Culture by Tsumiki was released on the official Hatsune Miku youtube channel on October 15th 2022. It took a few months before I gave it a listen myself, but I immediately felt it’s power once I did. Give it a listen yourself:
The lyrics are very minimal as the song itself is barely 2 and a half minutes long. Give it a read yourself: Here
This blog post will be my rough analysis and attempt at explaining my interpretation of the song based on these fan-translated lyrics. you have been warned
There are many huge hit vocaloid songs at this point that are commentaries on the vocaloid community itself. Culture stands out to me as one that does a good job of balancing both the optimistic and pessimistic views of the value of the vocaloid music scene itself.
Songs like Psi (which I might also be writing about soon), The Real Disappearance of Hatsune Miku, and Magical Girl And Chocolate come to mind as songs that describe this pessimistic attitude. They discuss issues such as the commodification of music, fickle audiences who move on too quickly to the next hot thing, and, of course, artist burn out.
In contrast, I feel like there is a never ending parade of songs that uncritically praise the power of Hatsune Miku and her legion of fans. Most Magical Mirai theme songs come to mind. These songs focus on the unity of the listeners, artists’ passion, and the unique culture of vocaloid music.
Culture certainly talks about the culture of Hatsune Miku fandom in a very metered way, here is some break down of the lyrics:
“A certain marketplace exists in theories with nowhere to go. Our warnings are reduced to trash.
…
The marketplace builds up despair after all is said and done. Our verbal messages are connected ambiguously.”
The song starts by calling the community of artists and their listeners a “marketplace”, along with some pretty negative imagery in the second verse of it causing more despair the longer it exists. The vocaloid scene is born out of an internet culture that, like all communities built on the interwebs, is susceptible to in-fighting, hate-spreading, and general misery. And any art movement is susceptible to morphing into a mass marketplace, turning songs and albums into consumer products.
“Consequently, a beauty sings of her ideals. “Ignore personal appearance in romance.”
…
Without a shred of doubt, the beauty issues her ideology. “Let’s love the blue of the sky alone.””
The “beauty” described in the song feels like a way to describe the virtual idol of Hatsune Miku (or any other voice bank of your choice), but the words this beauty sings seems to be tinged with hypocrisy. “Ignore personal appearance” says the singer described only as a “beauty”. It gives that same feeling of someone who is comfortably rich telling others “money can’t make you happy”. And for the line about the blue sky, hey, what color is Miku again? (Don’t say green/teal lol)
““Forever” exists in the “now.””
I like to think that this is about how when songs are created to capture a single moment in time, they could end up becoming timeless classics that are listened to on repeat for perpetuity.
“Dance for music that no one’s heard!
…
Can’t you move your feet to this kind of dance number?”
Now were starting to get to the heart of the meaning of the song. There is a world of artists out there, marketplaces to peddle amateur music, people are begging for their songs to be heard over the roaring of others also asking for their music to be heard. Find something new!! Find a creator that nobody has found before!! Dance to that music that nobody has every heard before!!!
“Culture shock!
Isn’t anyone at all acquainted with such a rock ‘n’ roll star?
...
cult_you.
re_shock.
…
Wanna be a rock ‘n’ roll star? It’s all up to you”
The phrase ‘Culture Shock’ in introduced as the main hook of the song, then is later shown from a different angle than usual. The spacing and spelling out of the word “you” create a whole new idea out of a small phrase.
After all this discussion in the song so far of the vocaloid music scene, there now seems to be a call to action. This community is bursting with emotion, possibility, and a craving for anything new new new. You, the reader, the audience, the artist, are the answer. Take all these influences, unheard sounds, personal expressions, and strike back at that shocking culture! The vocaloid scene is a CULT that YOU need to RE-SHOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“There is indeed worth to that kind of music that no one’s heard.”
When I first read this line, I wanted to stand up and start carving it into the walls. I repeat it in my head often. I sometimes write it on pages where it can stand on its own and breathe.
This is where I want to point to the author’s comment, listed in the description of the youtube upload above. I won’t repost it all here, but that idea of “There is value in music that nobody understands” is repeated again there. Tsumiki describes that exact kind of scrappy ambition of these indie vocaloid artists very well in both the song and the author’s note.
Interestingly, the authors note further describes the marketplace as a “free and open market”. While there is the pessimist view of it being a place to sell(out), the optimist view still exists of it as a place where anyone can come and find their audience and connect to others out of the pure want to create art and music that nobody has ever heard before.