Vocaloidism 02 – Utattemita
And who’s that you see singing their hearts out?
Hello everyone! (｀・ω・´)” It’s Miyu here again, and it’s been a long time since I first introduced Vocaloidism to Metanorn. Now I’m finally back with part 2, and this time, I’m bringing to you what you may often see on Youtube/Niconico videos as ~歌ってみた (utattemita). It literally translates into “I try to sing”, and it basically represents the Japanese version of covers. These Niconico coverists are called 歌い手 (utaite), and the term is most often used for those who cover VOCALOID songs. The utaites on Niconico form a very tightly-knit community – listening to one video will probably lead you to another, and another, and soon you’ll find yourself immersed in the world of utattemita. And then you’ll never be able to turn back – resign to your fate of continuing to check your updates every single day for new utattemitas! Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||) In this post, I’m going to be recommending a few of my favorite utaites and some of their best covers, along with brief story plots. I hope you’ll enjoy it, and let’s begin, shall we?
Soraru・ そらる
If you’ve listened to Episode 17 of MetaCast, you would’ve already heard one of his awesome covers! Soraru is my utaite husbando. (＾▽＾) I love him to bits and what’s so special about his voice is that distinctive huskiness you’ll notice instantly. He’s most known for covering DECO*27-produced VOCALOID songs, and is also pretty popular in the utaite world. Other than singing, he also does mixing for many other utaites.
Kagerou Days (Heat-haze Days)
Konoha no Sekai Jijyou (Konoha’s World Affairs)
These two videos are actually part of what is called the Kagerou Series produced by Jin. Kagerou Days is basically about these two friends who find themselves trapped in a never-ending reenactment of the same two days during the summer holidays over and over again. Each time, the girl will be gruesomely killed in one way or another, causing the boy to be horrified. The both of them will then wake up and realize that it is all a “dream”, but the series of events will continue to be repeated over and over again in an endless loop. They try to break free of this terrible fate, with the boy attempting to save the girl by pushing her out of the way and getting hit by the truck himself again, but to no avail – it doesn’t work, and the next day, the same horrible thing happens again. Konoha no Sekai Jijyou talks about Konoha, a character who was born into this world. He watches the sad plight of these two friends and starts to feel emotions, but realizes that he can do nothing to help them.
Mosaic Roll
Produced by DECO*27, Mosaic Roll is actually the song that introduced me to Soraru in the first place. It’s about the contradicting feelings and emotions you experience when you know that the love you have is about to end. The feeling of finally being able to be free, the feeling of not wanting to let go – either way, it is painful, and you can’t change that. But isn’t the simple fact that you had loved, that you were in love, good enough?
Aimai Elegy (Love-lost Elegy)
Aimai Elegy is actually a song unique to Soraru, as when DECO*27 had created this song, the only two people he allowed to officially cover was Soraru (for the male ver.) and Marina (for the female ver.) The song is about a couple in falling out of love due to various differences and misunderstandings, and then realizing that in the end, without each other it is impossible to live, or to “breathe”. It’s presented in a really beautiful way with apt references of those suffocating feelings to drowning.. (okay that sounds terribly unromantic but xD)
ShonenT ・少年Ｔ
ShonenT is famous for his acoustic covers, which are beautiful renditions of original rock or pop VOCALOID songs. He writes and transposes these acoustic covers himself, and then covrs them while playing his guitar at the same time. He’s done a couple of live shows too, and he is well-known for his boyish charm. He is very, very adorable.
Ama no Jaku (Weakness of the Sky)
Ama no jaku is produced by 164, and it talks about the feelings of a someone who’s been dumped, and the heartbreaking experiences that s/he continues to experience. I love the lyrics of this song as they convey so much emotion, and ShonenT’s voice just adds so much depth and meaning, it makes me tear up whenever I listen to it.
Just Be Friends
I’ve already introduced this song in the previous Vocaloidism post, but just to recap, it’s about two lovers and the progression of their relationship from childhood sweethearts, to mature adults, and finally, how it has to come to an end. ShonenT’s version is really touching and it makes you really feel what the lyrics are trying to convey.
One Less Lonely Girl
I just had to put this up. （＠￣∇￣＠） I’m sure everybody here knows this song, it’s by Justin Bieber! ShonenT just sang it better. xD Just listen to that Engrish and tell me you don’t find him cute.
Lon・ろん
Oh Lon, I simply refuse to believe that you are male. Soraru is one huge troll, and he once tweeted that Lon was a boy. Till this day, I still don’t believe him. I mean listen to that voice, isn’t the cutest thing you have ever heard? Lon is well-known, obviously, for her baby voice. On utaite wikia they actually state that Lon’s voice is “tomboyish” and “low” I DON’T EVEN. Lon’s voice range is ridiculously wide and her high notes are really sweet and amazing to hear. She is my favorite female (I hope) utaite of all, and for very good reasons!
