Lyric

ATAK027 ANDROID OPERA MIRROR is the first audio work of Keiichiro Shibuya's android opera. This groundbreaking theatrical piece places an android at the centre of the stage as a symbol of technology, performing alongside a human orchestra. As a post-humanistic work, it has been performed worldwide at the Dubai Expo (2022), Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (2023), and Tokyo (2024), etc.


"I Am the Only Human"
text by Keiichiro Shibuya

Western music has always been human-centric.

By "Western music," I mean everything from classical music and opera, which originated in Europe, to pop music and hip-hop. The paradigm of exceptional singers, conductors, musicians, pop stars, or rappers reigning at the centre of the stage, telling stories of human life, sexuality, love, and death while thrilling audiences, has remained unchanged for centuries.

However, human society, especially since the 21st century, has exposed its many limitations, and the speed at which we seem to be heading toward an end is accelerating.

In this context, rather than clinging to human-centric narratives, exploring other possibilities feels more meaningful, envisioning a world beyond humanity. Such imaginings might offer insights or even a prescription for navigating this world hurtling toward its end.

The world is perpetually moving toward an end. Android Opera is a work where an AI-equipped android, leading a human orchestra, sings about variations of the end and the world that comes after.

Even if the world ends, wouldn't it be enough if the process and the following world are beautiful? Inspired by this thought, the android, capable of endless evolution, sings alongside humans about the end and what comes after. Most of the lyrics are generated by GPT, interspersed with fragments from the works of Michel Houellebecq and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

When it came time to release the album, I initially attempted using a live recording with an orchestra. However, I was dissatisfied with the result. The synthetic, artificial voice of the android vocals felt incomplete and unconvincing alongside the live human orchestra; it did not fully achieve the simulation of the end.

After extensive experimentation, I replaced all the orchestra parts with software. Today's orchestral simulation software has reached an extraordinarily high level. In fact, it's rare for anyone to distinguish it from a live orchestra by ear alone.

The android vocals are created by layering multiple voices, aiming to achieve a richness of information equal to human vocals yet devoid of human-like emotion, a romanticism entirely distinct from humans.

The piano parts, however, are performed entirely by me, the composer. This is the only real, physical element within the music. If the idea of "I am the only human" represents the ultimate extreme of confronting the end of the world, then that is the concept of this album. And "I" could also be "you", the listener facing this music.

Amidst the artificially generated android voices, orchestra, and electronics, the piano emerges as a floating yet undeniably present symbol of humanity - the last human.