Here's an idea.
Miku Hatsune, a computer generated vocalist,
is a more authentic pop star than Lana Del Rey.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
If you've missed it recently, Lana Del Rey
is a human pop star with fingers, blood,
a mom, the whole nine yards.
But Lana has caught a lot of flak for being inauthentic.
She sells the indie rock image.
But in reality, she's got a super rich dad, a pop record
she paid to have removed from shelves a couple years back,
and is at the center of this huge marketing machine that
has basically constructed her.
To a lot of people, this makes Lana Del Rey a big, fat liar.
Miku, on the other hand, is a Japanese pop star.
But she's not a person.
She's a computer program.
She had her humble beginnings as a piece of speech synthesis
software.
And after years of development, she was released as,
and I quote, "an Android diva from the near future where
all songs are lost."
That is awesome.
So clearly, both of these ladies are manufactured products,
one of them a little bit more literally than the other.
But what's the big deal?
Why do people hate Lana and they love Miku?
Sure, there's a long history of manufactured pop stars.
But Lana was manufactured to appear unmanufactured.
When people figured this out, ew.
In a weird way, Miku is more authentic.
Even though she's not a human, her fans
feel like they can connect with her.
And sure, she was specifically made to appear that way.
But so was Lana.
At the heart of this argument, aren't we talking about music?
Shouldn't the music speak for itself?
Yeah, it should.
But we want to consume the fashion, the ideas,
personalities, and the stories related to those personalities.
It's gotten to the point now where
our ability to relate or empathize with something
is actually more important than that thing's
real, physical existence.
We've already gone from pets to pop stars.
What's next?
Computerized politicians?
What about you?
Do you guys think Miku Hatsune is more real than Lana Del Rey?
Let us know in the comments.
And then click all the other buttons that are down there.
I hear that's good for business.
You guys had a lot to say about the Mario video!
Let's talk about your comments.
You can't play a Dali painting yet.
I like your enthusiasm, chaddarooch.
Stay healthy.
Comic sans!
I know that they're tubas.
But it's just so much fun to say sousaphone.
Thank you, unstablejello.
I made it myself.
Breaking news, apparently Wario has a new secret identity.
It's RoboCane.
Commenter unchangful was inspired by Mario
to create 8-bit versions of Sesame Street characters.
It is awesome.
Mario inspired me to waste most of sixth grade.
And if you really want to have a serious conversation
about this topic, the comment thread on Kotaku is awesome.
Go check it out.
And to Jonathan Holmes from Destructoid,
our next episode actually is about Pac-Man as a metaphor
for man's continual consumption of the world around him
in a vain attempt to fend off his inevitable death.
We hope you'll tune in.
[MUSIC PLAYING]