PONPONPON
Yup, it’s PONPONPON. Lon is probably the best utaite you can get to sing this song because her voice is just. so. cute!! This is my favorite cover of PONPONPON to date and I have a lot of covers! I think her version is even better than the original~
Double Lariat
I really, really like this cover. Lon’s voice in the first few lines of the song is really just cuddle-worthy cute and she’s sung it really well. This song was also introduced in Vocaloidism 1: Luka’s friends are all better in her in many different areas – and seeing this, she says she does not want to give up on life, and focuses on self-improvement (i.e. “spinning” further and higher). But while doing this, she is at the same time pushing her friends and family away from her. At the end she realizes that it’s okay to not excel at everything in life, because people around her will love her regardless.
Coward Mont Blanc
This song talks about a girl who has fallen out of love with a guy, but continues the relationship as although she feels the truth is best, she is a coward and enjoys the boy’s love for her, comparing it to sweets such as Mont Blanc. Here you can clearly hear how low Lon’s voice can go in the verse, and then how high it can soar to again in the chorus. She’s really very inspiring as an utaite *w*
Wotamin・ヲタみん
What I like most about Wotamin’s voice is that it’s so clear. Her range is pretty wide too, and she sounds great singing both low and high notes. Her voice is extremely soothing and it’s easy to feel relaxed and comfortable when listening to her covers. She’s well-known for covering the gentler, slow-paced songs really beautifully.
Karakuri Pierrot
Karakuri Pierrot is my favorite VOCALOID song of all time. 40mP did a wonderful job blending the catchy music along with the emotional lyrics, and the chorus is really addictive. The song has a simple story plot – it describes the inner turmoils of a girl as she waits for her date that never appears, feeling like a pierrot in his eyes. Wotamin’s voice is especially moving in this song and you can actually picture her as Miku in the PV!
Hello, How Are You?
This song is beautiful in itself. It’s about a girl who’s unable to accept herself for who she is, and chooses to push everyone around her away, thinking that it’s better to live life alone if everyone is going to judge her. But truthfully, she yearns to talk to someone – to connect to someone and love her heart out. Wotamin’s voice is gentle and light like a feather in this song, and she adopts a kind of an inquiring tone, as if talking to the girl herself.
Heart Democracy
Heart Democracy depicts a darker side of love, in which you get so obsessed that you would do anything for the person you adore, that a small mistake might kill you, that the thought of losing that special someone, is more than you will ever be able to bear. Wotamin portrays a stronger side of her in this song, and you’ll realize that her voice can actually be really powerful too!
Aaand those are a few of my favorite utaites! I hope that through this, those of you who have never encountered utaites before would be more interested in them now! And for those who are already familiar with the utaite community, I hope you’ve found some awesome new covers! If you want to be updated daily on the new utattemitas being uploaded on Niconico, you can subscribe to users like NebulasResolution and NicoNicoDouga77. I follow them to get my latest news on the utaite community too, and I end up downloading an average of 2-3 songs every day, which explains why my music library is exploding now. xD
In actual fact, I still have lots and lots of utaite and songs I’d like to recommend, but I’ll leave that for later posts. My next post will still be about utattemitas, but it’ll be covering collaborations, duets and groups formed by different utaites, which often result in a beautiful palette of different voices mixing together. I’m also thinking of doing one on producers, but later on~ If you have anything you’d like to see in upcoming posts, you can always leave a comment and I’ll keep them in mind for future Vocaloidism posts! Let me know your thoughts about these utaites, and also tell me about your own favorites! Till next time~ （⌒▽⌒ゞ
About Miyu
A stressed-out jyoushi kousei doubling as Metanorn's loli with a soft spot for sappy romance animanga. She will watch anything with bishies in it. :3
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
Good job on this post Miyu. Gokurosama~
I started off knowing Utaitemita when I started listening to a Touhou band called East New Sound. Among all the singers there was a singer called Nayuta. I found more of her Utaitemita songs from Youtube like “Chain Girl” and “When First Love Ends”. From her I learned a few more singers and I stopped. My history with Utaitemita wasn’t much until I saw Miyu going wild over Soraru on Twitter. It was thx to her I got stuck up with Soraru and Nano (They both sang “Mosaic Roll”. Japanese (Soraru) & English (Nano).
Other than the Youtube uploaders Miyu mentioned, check out my share of connections:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AnotherNicoUploader
http://www.youtube.com/user/AnotherUtaUploader
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
Thank you Toori!~ ♥
Hehe yes I’m glad to have dragged someone else to drown in the sea of utattemitas with me! >D
Ooh I didn’t knew that those two channels existed on youtube! Will subscribe too, I’ve been trying to find good ones ever since AmonDeverex disappeared ;_;
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
Yes… AmonDeverex… That really hit us hard…
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 131 comments
Lovely feature! I only just got into Vocaloid myself this past year (because of Project Diva – I really do love rhythm games) so I’m happy to see some of the songs I know featured here. Just Be Friends and Deco*27 songs especially. I’m not particularly familiar with utaite other than VALSHE (please please feature her next! ____<
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
Follow Miyu more on her journey with Utaitemitas. You’ll find yourself deep into it and couldn’t get out of it.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 131 comments
Agreed! I was resisting the whole Vocaloid thing like a hipster for years but then Project Diva happened and I got sucked into the awesome wormhole that is Vocaloid. :))) This (formal) introduction to Utattemita and utaites is probably the next step to my obsession. 😀
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 131 comments
(…ack. My comment got cut off. Anyway-)
Not familiar with utaite other than VALSHE so this post was an eye-opener for me. Looking forward to your next Voicaloidism output then!
