Magic Idol Singer
A Sub-Trope of Magical Girl where her magical identity is an Idol Singer. They come in two varieties - either a girl who is already an idol singer gains the ability to fight crime, usually by way of singing, or a girl who becomes an idol singer through the use of magic.
This type of Magical Girl is the one that uses the Wish Fulfillment appeal of the genre the most. While the other two types uses her powers to do good deeds or fight the good fight, the Magical Girls here use the powers they gain to achieve their dreams of stardom, although they can use Magic Music.
As the protagonists here tend to be too young to be part of the musical industry, Older Alter Ego is often used.
Note the character has to be a magical girl, not just someone with music related powers.
Compare/Contrast Evil Diva.
Examples of Magic Idol Singer include:
Anime and Manga
- The Trope Maker was Magical Angel Creamy Mami. A girl aids an alien and is granted the ability to become a (just barely) adult. She very quickly realizes that she has no idea what to do with herself as a grownup, then stumbles across a talent contest/scouting mission. Her powers give her an invisible band and special effects, and she gets hired as an idol singer. Hilarity Ensues, though there are more serious bits.
- Full Moon o Sagashite (pictured) is a manga where a very young girl gains the ability to transform into a teenage girl. This also allows her to sing by (temporarily) removing the throat cancer that is otherwise stopping her.
- A rarer example since magic has nothing to do with her singing or performances, with the exception of a few sparkly effects such the occasional wings. Her performances are done solely on her own abilities.
- Fancy Lala is another classical version of the Magical Girl Idol Singer, using the powers granted by her Weasel Mascots to get an adult disguise and a beautiful singing voice.
- Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is a cross of this and Magical Girl Warrior, with mermaids.
- Hime Chen! Otogi Chikku Idol Lilpri is the latest of the bunch, about three girls who transform into princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, and Moon Princess Kaguya) in order restore an ailing Fairyland by spreading happiness in the human world. By becoming a girl group.
- The main character of Brocken Blood becomes a Magical Boy and then he dresses as a girl and becomes an idol in order to find enemies. The person who suggested/forced him to be the idol sometimes forgets that the main goal is to find villains.
- Mink uses this trope, except her transformation isn't done by magic but instead with "secret technology from the future."
- Sailor Moon gives us the Starlights, Sailor Star Maker, Sailor Star Healer, and Sailor Star Fighter, who diguised as a male pop group called the Three Lights on Earth.
- Magical Star Magical Emi: Although Emi is a Stage Magician rather than an Idol Singer, her story still follows the Magic Idol Singer template. She even dabbles in Idol Singer territory by combining her magic shows with musical accompaniment.
- Barajou no Kiss features a Gender Flipped with Suzumura Idel and Hasuzaki Yakoh.
- Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream has the main main characters as ice skaters instead of idol singers, and they lack Older Alter Egos, but otherwise the show fits the genre pretty well.
- Senki Zesshou Symphogear has the main characters being one part Magic Idol singer and one part Magical Girl Warrior. And it's awesome.
- Key from Key the Metal Idol could count when one notes her revered and dreaded magical abilities. This being said, she is also a deconstruction of this trope, just as her, Miho, and Beniko serve to deconstruct the Idol Singer proper.
- Pretty much everyone in AKB0048, an Idol group that also fights evil.
Comic Books
- Alison "Dazzler" Blaire of the X-Men, a singer with the ability to turn light into sound and vice versa. She can use most powers seen with manipulators of sound or light. This also results in her shows looking freaking awesome. Naturally, she changes with what sort of music is popular at the time; when introduced, she was billed as the first disco-themed superhero!
- She's also a Disc One Nuke in the arcade game; her sonic explosions will clear a lot of Mooks from your path. In the comics at the time, she was actually far more likely to use Jem-esque effects.
Video Games
- The Warcraft 3 campaign Wanderers of Sorceria features one such character: beloved idol singer by day, Magical Girl fighting crime in the name of justice and love by night.
- Yuna could be considered to be this in Final Fantasy X-2, despite her age. (While any of the three playable characters can activate the Songstress DressSphere and transform into an idol singer with magical music, Yuna deserves special mention due to the plot relevance of her transformation.)
- Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica: Cloche and Luca invoke this trope in some of their outfits. Mind you, they are already "magical", "idol", and "singer" in their normal life (which is in a magical world); this is simply going with the most common implementation of archetype.
- Angelic Buster in MapleStory; an actual idol singer who can rain destruction on foes with a musical lightshow.
Webcomics
- An (extremely large) version shows up for one scene in Megatokyo.
Western Animation
- Jem would probably be the closest western counterpart of the classic Magic Idol singer, only she's already an adult and uses highly-advanced technology instead of magic to achieve the disguise.