VOCALOID is a voice synthesizer developed by Yamaha. Following the development of VOCALOID, a new genre of music called Vocaloid music was born, and has gained significant popularity among young Japanese audiences. Given the dominance of young listeners and creators within this music genre, Vocaloid music is said to have great influence on young Japanese people. Therefore, it is hypothesized that the analysis of thematic contents within Vocaloid songs can provide valuable insights into the ideologies and values of contemporary Japanese youth.
Utilizing KH Coder, a quantitative text mining software, the author has analyzed the dominant characteristic words appeared in Vocaloid songs each year from 2011 to 2023 to find out the evolution of thematic trends throughout the years. Base on the result, the author divided the evolution of Vocaloid music into three phases: from 2007 to 2011, from 2012 to 2015, and from 2016 on. In this paper, the author is going to focus on the first phase (from 2007 to 2011) to identify the prevalent ideological themes resonating with Japanese youth during that specific period.

Authors:
Quynh Lien Pham, Okayama University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Pham Quynh Lien is a third-year PhD student in the field of Japanese Cultural Studies at Okayama University. Her research interests are in the study of Japanese youth and Japanese contemporary literature.

Additional website of interest
https://researchmap.jp/phamlien_13

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