Top 10 Most-Streamed Hololive English Original Songs

#5: LIVE AGAIN – Calliope Mori

For some odd reason, this track segues perfectly with ‘Red’ – by serving as a foreshadowing of someone’s absence. And that is what fans have speculated, along with who it is dedicated to.

Fans have speculated that this track is a dedication of Mori to fellow Hololive English member Takanashi Kiara, who at the time of the track’s release, was leaving Japan.

Speculations aside, this track itself is a beautiful message of encouraging someone that ‘every closed door is just the intro of a brand-new story’.

#4: RED – Calliope Mori

This track, the second one from Mori’s ‘Your Mori’ EP, is not just an allude to her own persona as a grim reaper, but perhaps a realist reflection on her journey as a VTuber and her ever-growing fanbase.

The lyrics themselves are a metaphorical approach to how she deals with her VTuber persona. As semi-taboo as it seems, fans are worried about the success of their favorite VTubers, and how despite the large effort they put into, time will come that they need to leave that persona behind. Fans interpret this track as Mori’s way of coping with that ‘cursed ending’ and dealing with an identity crisis.

Despite the sad nature of the song, which reflects the numerous large graduations that have happened including Kiryu Coco, there is a sliver of optimism that is seen here. Through this track, fans interpret Mori’s self-awareness as being evident in this track, while also inviting other VTubers out there to face this ‘blessed yet cursed’ reality.

#3: DEAD BEATS – Calliope Mori

Ah, yes: the rap track that started the name of Mori’s ever-growing fanbase: the DEAD BEATS.

The second track of Mori’s first-ever EP, this hard-hitting trap-based verse takes you on a journey of Mori’s desires as a grim reaper (again, based on the lore) and asks fans questions such as ‘Would you die with me?’. 

The best part of this song? This peaked at the US and Japan iTunes Rap/Hip Hop charts at the time of its release back in 2020.

#2: REFLECT – Gawr Gura

A new challenger is in town: Hololive’s resident ‘shark’ and ‘resident of Atlantis’ VTuber Gawr Gura and her debut single.

In one of Hololive EN’s most-hyped releases, this debut track by Gura is another example of how one’s identity crisis leads to the success of their other persona. In this case, the other persona referred to as ‘Gawr’ dismisses Gura’s attempts to escape her reality as a ‘shark’ (based on the lore). Meanwhile, Gura rejects such a notion but admits that, without Gawr, she wouldn’t have come this far.

An interesting point also to consider within this track is Gura’s intro and outro, sung in the ancient Byzantine Greek – an allude to the well-known city of Atlantis, where Gura is from. The phrases ‘Εκ λόγου άλλος εκβαίνει λόγος’ or  ‘One word brings another’ and ‘Ουδέν Κακό Αμιγές Καλού’ or ‘Nothing bad is without something good’ are derived from known ancient Greek phrases, one of which comes from the Greek tragedian Euripides.

The overall persona exchange that is manifested in this track is a metaphorical approach of showing how many of us have these conflicting personas that don’t agree with one another, and how as time progresses, we begin to acknowledge even the darkest of our pasts as part of our maturity.

#1: EXCUSE MY RUDENESS, BUT COULD YOU PLEASE RIP? – Calliope Mori

And now for the finale: the song that marked Mori’s debut in 2020, and one that cemented her future releases in the following months.

First performed during her debut stream on 12 September last year, this song gave ‘DEAD BEATS’ the first taste of Mori’s personality and style of performance. While some would say that the song is ‘unorthodox’ of the stereotypical idol, Mori’s style of rapping comes in line with the rise of other large VTubers that are now leaning towards a more Western preference instead of the Japanese idol grassroots.

Nevertheless, the rap itself is mashed within these trap beats and tells a great story of Mori’s mission as a grim reaper.

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All data in this piece are based on official MVs of each of the tracks, recorded last December 23, 2021.
© 2016 COVER Corp