BLOG POST

Character Design

So to begin, let's tackle the obvious, and the thing I probably have the most expertise on, Character Design. You know how when people talk about food, they say, "the eyes eat first"? As in, it doesn't matter how good the food might taste, if the plating and presentation look bad, no one will have the appetite for the meal. I think Live My Life dealt with a similar problem. Like most musical artists nowadays, Riot dropped teaser images of the boys a few days before the release of the song, so we all got to get a good look at their new designs. And they were…new.

Now I'm not here to yuck anybody's yum. Maybe you think these new designs are great, although that doesn't seem to be the overall sentiment I see going around. Admittedly, people are generally not fond of change. But these are characters with tons of history of redesigns in the form of skins. And skins are often devisive. Find me an example of a skin universally loved, and I will give you my firstborn child. But what is it about these particular designs caused such an aggressive response?

Now this would be a pretty pointless video if i just said, "Well, the designs look bad". Because even though I don't like most of them, I think it goes deeper than that. And after staring at them for quite some time, I've determined that it mostly comes down to these things: the obvious tonal shift, a lack of cohesiveness from the band, and unfamilar and uninteresting designs.

Tonal Shift

Obviously Heartsteel has only one other song to compare this comeback to. But to me, the aesthetics of Paranoia has always been alternative-leaning. They were edgy and "problematic", but unapolagetically so. I believe the general expectation was for them to go harder into a more punk-rocker aesthetic. Now I wouldn't go as far as to call these new designs mainstream, there is still plenty of alt fashion, but they do read a bit basic if you ask me. While Paranoia gave us dark and edgy, these new looks are definitely much brighter and softer in comparison. Changing concepts is nothing new in the K-pop industry, and for real life groups, "finding their sound" through experimentation is expected, but that's the thing. Heartsteel isn't a real band. They are entirely fictional. The audience expects a certain narrative to play out, and this new concept goes against that. It's especially hard because it's been three years since their debut. When a real life band goes on hiatus, fans can still keep up with and connect with the members through things like social media. Heartsteel fans (aka Heartbeats) had nothing, no transition. This switchup therefore becomes incredibly jarring. 

When it comes to the new designs for this comeback, the cohesion is very much lacking. While the colours are plenty, they feel very random and all over the place. Paranoia establishes that each member has their signature colour. You can even still find it used as their little symbols. However, I don't think you would be able to tell who goes with which colour from this new design, apart from maybe Sett and K'Sante. I think that Ezreal's shirt is supposed to be green, but it's the most muted olive greyish-green, and Kayn has absolutely ZERO purple, and instead he has the brightest pair of red pants you ever will see. I will say, the in-game skins seem to represent their signature colours much better, but I think that has more to do with the added special effects. So I still think they could have done a better job balancing the colours for these designs overall.

The mix of different saturations and values in the Live My Life designs don't compliment each other and end up competing, which miraculously makes even the brightest colours feel dull. The Paranoia designs have plenty of contrast, and while the bright colours feel a bit chaotic, that chaos feels intentional. The Paranoia outfits were clearly designed to look custom and "stage" ready, while the Live My Life designs are leaning into a more casual style, like a group of friends going to hangout without having to bother with a dress code, So I suppose this kind of styling makes sense for the concept of the music video. 

Individual Design: Unfamiliar and Uninteresting

Now it's not that these are the worst designs ever. Individually, I think some of the outfits are quite good actually. And the characters are still undeniably attractive men. (face cards never decline) But in some cases here, I think they deviate a little too far from the original silhouette that most fans and players are familiar with. 

So yeah, this haircut obviously is very different from that swoopy style that most people are used to. It changes the shape of his entire head, in a way that's not exactly flattering, it makes the top of his head look much wider, and the hair tapers straight into his neck. Similarly the collar of his vest also tapers up towards the neck, and because everything is so similar in value, there is barely any separation between his head and shoulders. 

That being said, I can definitely see the inspiration for this hairstyle. It's clearly meant to be cutesy, and the baby pink colour works for the character. Ezreal is very much maknae-coded and I think he's meant to be the cute one in Heartsteel. I also appreciate the attempt at a more alternative style, I just don't think they really stuck the landing. 

