Sad Machine

Background
I wanted something that felt distantly sad, a little cute, surreal, hopeful, and maybe somehow evocative of fiction?

"Sad Machine" is the second single and second song on Porter Robinson's album Worlds, released by the label Astralwerks. It features a duet between him (marking his vocal debut) and the Vocaloid AVANNA, making "Sad Machine" one of the first times a notable producer outside the Vocaloid community used a Vocaloid for more than just sound effects. Robinson based the song off the idea of a duet between a lonely robot girl and a human boy who finds her. The song was the last one written for the album, the release date of which was announced by newsletter subsequent to the song's release.

"Sad Machine" received mostly positive reviews from the media. Dancing Astronaut summed up the track as "a mirthful indie dance song with a fantastical atmosphere", claiming that "by the time the fleeting arps and pads descend into silence, we’re left breathless and starry-eyed by the beauty of the composition.". LessThan3 described it as "a soft, dreamy affair". Daily Beat felt the single was overhyped and couldn't live up to the unreal expectations surrounding it, but nevertheless arrived at the conclusion that "Sad Machine is a beautiful tune, with a simplistic catchy drop and includes cool/eery vocaloid generated vocals."

In a podcast, Porter Robinson described his intention with AVANNA as being to try to make her sound as robotic as possible, using Melodyne and other editing techniques.

On May 27, 2014, the SoundCloud upload of "Sad Machine" reached one million views. It was the first original song prominantly featuring an English-language Vocaloid, on any media host, to achieve the feat.

Purchase links

 * beatport
 * iTunes US
 * Amazon MP3
 * Album preorder