsune
8. Pegasus Fantasy (ペガサス幻想) ft. Miku Hatsune
Thanks for reading!