British GQ - 04.2020

T

his year, the Coachella

line-up features the

festival’s most renegade

choice ever: Hatsune

Miku. In her native Japan, the

turquoise twin-tailed singer is a

full-blown phenomenon – yet

she is the anti-diva, a star so

without ego that she doesn’t even

have a consciousness. Miku is,

in fact, a hologram.

Her legions of fans compose

songs for her using voice

synthesiser software and Crypton

Future Media (her creator)

picks the best to polish up for

performance. The result? A No1

album and a collaboration with

Pharrell. Now, she is touring the

world, selling out arenas and

headlining festivals. And why not?

Never seen a Miku show before?

It’s wild. She performs with a

coterie of other anime avatars

and a live band, veering between

speed metal, Eurodance and high-

tempo J-pop. This is reportedly

so exhausting that, to keep up,

the band is swapped out halfway

through each tour. “You go from

one song to another; she does

costume changes in a split second,”

says Crypton’s Guillaume Devigne.

“Miku doesn’t take breaks.”

DETAILS − MUSIC

HATSUNE MIKU IS PLAYING AT COACHELLA

ON 10 AND 17 APRIL.

Virtual pop star

Hatsune Miku ‘live’ in

London, 11 January

04-20DetailsHatsuneMiku_3389575.indd 51 04/02/2020 12:50

APRIL 2020 GQ.CO.UK 67