Celebrating over a decade of computer-generated singer’s hits is sure to make some people feel old.
Let’s go way back to the year 2007. After decades of snubs, Martin Scorsese finally got the Best Director Oscar for a movie that was kind of cool, and the birdwatching world was rocked to its core when a great blue heron touched down in England for the first time.
Also, on 7 December, a young songwriter named Ryo of the musical group Supercell uploaded a tune he crafted with the Vocaloid software suite from Yamaha. Titled “Melt,” it became a smash hit on the Japanese video hosting site Niconico Douga, reaching number one on their charts and helping propel its artificial singer, Hatsune Miku, further into the global consciousness.
It was a pivotal moment for Ryo, who would later get signed to Sony Music and go on to a successful career in music, both with Vocaloids and without. All this time, however, he has never forgotten his fan-base on Niconico, and was understandably tickled pink when they helped make “Melt” top the charts for a second time as it celebrated its 10th anniversary.
In honor of the anniversary, Chelly, the vocalist for the Ryo-produced group Egoist, covered the hit song and released it on 7 December, 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzV9YmNvrmg
It was a great warm rendition of “Melt,” but little did everyone know, there was another surprise to come on this day. At exactly 8:46 p.m. – ten years to the minute since the uploading of the original – enka star Sachiko Kobayashi uploaded her own cover of Melt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12pq5y9sEKE
This might seem like an unlikely combination of mid-20th century enka with an early 21st-century Vocaloid hit, but Kobayashi is no stranger to the Niconico community. Although her notoriety in mainstream music had fallen with the overall decline of enka, Kobayashi was later embraced by the Internet for various reasons, including her singing the Japanese closing theme to the Pokémon anime and appearing in the game Phantasy Star Online 2. The 64-year-old even has an official Vocaloid based on her voice called “Sachiko.”
▼ Kobayashi performing on Phantasy Star Online 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4sDYR8aRPo
Ryo himself was overjoyed at the tribute and posted his reaction on Twitter.
“The posting time is the same! This is too much! I’m so stoked now.”
We too would like to wish Melt a happy birthday and look forward to not only more independent Vocaloid hits to emerge but to celebrate some of her other memorable songs such as Senbonzakura (2011), Odds & Ends (2012), and Umbrella Revolution (2014).
Source: Nijimen
Top image: YouTube/singtur