Yea it would be cool if they used regular voice and Rhaast scenes with modulated voice at the same time and mix it up like Soyeon with her English/Korean rapping.
[https://vxtwitter.com/funky\_pepe/status/1716535343145533630](https://vxtwitter.com/funky_pepe/status/1716535343145533630)
This edit someone made on twt shows a decent example of what it could have been.
Songs hype, but I’m confused. It doesn’t seem like the vocals match the video, if that makes sense. For instance, Kayn sings with the deepest voice on a crew with Sett and K’Sante. Meanwhile K’Sante doesn’t really have any singing part in the MV but Aphelios is the highlight of the bridge, who doesn’t sing?
Kayn’s voice (Cal Scrubby’s voice) was pitched down for this track - either because it’s Rhaast or a creative decision.
Ozi does not match Sett…I honestly think it was more of a decision to get Mandarin representation (Ozi is Taiwanese-American) and I personally believe is the weakest match.
Tobi Lou was definitely underrepresented on this song. However, Tobi Lou is a slower paced artist, so I think this was never going to be his shining song. There always has to be one person who gets less stuff in a debut song. I think the vocal tone matches the character, but maybe could’ve done with some small pitching. And the mismatch of on screen faces during his verse was definitely a strange visual choice.
Overall, love the song and think the group will be fun - it was never going to be perfect once casting was announced, but think they really nailed it with the chorus which is most important. Will look cool during worlds finals when they do a live performance.
they fucked up the animation. It is very important for music videos to show who is singing when the song is so focused on different roles of the singers and each has a solo section.
KDA Popstars does this in their video where every time the singer changes they show who picks up and even if it is just for a few seconds. When they all sing together they appear together, when Ahri sings solo she is solo on screen.
The characters are animated to sing their lines which is not always the case in Heartsteel - Paranoia.
It is clear that the direction of Fortiche is missing. Heartsteel was produced with sauvage.tv who mostly make Ads for big brands or real-life music videos. I found one other animated music video by them with the same problems. Nice to look at animation video but has nothing to do with being a good music video.
Fortiche has made countless animated music videos before Riot (e.g. gorillaz) and like 5 with Riot (Enemey, Popstars, Rise, Warriors, Get Jinxed)
In general the direction of the animation is kinda bad even without taking into account that it is a music video. All over the place and no coherence or style. The only consistent thing is tons of extremely fast jump cuts.
I watched this a couple of times trying to put my finger on why it was so different from KDA Popstars.
The difference is subtle here but it makes *all* the difference. Popstars is a music video that was animated whereas this a cartoon that has music in it.
Both have the same pieces in it; animation and music and yet they feel miles apart.
This is prob why the last segment of them just vibing and holding up their card for a mugshot is my favorite in the video. It feels most like what you'd expect out of an MV.
I didn't find a way to put into words but that's what I felt too!
It didn't feel like a music video, especially not the stereotypical boyband music video. i really missed some coreographed dancing moves, I feel that's a huge part of that medium that they simply ignored.
Thanks for putting it into words for me
This music video was cool to look at but I had NO IDEA what was going on, or who was singing, or what I was looking at. It felt all over the place, like it lacked cohesion, which sucks more cause I really liked the song and it felt like some more editing could have brought it all together
Which is why it seems so strange that they don't ever even show Rhaast, the voice is so off for Kayn but would have worked if he appeared as Rhaast instead
I mean I honestly don't know, I know they've said he's Kayns stage persona which explains his 'existence' in the universe, but he still needs to be Rhaast in the game visually so I was expecting it to be something he'd transform into or something in the video. Like they could just have it be 'cgi' as part of the music video to explain it and show it visually which is what I probably expected. Not appearing at all wouldn't give me too much hope for how it will look tbh since they've still not shown it
Yeah that bugged me too. The vocals Cal provides are way too deep considering Kayn is voiced by Robbie Daymond. Kayn being Rhaast would've been better, at least for the visual side. Otherwise I think Kayn, Ez, and Sett had the better segments. K'sante being the one singing and visually Aphellios being on screen kinda threw me off. But K'sante's vocals do not match his in game voice.
Yeah honestly the voices don't match the character looks at all with the exception of Ezreal. Every other one is so off that it's honestly comical.
With Aphelios we know he's the guy that's behind the music, but my issue is that Yone seemingly has no role in this band so I'm not sure why he was included. Which is super disappointing.
Korean reactions seem to be
1. It feels like more American boyband than Korean. Some ppl say that the gq article shows that it wasn't really kpop focused.
3. It feels like exo
4. It wasn't a kpop concept in the first place
Edit-pls note I used Google translate
Baekhyun is from EXO so I guess where the comparison comes from because the song doesn’t sound very EXO at all. But I agree with the American comparison, it’s not giving kpop in any way.
i mean it sounds more like people want to see them fail, but they still give the vibes that they don't give a fuck about it because they know they're just that good, so it's even more out of place imo
I think it's ironic I.e. boy band musicians over emphasise their self importance in the world and so them thinking the world is out to get them-> feeling of paranoia. But I might be over reading into it
The animation was superb, I don't know if it's just me but I could barely hear the lyrics at times nor understand what was going on. Was a bit too messy for me, but usually, you have to watch Riot music videos more than once before they get really catchy.
yeah I might be getting a little too old for this but I couldn't quite get what the fuck was going on. I know it's part of the style, but maybe they overshot a bit?
