Wowaka (November 4, 1987 - April 5, 2019), also known as Genjitsutouhi-P, was a Japanese musician and highly influential Vocaloid producer that debuted in 2009.
Born in Kagoshima, Japan, wowaka had been interested in music since he was in middle school, and joined in and out of various rock bands in his years between high school and college. In 2008, he became acquainted with the Vocaloid character Hatsune Miku through the livetune song "Last Night, Good Night", upon which he began creating his own music using Miku's voice. While all of his songs were incredibly popular, his popularity hit its apex with the song "Rolling Girl", released in 2010.
Following the release of his first studio album using Vocaloid, Unhappy Refrain, wowaka dropped out of the Vocaloid scene to pursue a new band called Hitorie. Six years later, he returned once more to upload the song "Unknown Mother Goose" as part of an album compilation for Hatsune Miku's 10th anniversary.
wowaka is best known for his high-tempo and chaotic-sounding rock music, often with heavy and introspective lyrics. His unique musical style ended up having a massive impact on the Vocaloid community as a whole, including on his fellow Vocaloid user and friend Kenshi Yonezu, also known as Hachi.
Discography:
- the monochrome disc (2009)
- World 0123456789 (2010)
- SEVEN GIRLS' DISCORD (2010)
- Unhappy Refrain (2011)
Tropes relating to wowaka's music include:
- Call-Back: "Unhappy Refrain" and "Unknown Mother Goose" both make references to "Rolling Girl".(in Unhappy Refrain) I gave up on "one more time"(in Unknown Mother Goose) Am I going to continue to roll on forever?
- Deliberately Monochrome: All of the images in wowaka's PVs are only in gray, black and white.
- Driven to Suicide: The protagonists of "Unhappy Refrain" and "World's End Dancehall" are heavily implied to have jumped to their deaths at the end of the song.
- The boy in the "Rolling Girl" music video is commonly interpreted as her depression. It implies she kills herself because she was getting tired of 'rolling'.
- Gayngst: "World's End Dancehall" has been open to a lot of different interpretations, but one common interpretation (popularized by Taku and Ao Fujimori's fanmade music video
) is that it's about two lesbian lovers who commit suicide, as homophobic discrimination has led them to believe the world isn't worth living in. - Idiosyncratic Cover Art: Each song has a monochrome image associated with it related to the subject of the song.
- Intercourse with You: "Two-Faced Lovers".
- Lonely Piano Piece: "Tenohira" is this, especially in its original version.
- Stepford Smiler: The subject in "Rolling Girl" repeatedly tells others that she's fine despite her repeated suffering.
- Take That, Audience!: The song "Unhappy Refrain" reads as this, as it calls out the Vocaloid community for attributing his success to Hatsune Miku as if she were a real person despite her simply being the software he worked with.
- Vocal Evolution: Miku's vocals in "Unknown Mother Goose" are deeper and crisper than in all of wowaka's previous songs due to this song using her updated V4X voicebank rather than her original VOCALOID2 one.
