Meli ☔️

Before going into this, I'd like to say TWO THINGS: 1.) I had the majority of all the songs figured out before May, as I figured out late April that I wanted to do this for hadm this year, however there were some that I changed last minute, as they were giving me some trouble. 2.) When choosing the songs, I actually wanted to do a wider range of vocaloid producers, rather than vocal synths/voice banks. In the community, a lot of people (including myself) are unhappy with others accrediting the songs to the voicebank, rather than the talented producers and composers behind it instead. (Ex - Saying a song like Rabbit Hole is by Hatsune Miku, rather than Deco*27.) Due to this, and the fact that I know not a lot of people in the mcyt space are as into vocaloid as I am, and might want to get into it because of this, I wanted to have a wide range of producers for people to get to know! I allowed myself to have 2 songs from one producer max during this process.

With that out of the way, let's get into the decisions!

Day 1: Zedaph - Zed was a bit of a simpler choice for me, he's a very eccentric hermit, and that immediately lead me to think of a more poppy energetic sounding song to him, and during this process I thought to get up the list of most popular vocaloid songs, and Goodbye Sengen is one of the most popular ones! I felt like the vibes fit him really well (:

Day 2: Welsknight - This one was a bittt self indulgent, I'll be honest. He was one I was going back and forth on for the song for a while, but then when I was going through my list of producers, I saw Kikuo and thought of Good Child and the Fox Spirit, since it has a bit more of a traditional jappanese theme, and I thought it fit well!

Day 3: Vintagebeef - We have the first one I changed before posting! Originally, I had Beef's song as Dappou Rock by Neru, but in all honesty I have heard some not so savory things about him? I love the songs he's contributed to the community, but I wanted to stay as far away from that as possible if I'm honest. Then i thought Telepathy would be perfect for the colorful theme and 80's vibes Beef has this season, plus the song's chaoticness fits with him starting later than usual I feel.

Day 4: Alt Hermit/CuteGuy - This one was a redraw if you don't know! Darling Dance fit him really well visually, and that was mainly it? It just felt right and sometimes that's enough y'know?

Day 5: Joe Hills: This one was also VERYY self indulgent, as PinocchioP is one of my favorite producers ever, and Joe is my favorite Hermit lol. However, Joe is very poetic in his videos of course, and PinocchioP's lyrics usually are very deep and profound past the surface, and usually talk about a wide range of societal issues usually, and it felt right to give one of songs to Joe! Choosing the exact song was a bit of a struggle, and honestly if I did this challenge again, I'd love to do I'm glad your evil too with Joe and Cleo, but in the end I decided on All I need are things I like for no particular reason? It felt right

Day 6: Keralis - THIS ONE. This one I struggled with, and when that happens I go to my list of producers or the list of popular vocaloid songs/the vocaloid hall of fame, and I saw butterfly on your right shoulder on there, and honestly it just clicked! The song felt right vibe wise, and has some more suggestive/sexual lyrics, which ofc, fits Keralis very well. Lmao

Day 7: Skizzleman - Okay this one is one of the ones that hit me, and I realized I just couldn't do anything else. Skizz's theme this year is focused around the Ego, Persona, and Shadow, and when going down my list of producers I realized...Ego Rock...omg its perfect.

Day 8: Xisuma - I love x's theme this season! When I got to Mikito P on my list of producers, I realized Roki would fit him perfectly! However, he is one of the hermits I wish I did more with visually in my piece, as the original MV has a LOT of fun references in the background on these shelves, and I'd love to maybe redraw that piece in the future wihtout the time constraints.

Day 9: Favorite Event/Blood on the Clocktower - Another one I changed! Originally this was going to be the WHOLE charity event as Tondemo Wonderz by Sasukure.uk, but the MV was really hard to draw? The original MV is in a pixel style, which I love, but doing that as the charity event I couldn't really figure out. (And I also already had 1 Project Sekai song on this list, and while I love all the songs from it, I just don't like it as much anymore due to the toxic fandom on twt tbh) In the end I was thinking on it, then I realized...bad girl online...blood on the clocktower MY LOVE

Day 10: Docm77 - Okay this one was hard, but not in the way you'd think. I actually knew his producer from the start, and that was UtsuP! Doc really likes Metal music, and UtsuP almost exclusively makes metal music with vocal synths, so I know I needed to do his songs. The problem is that I didn't really know his music before this event lol. Originally it was Moth/Ga, but Doc is definitely butterfly and the lyrics of Ga are very anti-butterfly and pro moth, so that was out the window. After that I thought of Hello Builder, but the pose was being annoying, so I decided to go with the song that my gut told me to do from the outset: Gorgon! (Doc is the last song I changed last minute)

Day 11: Goodtimeswithscar - I think I've mentioned this before, but this original concept came around last year when I was doing this as a strictly life series based project before getting burnt out, and one of the songs I had decided back then that i hadn't gotten too was Hero by Ayase for Scar because of his HotGuy themes!

