Providing the soundtrack to Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality, the Japanese company Crypton Future Media has created the female j-pop star named Hatsune Miku – a lovely 3D hologram with computer generated voice. An image and voice so real that it sells out concerts, tops the charts, and has over 48,00 fans on Facebook.

And now “she” can sing in English, too!

The Volcaloid vocal synthesizer technology was developed by Yamaha, placing Miku’s birth in the year 2007. Despite the mathematical inconsistency, Hatsune Miku is marketed as being 16 years old, 158 cm tall, and weighing 42 kg.

She first gained notoriety on the Japanese YouTube-style website, Nico Nico Douga, but since then has become a widespread Internet sensation, even with rather risque fanart dedicated to her. As a logical next step, she’s been playing sold-out concerts in her home country of Japan.

It doesn’t take reality to be engaged!

[via Switched and Japanator]