User blog comment:CloverLeafNine/I Think There's Probably Something Wrong With Me/@comment-12633677-20140402204046

I think most of us "accidentally" found Vocaloid, believe it or not.

In 2011 I was quite active on a certain Neopets fan forum, and somebody linked to a Stepmania gameplay video of "Hare Hare Yukai". Despite never having been exposed to the animanga culture, I really liked the song, so I showed it to my gemini. Later that day she clicked on some of the suggestions in the sidebar, and that was when I first heard Ievan Polkka, PoPiPo, and Triple Baka.

I really liked the songs, but I never looked for any others. YouTube wasn't a site we were allowed on growing up, so I wasn't used to using it. I found a bunch of Vocaloid songs through my sister, though... Dolls, Pop Candy, the Seven Sins Series, Japanese Ninja No.1, Dancing Samurai, World's End Dancehall, Spice!, Magnet, Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder, Dancer in the Dark, Dark Woods Circus... those sort of songs. To my credit, though, I did find one song myself... Just Be Friends. It's still one of my very favorite Vocaloid songs.

We both kinda drifted out of Vocaloid for a bit, but out of boredom I downloaded Stepmania at the beginning of last year. It was through Vocamania and Gpop's packs that I really, truly became a Vocaloid fan. I started editing the wiki, joined VocaloidOtaku, and started looking for music not that my sister liked, but that I liked. Vocaloid has become a big part of my life and it's helped me discover my musical identity. I love the concept that fans can be creators and creators can be fans, and that there's such international diversity in both the fanbase and the music styles.

There are a lot of "hardcore" Vocaloid fans who scorn newbies for not knowing about all the obscure Vocaloids or having all the facts straight, but we all had to start somewhere. Almost everyone knew about the Cryptonloids and GUMI first because they're the most popular, and there's nothing wrong with that.