Will We Love Virtual Pop Stars as Much as We Love Real Ones? Outside Japan, Probably Not

In recent news from Japan, a pop singer with a well-known girl group was revealed to be entirely virtual -- which means another chance for US commentators to get over-excited and hyperbolic about the implications. First, watch how "Eguchi Aimi" was created, from a composite of bits and pieces from other (real) members of the group:

Read more about it here on the Singularity Hub, which unsurprisingly, makes this broad, over-the-top prediction that virtual stars like this will become commonplace:

Are we on the verge of creating CG performers that appeal to fans just as much as their flesh-and-blood competition? Oh wait, we’re already doing that. Japan’s 3D hologram rock star Hatsune Miku already has a following that would make Brittany Spears take notice.

Gizmodo has similarly overwrought speculations:

As we walk into this new world, I can't help but to ask myself: Would I be able to fall in love with a synthetic being? Would you? And what will happen then, when humans and digitals collide and merge in our world and their world?

Now here's my problem with forecasts like that: I've been reading news stories about Japanese falling in love with virtual celebrities for over 10 years, roughly when William Gibson used them as the basis for his novel Idoru, and mysteriously, the phenomena never seems to happen much outside of Japan.

Maybe I'm missing some obvious examples, but if we're heading toward a future where virtual celebrities are commonplace, why haven't they showed up in the West? To be sure, there are arguable edge cases: The UK-based Gorillaz is a popular virtual band, for example. But then again, none of its fans (including me) are really in love with the virtual characters in Gorillaz. We enjoy the music, we dig the videos; we don't, however, send flowers to the guitarist known as "Noodle".

So what's really going with characters like "Eguchi Aimi"? Two possible explanations:

Misinterpretation. Let me pose this question to NWN's Japanese readers: Is it really the case that in Japan, virtual characters are extremely popular, on the same level as flesh-and-blood stars? Or are avatars like "Eguchi Aimi" really just an exceptional case? Since we get news stories like these second or third hand, I deeply suspect Westerners misinterpret this to be a larger phenomenon than it really is in Japan. I do know the Japanese have a massive repository of living, breathing celebrities in film, TV, and music, and they don't seem to be going away. (Last I checked, Takeshi Kitano is still huge in TV and movies, and though he's well into his sixties, nobody's suggesting he should be replaced by an avatar.)

Cultural tradition. It's often said that Japanese culture is inherently predisposed to love robots, digital avatars, and other virtual characters in a way that's unique in the world. (I've heard it argued it's related to Japan's Shinto animism.) This may well be the case, and would certainly explain why the phenomena of virtual pop stars, such that it is, doesn't seem to make the leap out of Japan. (This might also be why, by contrast, Japan is the only country that's resisted embracing the real world network of Facebook.)

So what kind of celebrities will we love in the future? I'm sure avatars will have their place, though I doubt we'll see them blurring the lines of reality and fiction, as they seem to do in Japan (to the extent that they do at all.) If anything, the rise of the social Internet has helped pushed us in the opposite direction: a desire for grass roots, non-packaged, non-homogenized, democratically-embraced real people. At the moment, at least, the future of pop stars will likely be less for avatars, and more for people like Susan Boyle. Or for that matter, Sung-bong Choi:

And were that the case, wouldn't that actually be a better world?

Comments

[Chuck Baggett]

What English language computer generated 3D virtual pop stars have people been given a chance to like or dislike?

Do old star cartooon characters counts as virtual stars? Bugs Bunny, Mickey, Donald, etc. have have quite a following in Western culture. I'm sure there have been numerous letters written to such characters

The still pictures of real pop stars are doctored so much in programs like Photoshop, they aren't far from being virtual characters. Are the images in music videos processed the same way?

[Hitomi Tiponi]

There is greater cultural acceptance of loving fantasy characters in East Asia (not just Japan). There if you are an adult that buys anime you are normal - in the West if you buy it, or even Marvel comics, you are looked at as some sort of nerd.

You've covered the Japanese virtual group Piatto in your blog before - there are many bands with fans in SL, but there aren't many like Piatto that have risen to idol status.

[Jo yardley]

I don't like any post 1940s pop stars anyway.

[bongo]

I guess Hamlet missed a little movie called AVATAR. Yeah, those westerners will never go for 3d generated characters... as much as they never went for Santa Claus :)

[qarl]

Max Headroom?

Bugs Bunny?

[Hamlet Au]

Those are interesting counter-examples, but Max Headroom and the lead of *Avatar* were strongly associated with the real actor behind the avatar, Matt Frewer and Sam Worthington, respectively. Warner Brothers cartoon characters are also an interesting candidate, but there again, there was a strong and stated association with the voice actor, Mel Blanc. In the Japanese version, at least as we're told it, fans fall in love with avatar pop stars who are totally synthetic.

[melponeme_k]

This thing is just made up of stolen body parts of real actresses.

We have yet to see one of these animated idol characters not reanimated from body parts ala Frankenstein's monster.

Any characters from this to the film "Avatar" would not exist if real actors/actresses weren't willing to be used as models. I can't wait until we are in the days when people will be signing the rights away to their features.

They already made fun of that possibility in "Singing in the Rain". Singularity has come and gone.

[Ann Otoole InSL]

People in SL fall in love with avatars all the time. Why is this difficult to understand? People have an idea in the depths of their minds what they really want visually. Then add some personality rp and away you go. SL is still the biggest stage on Earth.

Let's take it farther. People fall in love with characters actors play in movies. If they actually met that actor and got to know them irl then they are likely to not exactly be in love anymore.

More than Japan loves those vocaloids. They are finally coming to the USA with those hologram concerts. Sorry already sold out in advance. People love them so much they pay a full concert ticket price to see synthetic avatars singing synthetic music.

I think it is very interesting and very cool.

[qarl]

> strongly associated with the real actor behind the avatar...

Micky Mouse.

[Ananda]

What strikes me is this is not about Japanese culture in terms of the audience but rather it's one of those countries where the music industry has a strong tradition of using its pop singers and vocal talent like interchangeable puzzle pieces.

[Ilsa Hesse]

Reiko Nagase from the Ridge Racer series was from like... 1990 or so. my first video game I liked was Ridge Racer type 4 for the Play Station.

[Senban Babii]

Every actor you see on a screen is virtual.

Every voice you hear on a CD is virtual.

Every conversation you have on your cell phone is virtual.

People forget these things and eventually they become perceived as "real". Eventually that is exactly what will happen with virtual celebrities.

[bongo]

Like all those "real" people who are chronicled in the Bible or most religious texts...

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Can you name any of the studio musicians in The Archies? They topped the pop charts in '69 with "Sugar, Sugar".

Sorry, idoru is just the same old gig with new tech. When an AI starts WRITING songs (good songs, mind you), wake me up.

[DD Ra]

As Arcadia noted, lot of popular proups are composed of hired musician (at best) or actors to play music.
They can change, the producer wil perpetuate the group as long as it gain money.
It's already virtual...

[bongo]

hey, they switched "chris's" on us..WTF?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Partridge_Family