Virtual pop stars have been around for a long time. The most interesting thing about the metaverse, which is just a fancy word for the “next level” of the internet, which is much more immersive and real-life-like than the flat, 2D web we’re used to, is that the lines between the real and the virtual are blurred.
So, in this article, we’ll look at the rise of virtual pop stars and influencers, where they came from, and what they tell us about how we’ll find entertainment and even art in the digital worlds of the future.
Gorillaz was charged as the world’s first virtual band, and their main innovation was playing real-life shows with the characters shown as holograms in front of a live audience. This is the age of online influencers.
Gorillaz came out at the start of the internet age, just before social media and influencer culture, which gave rise to a whole new group of digital celebrities.
Polar’s creators say that the recent Abba Voyage show with holograms of the Swedish superstars in their prime was one of the virtual acts that inspired them. Polar is more than a virtual popstar or influencer; she is a metaverse star.
Her creators say that she is working on a song with another virtual pop star, and they also say that she will soon be a character in a big video game (the exact details of both of these are still under wraps).
The new thing about metaverse pop stars is that fans can meet and interact with them in the many 3D, immersive worlds that make up the metaverse. Before, fans could only watch their videos or follow them on social media.
It’s easy to see why fans and the record companies and businesses that use them to sell music and gain influence like virtual and now metaverse pop stars.
They can also be programmed to give fans everything they want by collecting and analyzing data about their behavior to create the “perfect pop star.”
They can also be in many places at once. For example, Wilkens says that she recently gave a concert in Latvia while recording music tracks for her first album in London.
Metaverse influencers and pop stars are becoming more important, but as with all new technologies, this should be done with a bit of caution. First of all, we can assume that since AI-powered computers can already write songs, it won’t be long before virtual pop stars are more than just animated mouthpieces for songs made by humans.
When that happens, we have to ask if art made by machines is even art. Is “something that an artist made?” And can a machine or robot really be called an artist? Second, will this type of virtual or metaverse artist (if they are artists at all) be able to make anything truly challenging or valuable? Acts that go against “the establishment” and make something new and different in the process Lastly, the fact that the people who made virtual celebrities could use them as stand-ins brings up another cultural question.
Society will find answers to these questions as the metaverse becomes a bigger part of our lives over the next 10 years and the lines between the real world, real celebrities and influencers, and the virtual world become less clear.
Polar thinks that virtual celebrities, entertainers, and musicians will never completely replace “real” ones as far as culture goes. They will live together with artists and influencers from the real world, making a digital version of real people as well as completely fake digital versions.
One thing is certain: just like the metaverse itself, virtual pop stars and influencers will be a powerful marketing tool for brands that want to reach new customers, especially the young, digital-native generations that will live in the virtual world.
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