Since its inception in the late 2000s, the vocaloid scene has been rapidly growing in popularity, traveling beyond Japan and reaching audiences globally. Though as the genre grows older and the fanbase grows bigger, question begins to erupt whether or not this influence will erect new, promising producers outside of Japan. But, while some producers have made a name for themselves in the United States, none have had an outreach quite like producer Jamie Paige.
BACKGROUND
Jamie Paige, formally known as Jamie Paige Stanley, has been creating music since 2013 and has been gaining traction since the release of “People Posture Play Pretend” and “:women_wrestling:” in 2022. Her influence on the vocaloid scene has been notable, collaborating with numerous producers and forming the vocaloid collective “FLOWER FOLEY.”
Vocaloid music is made with voice synths, a type of instrument that replicates human speech to create an artificial vocalist. Specific types of voices can be created via voicebanks, a database of vocal samples the synthesizer uses as a reference to articulate a certain kind of voice.
Since 2007, the release of the Hatsune Miku voicebank sparked a growth of interest into vocaloid. Though in recent memory, it’s been picking up major steam. 2024 saw the release of Paige’s album “Contrast Companions,” gaining popularity on social media with the track “Machine Love.” As “Machine Love” went viral, its popularity exposed vocaloid to a new audience.
FAU
Right off the bat, Contrast Companion creates an abrasive yet cohesive sound, with vibrant, bubbling synths juxtaposed by electronic drums and chopped guitar samples. It gives a fast, bouncing groove that makes it sound like it sparkles.
The album is introduced with the track “Dyad”. Though a stale beginning, it describes the major elements we’ll hear for the rest of the album; the “Baby do you know what you wanna hear?” leitmotif, Jamie’s musical style, and retrospective lyrics.
Throughout each track, Jamie displays her skills by creating a different atmosphere for each song. “Breeze Blows” features vocals provided by ANRI Arcane’s voicebank. Throughout the track, her vocals have an airy texture to them, as if they’re gliding gently through the sky with the instrumentals, fitting the name of the track. “My Darling, My Companion” utilizes synths that hit on every beat of the chorus, crafting a sound that is reminiscent of 2010’s dance-pop. “Machine Love” comes across as a dense confession of love from a robot, brimming with passion and energy as she pleads for love. These moments in the album feel touching with its instrumentation, making the listener sympathize with all of its lows while being able to ride its absolute highs.
Her style can become suffocating throughout the album though. Tracks like “Dyad”, “Aggrandicize”, “Cadmium Colors”, and “Not Quite There” come across as the same, with their major drawback being that they’re more reflective of Paige’s style of music rather than being an original piece of music.
When thinking of her production, a quote that’s relevant to bring up is one from British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre,
“There’s too much personality in music. Who the hell cares about who it is? It’s the music that stands up. I would like the audience not to know who I was and not to see me, in completely all forms of music, in fact, not to know the artist, not to see the artist, not to know who wrote the song or the piece, but just to hear the music completely devoid of anything and evaluate the music on its merits.” Siffre said in an interview with Sounding Out on February 21, 1972.
When applying this quote to “Contrast Companions,” Paige’s flair almost suppresses what could be explored in certain tracks. However, this shouldn’t be a discredit to her skills, as several tracks on the album prove her flexibility in songwriting and production.
“Clouddrop” switches up the song in the bridge to create a moment of tension that contrasts with its preceding sections. With vocals accompanied only by string synths, it slowly rises throughout the bridge to create a cinematic build-up before the song moves into electric rock in the next chorus. This movement crafts motion in the lyrics’ story and release as if it were a movie.
More examples of flexibility are in the bridge of “BIRDBRAIN,” the breakbeat influences in “Manifesto”, and more. Even when her style´s brimming in “Machine Love,” it’s fleshed out through songwriting to become this huge release on the original tracklist, becoming the best track on the entire album. This flexibility needs to be realized on more tracks, otherwise future projects could fall flat and all sound the same.
“Contrast Companions” has a unique atmosphere stemming from Paige’s approach towards vocaloid. While it may become repetitive in production, the album blooms with the vast environments it crafts and creates a product that’s undeniably hers. “Contrast Companions” is a setting stone towards Paige’s foray in popularity, that if built right, can make her the leading figure of the western vocaloid scene. 8/10
LIAM
As someone who has never listened to a vocaloid album or artist before, I’ve gotta say it’s an interesting genre of music, and I’m here for it.
“Contrast Companions” by Paige was an amazing album. I’ve personally never listened to a vocaloid album before, but I will say that for my first vocaloid album, Contrast Companions was an amazing entry. Starting with “Dyad,” I really liked this song. It gave a nice feel for how the album goes, but after getting through the whole album I will say it was a weak start to the album, especially since it’s followed by “Not Quite There” and “ROT FOR CLOUT.” The standout songs to me personally were “ROT FOR CLOUT,” “I Wish That I Could Fall,” and “Object Of Affection.” I think this album was amazing. I loved the vocals and instrumentals. I believe if you are like me and have never listened to a vocaloid album before, Contrast Companions is a good way to really get the feel for the genre. 8.5/10
