Vocaloid in China: Cosmopolitan music, cultural expression, and multilayer identity

Abstract

Addressing the notion of user-centered research, this study examines how Vocaloid, the Japan-developed voice synthesis software and its personified virtual singer were contextualized in China. It explores how the Chinese Vocaloid character LUO Tianyi, who was initially introduced as a girl from outer space, has been reconstituted into figures that were both locally and nationally converged into Chinese culture. In relation to broader theoretical discourse regarding the cultural impact of globalization on local identity, this study also attempts to unpack the Vocaloid practices in China in terms of cultural expression, cultural interpenetrations, and power negotiation. It tries to grasp prosumers’ subjectivity in constructing the image of LUO Tianyi, and to interpret it as a dialectical organism resulting from the ongoing negotiation within their multilayer identity in playing different social roles.