User blog comment:763492/Hatsune Miku on Hollywood's Walk of Fame/@comment-24.17.74.245-20141021021549/@comment-5051846-20141022114700

Oh, just different 'norms' really. In different cultures different things are considered normal, in all cultures things that differ from the norm can be ostrasised.

If I were to put forward a theory for why high pitched voices are not mainstream in the West, I'd say it's multiple factors. High pitched voices are associated more strongly with young children in the West than they are in Japan; although as we know you can get adults with high cutsey voices, in Western media (say, cartoons) high cutsey voices are only used to represent youngsters. Miku's voice is more reminisant of toddlers than teens in terms of how it's used on average in the West, so it can feel awkward to listen to.

There is also the fact that Miku is 16, whereas in America (the biggest Western market) the age of consent is 18. Even being a fan of Miku has negative connotations because of this, and it limits what many producers would fee comfortable making her sing – making the production of love songs or songs with sexual themes much less appealing. Her voice makes her sound even younger.

Then there's the negative stereotypes often associated with high voices. No one can say quite where stereotypes come from, probably just trends in media. High pitched voices are strongly associated with annoyance. Which Western characters can you think of with deliberately high cutsey voices that aren't, 1. Less than 14 years old and 2. designed to be annoying or obnoxious? This is one of the big problems Miku faces, what made her appealing in Japan isn't considered typically appealing elsewhere. The majority of Western tropes revolving about high pitched voices are highly negative.