All this to say, the designs feel kind of unfinished. At worst they're jarring and at best they're just not very exciting. To bring it back to my "eyes eat first" analogy, the failure in the designs only served to turn the audience off, before they ever even hear the song. 

Song

Moving on to the actual song, like a large portion of the fanbase, this one wasn't my favourite on the first listen. BUT, maybe it was because I had to listen to it quite a few more times to make sure I was getting my facts straight for this video, it has definitely grown on me. Live My Life is definitely of the fun, poppy, fresh variety, and probably the biggest reason it was deemed a flop is once again, the massive tonal shift. 

Where we expected Linkin Park, we got One Direction. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with 1D, this isn't meant to be a diss against them. My point is that, when you gain a fanbase through one song, its pretty safe to assume, the fans liked the music genre and style of that song. So it's not unexpected that changing that, fans wouldn't respond well. 

I wanna reiterate, that I don't think the song is inherently bad. But it's a big pivot, and that invites critique. I don't even think this song shouldn't be a Heartsteel track. I like that they get to do a toned down style and music video that feels like a look into the boys' lives. I think the concept is really cute, I just don't think it works as a new design or comeback title. In a perfect world, I think I would have liked to see this song released at the beginning or middle of the summer, followed by a new EP or mini-album where Live My Life would appear as a B-side, to a title track that fits more the original style of Paranoia. 

I also have an additional complaint, and admittedly, this is a pretty empty one, because I know its not entirely realistic, but sometimes I wish the singing voices matched the game voices a little better. Some of the game voices have such unique and specific voices, and the voices in the song just don't really line up. I'm thinking specifically about K'Sante's and Kayn. K'Sante has a pretty strong accent and rich timbre that I fail to hear in either tobi lou or Anderson .Paak's voices (beautiful voices btw). And to me, Kayn's speaking voice has a really biting edge to it, where it's almost like he pronouces every letter in the words he speaks. I love the voice acting for Kayn, it like scratches a part of my brain, so it pains me a little that I don't get that from either of Heartsteel's songs. 

Lyrics

If we take a look at the lyrics of Live My Life, its actually quite thematically similar to Paranoia. Both songs are about overcoming the haters that want them out of the industry, but compare these two lines:

They hopin' that you fall hard / They prayin' for the death of a rockstar (Paranoia)

But you just want me down, want me out, watch me call your bluff (Live My Life)

Live My Life's lyrics don't necessarily feel like the satisfying narrative follow up to Paranoia it seems like it's trying to be. While I suppose one could read this as Heartsteel's "healing era", nothing within the concept shows how they might have gotten more or less success. And to top it off, even the "haters" in Live My Life are so much gentler. There's a pretty big difference between praying for the death of a rockstar and wanting someone out. Which brings me to my fix-it fanfic pitch: What if Live My Life was their debut song instead?

Lore and Timeline

Everything from the music video, to the lyrics, to the genre, feels like a step backwards from what Paranoia was. 

The established lore of the group is that each of the boys are failed or disillusioned artists, looking for a big break in a world where no one wants to see them succeed. But through the power of friendship they are able to find inspiration with each other, leading them to form a brand new identity as a group. 

This is where I think Live My Life fits in. Consider the music video. It's largely self-taped footage of the boys hanging out at a skate park, laundromat, and basketball court. The band is obviously new, the video looks low budget (the content of the video, not the animation) and it looks like they haven't thought too much about branding or costuming yet. This is sort of a good vibes kinda video, where they just wanna show off their passions. There' a hopefulness, like they're ready to take on the world. 

And when the world sees what they have to offer and they start to gain some traction, growing their fanbase, they start trying to take things a little more seriously. Maybe pitching their ideas to sponsors or studios. But some of their more checkered pasts get in the way, or the studios just think they don't have what it takes to go all the way to the top. 

So then they come out with Paranoia, a much more aggressive call out to the people standing in their way. They come back with custom styling, a cohesive look, and of course, in that music video, they literally break into a film set to use the props and equipment. Effectively, sending a message that they won't be locked out of the industry. 

Tell me this doesn't fit better narratively. I think the genre switch would also be better received this way, only because I feel like going from soft to darker concepts are generally treated as more acceptable, because let's be real people probably have an internalized bias that dark and edgy concepts are more mature, and that softer concepts are childish.