The Digital Age of Performance
With the ever developing capabilities of technology, it is no surprise that digitizing the performance space has gone from concept to reality. Virtual performances consist of a range of instances — from fully digital to a blend of real and digital elements. To clarify some terminology — “real artists” refers to the individuals behind the screen, providing their voices and dances and a “virtual character/performer/artist” refers to the digitally created model that exists in a digital space.
A Timeline Comparison of Virtual Performances
1. HATSUNE MIKU (2007)
Hatsune Miku was released in 2007 on the VOCALOID2 Engine. Miku is able to sing and talk through vocal synthesis, where an individual records vocal samples of sounds and phonemes to build a voice bank. VOCALOID users are then able to string together phonemes of Miku’s voice into full sentences set to any rhythm or melody they chose — this is how Miku sings. Although Miku has an individual (Saki Fujita) who provided the recordings for the voice bank, Miku is considered to be a separate individual from her voicer. As for her visuals, Miku is a created digital avatar who performs a premade animation as a hologram to a live band in her concerts. Despite not being a living, breathing entity, fans have connected with Miku and cheer her on at live concerts. Watch Miku perform in concert here. (Le, 2015)
2. K/DA (2018)
K/DA is a virtual group consisting of four alternate versions of champions in League of Legends; Ahri, Akali, Evelynn (voiced by Madison Beer), and Kai’SA (voiced by Jaira Burns). Two members of K/DA are voiced by members of the KPOP group (G)I-dle — Miyeon and Soyeon provide the voices of Ahri and Akali, respectively. The members have their own career in the music and performance industry but create a digital media merge of E-sports gaming and digital music. The members who voice the characters are thus thought of as different personalities than their K/DA counterparts, though their identities are known behind the characters. The group’s movements are created with 3D modeling of certain dances and animations. Through the use of AR, the members have performed alongside their virtual counterparts — see their performance at the 2018 League of Legends World Championship in Korea here. (Ivănescu, 2024).
3. AESPA (2020)
Aespa presents a unique take on the virtual idol premise by integrating a virtual counterpart of each member within the group. Aespa is comprised of four members, Karina, Giselle, Winter, and Ningning, and each member has their unique virtual counterpart (ae) that is created from their digital footprint of information online. The ae can talk and have their own personalities, but they aren’t fully separate entities from their member counterpart. Part of the group’s concept involves the blend of the virtual and real world, where the members are friends with their ae, being able to talk and visit each other between worlds. The ae can perform with 3D modeling of animations and predetermined actions, but are generally used as concept and story building, rather than performance. Watch Aespa perform with their ae counterparts here. (Nuranda & Purwaningtyas, 2023).
4. SUPERKIND (2021)
Superkind takes a different twist on the virtual performance by creating a unit of both virtual and real artists. Consisting of seven total members, Superkind has five real members, Daemon, Eugene, Geon, SiO and JDV, and two virtual, SAEJiN and Seung. The group stays consistent with their Sci-Fi concept in their music in both subject matter and visuals, with their music videos showcasing all seven members together through digital editing. Similar to K/DA and Aespa’s use of the virtual idol, the two virtual members of Superkind do not have a physical presence with the other five members. Thus the real members will leave spaces for the virtual members to be added into choreography for performances and music videos. The voices of the virtual members are concealed as well — making their identity and personality exist solely by the virtual character that has been created. Watch Superkind perform here. (Kyung-Min, 2023).
5. BLACKPINK X PUBG (2022)
Blackpink is a four member KPOP group consisting of real individuals, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa, and Rosé. In 2022 the group released the single Ready for Love with a music video made through the game PUBG, along with a virtual concert in the game for fans to attend. This performance is similar in K/DA’s structure of combining music and digital games with established artists performing within the game. Unlike K/DA though, Blackpink “performed” as themselves, whereas K/DA’s real members would be “performing” as the K/DA member. This performance is to the prerecorded song with the virtual members being again 3D modeling to a designed dance. Watch the Ready for Love music video here and watch the PUBG concert performance here.
6. MAVE (2023)
Mave takes the virtual group a step further, being a group consisted of four fully virtual members, Siu, Zeta, Tyra and Marty. This group is structured similarly to the virtual members of Superkind — the identities of the individuals who voice the members is hidden, and their performances are created through AI, 3D modeling of animations and dances, and motion capture tracking of the members. With the use of AI technology, the members are able to communicate in four different languages as well — Korean, English, French and Bahasa. Since their presence is completely virtual, there is little to no interaction of Mave with other groups. Watch Mave perform here. (VOA Learning English, 2023).
7. PLAVE (2023)
Debuting only a few months after Mave, Plave takes the virtual group to a different level by integrating the real and digital worlds even further. Plave consists of five virtual memebers, Yejun, Noah, Bamby, Eunho, and Hamin. Just as the case with Mave and Superkind — the identities behind the voices of the virtual idols are hidden. The performances and presence of the virtual artists are not solely computer generated. Rather, full body motion capture tracking software is used on the members. Thus, there are real world counterparts to he virtual idols — five individuals make up the group Plave and are represented by a virtual character in what they say and how they move. Because of this tracking, the group can engage in live videos with fans, hold concerts, interact with other music groups, and produce unique content to the members that maintains their personalities. Watch Plave perform here. (Ko, 2023).
References
Ivănescu, A. (2024). “POP/STARS”: The Personas of K/DA, Transmedia Marketing, and Riot Games Music. Persona Studies, 10(1), 42–55. https://doi.org/10.21153/psj2024vol10no1art1867
Ko, E.-Y. (2023, September 25). Are virtual idols the next big thing in K-content? KED Global. https://www.kedglobal.com/culture-trends/newsView/ked202309250009
Kyung-Min, P. (2023, October 20). [INTERVIEW] SUPERKIND pioneers unique blend of human, virtual members. Koreatimes. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2024/05/398_361473.html
Le, L. K. (2015). Examining the rise of Hatsune Miku: the first international virtual idol. In The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal [Journal-article]. https://archive.urop.uci.edu/journal/journal13/01_le.pdf
Nuranda, D. R., & Purwaningtyas, M. P. F. (2023). Between human and virtual idol: fans reception analysis of digital alter ego concept. Komunikator, 15(1), 31–40. https://doi.org/10.18196/jkm.17235
VOA Learning English. (2023, March 26). Is this K-Pop girl band for real? Voice of America. https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/is-this-k-pop-girl-band-for-real-/7006844.html