Virtual J-Pop star makes an appearance on the Late Show

Hatsune Miku, also known to some people as Miku Hatsune, is already a sensation in her native Japan. But now she’s taking her vocal talents to other parts of the world, including none other than the US. The virtual pop start appeared last night on the Late Show with David Letterman, where she performed her single “Sharing the World” in full hologram form.

Last night, David Letterman’s musical guest was an enormously popular Japanese pop star who has opened for Lady Gaga and racked up an estimated 88 million views on YouTube. She performed her song “Sharing the World.” She is also not human. She’s also a vocal synthesizer software with no corporeal form, the VR personification of a software called Vocaloid developed by Crypton Future Media. She’s not the only Vocaloid singer, but she’s the most popular. Miku has an ardent fan base, and it’s not unprecedented for Letterman to give East Asian pop stars a slot (he had Korean girl group juggernaut Girls’ Generation on in 2012). The only unusual thing about Miku is that she’s a software program and not, you know, a biological being.