Virtual Singer Lil Miquela Shared a Debut Music Video at Lollapalooza

This year’s Lollapalooza in-person festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But fortunately, it was moved online and was available for free as a YouTube stream from July 30 to August 2.

The four-day broadcast offered more than 150 performances, including artists like The Neighbourhood, Yungblud, Louis the Child, and others. The festival also replayed sets from Arcade Fire, Tyler the Creator, LCD Soundsystem, and Lorde.

Among Lollapalooza’s headliners, there was a famous virtual artist Lil Miquela, who debuted her first music video at the music festival.

The video for the single “Hard Feelings” was created remotely and is entirely computer-generated. It features Miquela and her dance crew on the back of a flatbed truck as they move through a desert and gradually move to a more surreal landscape.

This music video debut is so remarkable because Lil Miquela is essentially a computer-generated digital avatar that started as an Instagram influencer and then entered the music world by releasing singles and music videos.

This particular music video's distinctive feature lies in the fact that earlier, Miquela's creators tried to insert her into the real world, whereas in "Hard Feelings," they built a new, digital world around her.

The video was created using Unreal Engine, a game engine and the most powerful real-time 3D creation platform.

Lil Miquela’s new video continues the trend of concerts going digital. For instance, earlier, Travis Scott held a show in a popular game Fortnite. This trend is especially blooming now as people stay at home and find new ways to reimagine traditional forms of entertainment.

Brazilian-American teenager Miquela Sousa debuted on Instagram in 2016 and is a brainchild of LA startup Brud, co-founded by Sara DeCou and music producer Trevor McFedries. Miquela is a fictional character with Princess Leia buns hairstyle and a sharp fringe, who now has 2.5 million Instagram followers, including famous artists and musicians. Her bio reads: “Musician, change-seeker, and robot with the drip.”

Since 2017, Lil Miquela has released four songs: her debut “Not Mine,” ”You Should Be Alone,” “Hate Me,” and “Right Back.”

There are other digital influencers like Miquela as well, like Blawko, a “young robot sex symbol,” and Bermuda, his ex-girlfriend. All of them were created by Brud.

Cameron-James Wilson, a visual artist and former fashion photographer, also created a famous digital supermodel Shudu.