Hakos Baelz - UNCUT 5 Song Study: 'PLAY DICE!,' 'Mess,' 'PSYCHO,' 'R x R x R' & 'I found me' (74 min)

Thanks so much for the great study of Bae's music Tim (I may have listened to it a few times already). Bae was my first introduction to VTubers, and has been my kamioshi ever since. Initially it was just being a fellow Aussie that drew me to her, but the more I heard her music, the more I realized she was something special. I was finding a lot of the music I was listening to at the time was becoming pretty stale, and discovering the world of VTubers/vocaloid and everything adjacent like you have been recently made me fall in love with music all over again. The rhythm game that Psycho is in that was mentioned in your notes, "Hololive Dreams" (Holodori for short), is a Hololive specific rhythm/gatcha game, and only contains music from holomems. So you wouldn't find anything in there you wouldn't find by just listening to Hololive music in general. Bae's catchphrase "Witness Me" is from Mad Max Fury Road, another nod to her Aussieness (idk if she's ever explicitly said so for IP related reasons, but every Aussie knows that phrase). Other comments have mentioned it, but your observation that "everything she does, she goes all the way" is bang on, and such an astute observation after only hearing a few of her songs. Its honestly what so many of us love about her and find so inspirational about her work and her journey. Everything about her journey is very motivational, which I think can be clearly seen by her steady rise in popularity over the years. You might also be interested to know that the person SHE looks up to for motivation and inspiration is Mori Calliope, which probably isn't all that surprising. Thanks again Tim. It was a pleasure to hear these songs for the first time again through your ears.

Perfect time to do a Bae study, since "I Found Me" just came out. Bae is a fantastically powerful singer while also being one of Hololive's best dancers. She's also kind of an adorable dorky on stream ♥️ You can't really miss with any of her tracks, but her cover of "LOS! LOS! LOS!" is especially phenomenal.

I finally subscribed to my very first patreon and I’m so glad it’s yours! Free content wasn't enough. I'm really looking forward to your reaction to 'I Found Me'. it made me cry the first time I heard it. I'm so excited to explore the rest of your content!

It's funny how I am go straight into patreon when I got Youtube notification. Your reaction to I found me is priceless. Thank you.

The dice doesn't necessarily symbolize gambling, it actually symbolizes chaos and randomness. Her lore and the lore of everyone in her gen was that each of them embodied a specific concept. Bae is the embodiment of chaos and so the dice is the symbolism of that.

"Everything she does, she goes all the way" I think that's the core of why I love watching her (both her songs, but her streams as well). You can see it right down things like how she engages with a game's story. One interesting for me is realising she's been doing crazy stuff with her vocals and hitting high notes even from the early songs like Play Dice. I guess I should have known but I didn't really think about it. A lot of people know her for her dancing first and foremost but her vocals are amazing too. Good timing on this with I Found Me's release. That song packs a lot of emotion in and I think I'm still processing it... Fun little tidbit though, the drawing in the final frames is a reference to a drawing learning stream she did with Ninomae Ina'nis, another Hololive member - The lips were Bae's attempt at following Ina in drawing a :3 shape.

One more important thing to note about Bae: her singing is great, and her *dancing* is even better. There's a reason she's almost always been one of the performers in the "free preview" section for EN's concert streams. She's an absolutely incredible performer and she thrives on the stage.

Man, whenever Hololive puts out a vulnerable emotional song like this I just get completely overwhelmed. I Found Me, end of a life, i'll still be here, there's something so powerful about these anonymous (for the most part) artists opening up about the feelings that they have, sharing a true piece of themselves. It's really special. Vtubers are so layered as artists, it's amazing to watch their careers grow.

Thanks for checking out Bae's songs! And it's even better timing because she just released I Found Me which is maybe her most personal song yet and an amazing one too so I'm glad that you are just in time for it! Bae is such an underrated singer, she is often praised as one of the best dancers in Hololive but her vocals don't get talked about anywhere near enough, she has such a versatile voice that she has incredible range in terms of music genre. Oh and about the dice thing, her entire gen has the lore which each member represents a concept or element, we have Fauna as Nature, Kronii as time, Mumei as civilization, Sana as space and Bae as chaos, and since she is chaos incarnate she has this theme of leaving things to chances and hence why dice is part of her character image (although contrary to her character lore, it is also a common consensus that she is one of the most mature and organized member lol)

Since I’ve been a hololive fan, Psycho has been one of my favorite holo songs ever put out.

Can't wait to get Bae's and Towa cover of blooming in the mud reaction

So Hololive English is a primarily English speaking branch though that is not the only language they speak. Their purpose is to cater to western fans. So despite most of them now living in japan for ease of work they still have to cater to their timeslots which makes their sleep schedules terrible. Kiara, Cecelia, Raora, Liz all cater to the EU prime time slot Bae here caters to the Aussie prime time slot the rest all cater to the US/Canada prime time slots Despite this several of them have a fairly large JP fanbase, Kiara and Bae are also picking up more and more of a Korean fan base as well.

The reason why you find so many original songs sung in japanese, by the HoloEN members, is that Hololive is still a japanese organization; finding producers and such is much easier for them in Japan. Plus, a big part of the audience is in Japan, and for most of us Fans, we already liked Japanese music, anime, and media in general.

"No math can settle this rat" - part of her lore is that she is the embodiment of chaos, and her oshi mark is the dice which symbolize randomness. She can't be calculated or predicted, so no math can settle her. Thanks for the deep dive! Bae is a terrific performer and one of Holo's best dancers

You might see it later, but gonna answer while the question is fresh in my head. Hakos Baelz is one of 5 vtubers of Hololive 2nd English generation, Council. Each member acts as a concept for different things. These include Tsukumo Sana, the Speaker of Space. Ceres Fauna, the Keeper of Nature. Ouro Kronii, the Warden of Time. Nanashi Mumei, the Guardian of Civilization. And in time, IRyS would slowly become their unofficial 6th member, being closest in debut, and a similar theme as Hope Incarnate (Following Sana's graduation, she would eventually join the generation, reformed into Hololive: Promise). Hakos Baelz, or Bae, is the very Concept of Chaos, born of the world itself. She kinda acts as the head of council, but honestly, I'd say that they all kind of take turns leading the group. With her association with Chaos, she is connected with chance, discord, and freedom that can defy the rules of the universe, and luck, both good and bad. As such, dice and explosions, along with rats, are the common symbols associated with her, all of which emphasize her freedom and defiance against the rules of reality, and the creativity and power that lies underneath.