Rap & The Metaverse: Sony Music’s ‘XR Live’ Project ReVers3:x

Since the pandemic, streamed shows have become a well-known format for live performances. Initially, these shows were seen as being streamed live because it wasn’t possible to perform in-person shows. However, they’ve evolved over time, and now many shows include elements that create an appeal that only streaming shows are capable of.

One example are shows that use the metaverse — an online 3D virtual space. With the metaverse, for example, it’s easy to completely change the stage, location, and costumes for every song, something that isn’t feasible with in-person shows. Also, because the venue is the internet, it’s easy for listeners in Japan or around the world to enjoy watching the show using just their everyday smartphone. For example, in August 2020, Kenshi Yonezu became the first Japanese artist to hold a virtual Fortnite show with his Kenshi Yonezu 2020 Event / STRAY SHEEP in FORTNITE. Yonezu himself appeared as an avatar wearing a sheep’s mask like the one on the jacket of his STRAY SHEEP album. Fans (or, rather, the avatars of fans) from around the world gathered to see his performance.

In the case of the Fortnite show, the onstage performance wasn’t technically by Kenshi Yonezu himself, but by his avatar. This surely didn’t sit right with some listeners, who want to see the actual artists as they perform. But what if, instead of an avatar, it were the artist themselves, performing in the metaverse? ReVers3:x (pronounced “reverse cross”), created and released by Sony Music Labels, is an “XR” short live performance project that seeks to create content that brings together the best parts of in-person live performances and metaverse live performances.

XR stands for “cross-reality,” a collective term for the pioneering technologies of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). ReVers3:x uses the latest technologies from the Sony Group to perform volumetric capture using 3D cameras. This technique captures the subjects it films — both their movements and their locations — as 3D data. With volumetric video, people can enjoy high resolution, natural-feeling live videos that appear like an artist actually performing within the virtual space. Another key point of the project is that original virtual spaces that act as the performance stages can be created for each performance.

ReVers3:x is updated irregularly, but so far it has been used for a total of four live performances. These performances were broadcast around the world through its official YouTube channel, and the channel’s archives contain all four performances in their entirety. The majority of these shows have been by hip-hop artists. For the first show, held in March 2022, in the middle of the pandemic, they selected the artist KEIJU. The second show, in May 2022, featured OZworld, an NFT artist in his own right. The third show, which was the first to be broadcast live, was a multi-artist show by CHEHON, Ryoff Karma, and CHICO CARLITO.

And just recently, on October 30, 2023, the fourth show was broadcast: BOSO TOKYO Presents “ReVers3:x Feat. GIRL’S POWER.” This show, the project’s first collaboration, was held within Virtual Halloween 2023, an online event conducted by KDDI, Future Design Shibuya, and the Shibuya City Tourism Association. Perhaps due to the Shibuya location, or perhaps inspired by the “Y2K” trend, the concept of this event was “gyaru.” The main artists were Yayoi Daimon, a singer-songwriter and choreographer who recently has drawn a great deal of attention by supplying music for Hypnosis Mic, and the creative team Sister Hood, which Daimon leads and which includes creators like dancer BROWNFISH ERI, makeup artist and designer MARIN KADOWAKI, and DJ XUNA. The show also featured three women rappers: CYBER RUI, a finalist on ABEMA’s RAPSTAR Tanjyou 2021, Rei(c)hi, who rose to fame from her “high school girl battle” with Chanmina on BS SKY PerfecTV’s BAZOOKA!!! High School Rap Tournament, and MaRI, who is still fresh in our memories thanks to her guest appearance on Awich’s “Bad Bitch Bigaku.” The virtual site also had 10,000 gyaru audience members. Together with the stage set, a Halloween-inspired design created in conjunction with the BOSO TOKYO NFT project, it was a show where you could feel the same excitement and passion as a real, in-person performance, right through the screen.

ReVers3:x defines itself as a “collaboration project that combines planning and production for real-world live events, exhibition events, NFTs, and more,” focusing on XR live performances. Its official YouTube channel contains not only live show videos but also behind-the-scenes videos and original music by the project’s own virtual artist, ICQ. It shares excitement in a variety of ways, from both musical and technological perspectives.

Worldwide. XR. NFTs. Every one of ReVers3:x’s keywords is one that has taken the limelight in today’s Japanese entertainment content industry. Eyes are trained on the future to see what kinds of new creations the Sony Group will produce using its state-of-the-art technologies.

—This article by Maiko Murata first appeared on Billboard Japan