Day 12: Pearlescentmoon - This one was also causing me some trouble, then I decided on Sand Planet due to her Australian Outback theming of part of her base! I actually drew this as Grian back in the day when I was doing the life series version of this...desert.

Day 13: Rendog - When I was going down the list, I remembered I could have repeats, so I looked through Kairiki Bear's discography again...then I realized....Ruma is the dog song...wait...I wished I could've found a more magical song, but the only other song I could think of was Magic by Nakiso, and the vibes are a lot more dark? It's more sinister magic rather than whimsical magic, so i decided against it.

Day 14: Outfit Swap Day - Flavor Foley is another one of my favorite Vocaloid Producers, so I knew I had to do at least one of their songs. When I got to Joel actually, I Thought about it, but then thought it was really simple for him, so I decided that I could do it for Gem in Joel's outfit instead!

Day 15: Xbcrafted - I had this idea and knew I had to make FedXB a magical girl. He is a magical girl. fight me.

Day 16: Cubfan135 - Another Hermit I knew the producer for!! Nayutalien is a producer whose songs are almost ALWAYS themed around space name wise, hence the name. I ended up on Planet Loop mainly just because it's my favorite of his songs honestly!

Day 17: Smallishbeans - As mentioned earlier, I didn't want to do Static for Joel, as that's a very popular thing people have done already. (For good reason! I love the song, I just wanted to do something else) Then I thought of Mesmerizer! Funfact I almost put Lizzie as the song as the Teto to Joel's Miku Didn't do it thought because I needed to do lineart and I hate doing clean lineart due to my shaky hands lol(Jimmy is Neru/the hypnotizer in this AU I think. Yes? Yes.)

Day 18: AU Day - My Bandori Au has been something i've been sitting on for A WHILE and for AU Day I thought I could show it off with still doing a classic Zits Band AU! Sansan is composed by Jin, who is a vocaloid producer, and it's one of my favorite Afterglow songs, so it fit perfectly! Can't wait to share more about this AU (:

Day 19: Ethoslab - He was another tricky one, I originally wanted to do one of the classics as a nod to his old nature, but I couldn't really find one that I could draw over? I almost gave him a wowaka song, but while I love them, I can't really draw them in a way that makes it recognizable. Same reason there aren't any Maretu songs sadly :( In the end I thought Hito Mania fit vibe wise, as he's all over the place, and also it just felt right!

Day 20: iJevin - Another toughie! I was brainstorming for a while, and then Tale of Deep Sea Lily came up and fit perfectly.

Day 21: Hypnotizd - This was another one I was less sure what to do, but I felt inochi bakkari just fit him when I got to nuyuri on my list tbh!

Day 22: Mumbo Jumbo - My favorite vocal synth is Adachi Rei and Defoko funfact! I felt with Mumbo's theme a song featuring them would fit a lot, and Heat Abnormal is the Adachi Rei song, so I think it fit perfectly!

Day 23: Friends of Hermits - THIS ONE I HAD IN MIND IMMEDIATELY. I also had in mind to do Jimmy as Birdbrain for this day or Martyn as Monitoring, but this just felt too right. Might animate Jimmy in Birdbrain one day if I get more confident in my animatics? I'm still not sure.

Day 24: Falsesymmetry - Another toughie! Her theme didn't make me think of any songs in particular, but I got to inabakumori and their songs felt right for her, so I ended up on Lagtrain!

Day 25: TangoTek - This one also gave me troubles! I almost went with The Vampire by Deco*27, but honestly that would be the THIRD song by him, and then Bitter Choco Decoration came up lol

Day 26: ImpulseSV - Another one that fit perfectly! Bring it On is VERY yellow, and it fits that kinda cyberpunk vibes he loves to do!

Day 27: Grian - Originally I thought Monitoring would be a good song to do Martyn in, since he does more lore things with The Watchers, but the I realized I should work smarter not harder. The call him the watcher the way he be watching things amiright

Day 28: Fav Group/Collab - Funfact this was orignally going to be The Season 11 Lobsters (Cleo, False, Joe, Ren, and Pearl) as they are my favorite group this season actually! (I lied its not C Team. How dare I.) Then I realized for Niccori Survery Team C team fit it better and had the same members so like. Eh.

Day 29: Bdouble0 - Another hard one! Balloon fit him song wise and sound wise, and so I ended up on Pamela with how much he uses plants and terraforming in his builds, also this was another Grian art I did back in the original series back in the day! (He was my fav hermit back in the day could you tell.)

Day 30: Geminitay - I KNEW I needed a Kanaria song in this playlist, and almost gave it to Ren with KING, but he's not a King this season! Then I realized...Demon Lord could be Dragon Lord...hell yea...(For my Pow SMP heads I actually drew QUEEN by Kanaria as Cherri when her design was announced funfact!)

Day 31: ZombieCleo - Finally we have Cleo! I felt PinnochioP also fit her, and that way her and joe can match!! Bonded pair do not seperate. Playing Immortal fit with her Zombie theme, and also her theme this season I feel? I know it's a newer song technically but I love it so much I had too.