is miku mainstream yet?

achoo

(this post was first created on Jan 29)

and just when you thought the jlog was dead, it's back to life bitch. and with the flu. i have been feeling pretty crappy since skipping school last week, throwing up last monday night at 4am, and playing a disgusting amount of umamusume. 

this week's topic: pedophiles nope that's not right, it's miku. is she mainstream yet?

i wouldn’t say that the past few years have been the golden age of miku, but they have seen the resurgence or new generation of vocaloid. in my opinion, her popularity has been mainly propelled through

memes.

two of them were covered by lessons in meme culture: fortnite and brazillian miku. honorable mentions: the sonic fandub, pipe bomb, various animation trends

fortnite felt like the cultural bridge spanning the generational gap between gen z and gen alpha, or even from the niche to name recognition. it felt like the big bang for her popularity and it certainly helped that the reception for her addition was very loud and positive. if project sekai was the firestarter for teenager vocaloid fans, this was the next firestarter for those 6 7 kids.

another sign of her popularity: youtube thumbnails. not just the fuckin gooner ones; i mean actual thumbnails for actual youtube shorts that have millions of views. her face is becoming one of the most recognized on the platform and the numbers don't lie. viewing miku from purely a business perspective: she's currently amazing marketing as she has little to no controversy (she. not the creators, that's a different story) and has an extremely supportive fanbase. collaborating with her will instantly put a spotlight on whatever your product is. i'm just as much a victim to marketing: if i see a youtube video titled "____ (ft. Hatsune Miku), i'm way more inclined to click on it no matter what the view count is.

there is one thing i've noticed that can be argued against her being mainstream. her popularity does not translate very well to the real world outside the digital landscape. you might be thinking "but but the miku concerts we all go and have a good time and there's tons of people there-

ok, fair point. name another mainstream event in recent history featuring miku. banning coachella as well. crypton does not do enough to bring her outside of the computer. they throw up plenty of collaborations online such as the recent one with mcdonalds, but virtually no physical marketing (in the us. japan definitely fucks with her, she appears in pop up ramen restaurants and in the airport). i find it extremely hard for anyone who's not chronically online to know who miku is at all. this limits her expansion for popularity by a lot. 

this is an unusual indicator, but yknow the massive amount of claw machines in round 1? it seems like every other claw machine has miku, either as a figure or as a plushie. drive 20 minutes to the nearest dave and busters, and you'll see row upon row of claw machines, just like round 1. they have anime figures, just like round 1. but why do they not have my goat? why is it always naruto or goku? i see this everywhere i go. take a 5 hour flight to mexico. tourist traps everywhere. i visited one of these shops, and to no one's surprise they have dropshipped figures of anime characters. goku, naruto, luffy. no miku. even in her space, she's not exactly mainstream, despite making up a huge chunk of the anime figure industry.

here's the main problem i think she faces. i think you know what it is. everyone only remembers her face. miku no doubt has left millions upon millions of impressions, but her fan base is still considered niche. no one knows her name unless they listen to her music. miku's caught in the middle between widespread fame and underground internet culture. 

alright, final thoughts: no, she's not mainstream in the general sense like most celebrities are. her fans are very reserved and don't talk a lot, probably because they're a bunch of introverts. however, while researching this topic, i stumbled upon something really interesting on a random person's blog post.

https://pekoeblaze.wordpress.com/2022/09/21/popular-but-not-mainstream-stuff-a-ramble/

pekoeblaze draws the line between popularity vs. mainstream. while mainstream means largely socially acceptable by society and attained through artificial means (such as traditional advertising), popular means that it earned its fame through its quality. sound familiar? sounds just like miku! miku falls under the category of "popular, not mainstream". other things that fit into this category include hour long videos of people walking through the rain, Iron Maiden; works that have been viewed and listened to by millions, but not always normal or acceptable to like. direct quote from their blog: "it’s a middle-ground between complete obscurity and 'household name' hyper-fame". couldn't describe miku better.

there's another topic that occasionally pops up in all niche communities: should it stay niche? what's wrong with the perfectly small, wholesome community we have? any asshole can like mickey mouse, but miku fans are typically very like minded and generally kind. and liberal. very liberal. another thing that the blog mentions: popular things typically put the art first before its fame. vocaloid has always and hopefully will always be viewed as a vehicle for self expression before any other bullshit she's viewed as. the blog states that being popular is infinitely better than being mainstream; a sentiment i wholeheartedly agree with. so no, while miku certainly has the potential to become mainstream, i don't think she should be. (but a few more friends who like miku as well would be nice)

thanks for reading. it's crazy how naturally long my blog posts are, i'm so sorry. i haven't even talked about the red one yet; maybe for another blog. lmk your thoughts. (post finished on 2/28)