PS Please, feature VALSHE! She may be the only one I know but she ROCKS. 😀
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
YAY! More fans for the Vocaloid fandom 8D Deco*27 is one of my favorite producers and I love all his songs!
Oooh yes Valshe was one of the first utaites I encountered too! She’s not going to be in my next post I think, ‘coz I’m saving her for a gender-bender post (with her amazing voice range and all xD)
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 131 comments
Wow, you seem to still have a lot of material you’re planning to cover. I approve! 😀 The world of Vocaloid is huge and that’s a lot of interesting essays to be written right there. *coughProjectDivacough* Again, thanks for the post! 🙂
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’ve always wondered what gender Lon was…It’s so hard to tell!!! I guess she’s a girl then? lol. I still like Kanzentaicell’s cover of ponponpon more though.
Anyways, keep it up! I only know a select few utaites (maybe like 10 at most) so I’m learning a lot =w= I only got to know what they were from listening to a ridiculous amount of ponponpon covers on NND and vaguely branching out from there…lol
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
I agree ): I DON’T KNOW, I just can’t think of Lon as a boy in any way argh too cute to be true. I like Kanzentaicell’s too! He’s so sexy. (But Lon’s cuteness overrides everything)
PONPONPON did help to introduce many people to the utaite world, so that’s a good thing! Hehe thanks Cool, I hope you’ll find some awesome covers~
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
Lon is a girl and she’s really cute. Believe me.
POWUH: 400-499 with 489 comments
there is so many vocaloids its hard to keep up who is who, and what is what
POWUH: 500-599 with 543 comments
Yeah, it’s hard. But I don’t notice anymore, since I’ve been following it for a while. Even now I have some trouble. Like when the new Vocaloids came out.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
Yup there are many, but generally for Vocaloids I only follow those whose voices I like.
For oldies there’s Miku, Rin, Len, GUMI, Luka, Gakupo and Kaito. One pretty new Vocaloid in the market is IA, and she has a really pretty voice. 😀
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
Yes IA is one of the best among the Vocaloid 3. I’m in love with both IA and GUMI still.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Have you heard the Lily upgrade yet? She sounds pretty good now~
POWUH: 500-599 with 543 comments
I have to say that Soraru isn’t high on my list, probably because of mafumafu and Wotamin, among others. Like Rib (ribu? Not quite sure how to romanize his name) and Halyosy.
Gah. Maybe it’s just that I love every one of them.
Happy to see you’re continuing on the Vocaloidism journey for Metanorn! <3
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
I don’t know! It was like love at first… hear? Once I heard his cover of Mosaic Roll it’s like instant eargasm. xD I like Halyosy and mafumafu too, among many others, but nobaddy can replace Soraru in my heart. ♥
I LOVE ALL OF THEM TOO! So many talented people in Japan.
Hehe, thank you, and I’m glad to have all my lovely readers tagging along on this journey too!~
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
I feel morally obligated to recommend ShounenT’s cover of Liberal Life because it is one of the most adorable things I have ever heard and always puts a smile on my face :3
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
I just listened to it and ahhhh he’s too cute!♥ As you said, ShounenT always works his way into people’s hearts like that. :’)
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Another great post on Vocaloid culture. Personally I’m fascinated by the folks who put all the effort into learning complex dance routines for Vocaloid songs.
Example (Just Be Friends): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjAYn-7D3wM
Is there a special name for this as well?
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
They’re are called odottemita! (Again, this literally translates into “I tried to dance” xD) I do enjoy watching these videos too, although I’m not really familiar with its community.
By the way, Starburst over at Daifuuku! also uploads these videos! ^A^ Hers are really adorable so you have to check them out~
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments
damn you for introducing me to the world of utattemita, Now i can’t get enough of it 😀
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
Hehe I warned you, once you start, you’ll never be able to stop! You’ll be getting a lot of good music from now onwards though, so you can look forward to that! >D
POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments
qq. where else is a good place to start?
im currently just hanging around the “Famous utattemita songs category” on Utaite Wikia
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
I love all of those singers. ^_^ They are all just so amazing and I real,y do wish I could sing lie them…
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
Indeed, Japanese people are so talented!♥ I love listening to them, and I’m hoping that they’ll have a utaite world-tour sometime soon xD
POWUH: iLurker with 3 comments
I believe you got one info wrong. Shounen T graduated from utattemita. He’s now a solo artist for an actual company (can’t remember the company’s name at the moment). Oh and if you guys want to listen to more utattemita, go onto nico nico douga (the Japanese site). They have a ranked section of the top 50 utattemita songs for the week.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
Oh that, I know. But no one really graduates from being a utattemita you see c:
Although he’s already released an album and such, he’s still considered an utattemita because he’s still in that community – it’s not like he completely disappeared from there after that.
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
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