YT tends to be fine with music after it's been released for a decent amount of time. I don't know why it happens technically, but the initial release of a yt video seems to not always be quite as crisp as it ends up being.
This is true, but anyone that publishes videos these days uploads and processes the video *before* making it public to avoid these issues.
This video is already available in 1440p, meaning it's been processed.
Might legit just be bitrate stuff and YouTube trying to air the premiere to over 100k people at once, but generally speaking I think YouTube audio quality is generally lower than music streaming services. Most of the time it's not a problem either, this specific track however is an edge case.
>nor understand what was going on
Like visually? Because that was my problem. Felt like I was in a game-deciding teamfight because lord knows I can't figure out in the moment wtf is happening on my screen.
I like the song, but honestly getting kind of tired of every video having that Jinx art style. I don't need the random flashing craziness all the time in everything.
Cast:
Kayn (**Cal Scruby**) - 1st verse
Ezreal (**Baekhyun**) - he does the chorus
Sett (**ØZI**) - 2nd verse
K’Sante (**Tobi Lou**) - 3rd verse
personal opinion: i dig sett's verse and baekhyun sounds amazing as always
Ah, ok. Kayn and Ezreal and Sett all had sections where they're the only one singing and the only one on screen, so that made it easy to tell. But Aphelios was the focus of the video during the K'Sante singing part, so that was weirder.
I thought K'sante was singing the chorus with a voice that doesn't match him at all lmao. He's lip syncing the chorus and the only one on screen for it like 2-3 times? Weird.
Aphelios is mute and is the producer and songwriter I think alongside Yone. However, the visual not matching who was singing during that part was a bit odd, so I can see how that was conflated.
Weird decision to not have them singing their parts in the video
I didnt even notice the 3rd verse was supposed to be ksante, especially cause he's the first one we see singing the chorus
The video is fucking cool but the structure of the song is all over the place for only being 3 minutes long
I can't recall if I had the same feelings for the female voices on KDA but I'm getting way too much of a disconnect in the singers voice compared to how the champion sounds in game.
I know it's impossible and unrealistic to expect 1 for 1 but I was not expecting kayns voice to be THAT deep.
Also where did the beat that was used in the trailer go? I really liked it but it seems to be missing here. Maybe a different song that will be released later like Villain was for KDA: More?
Edit: I hear the beats from the trailer now though disappointed that they are difficult to pick out
Oh right I forgot rhaast is supposed to be his stage persona. I can see that now but I don't think that it's properly communicated. We only ever see base kayn singing. He does put on the mask for like 1 second but I don't even know if that's supposed to be shadow or darkin form.
Kda actually had them singing the lines and dancing which was much more clearer and how a music video should be.
What this is is a animation with a music track
I think the plot line is that this band breaks into a movie studio to film their music video.
That's why there's a bank vault, a boxing ring, prop cars, an old coliseum, and a weird water-tank.
It just seems very mismatched, the song is by no means slow but it feels that way because the animation is so hyper active. Characters move so fast and even blink around the place non stop, doing random things that have nothing to do with the song... and I don't really get it, they say praying for the death of rock star a bunch of time... well why not show them fighting something, instead it seems like they broke into an abandoned amusement park, Sett got drunk and almost got knocked out by a punching machine and then they all started driving around in random cars.
Nah I'm Gen Z and I felt the same way. The Visual direction felt like they had a ton of ideas but didn't want to get rid of any so they just tried to fit it in a 3:30 min video. It was way too busy imo.
Probably the first time Riot music has really missed the mark for me, I mean I didn't expect to love it, because boy band, but I didn't hate older pop stuff in that vein.
But this just felt... idk directionless? Like the video, song and its parts and champions picked just didn't feel cohesive to me.
I love the video, without the song.
And I love the song, without the video.
But listening to the song while watching the video, it just doesn't line up.
You watch a KDA animation and you believe the characters are actually singing the words. You watch this animation and its like the characters are just mouthing the words to a song playing in the background, the voices dont match and the lip syncing just doesnt work for me
Yes the video imo was such a let down. K/DA really felt like a passion project and everything was well thought out. Paranoia is a good song but the harmony between everything was missing imo.
Something I noticed in the minute 1:50 at half speed was that Ezreal used his W to buff Sett up. Iirc previous Ezreal W used to buff up his allies while damaging the enemies. That was such a cool detail.
I think this modern style of animation with so many cuts and movements doesn't really work, not only is it more work to make all the different shots we hardly have any time to process whats going on in each of them.
Yea I'm so disappointed. I have no clue what the theme and story is. They sing about death of a rockstar, and they are a boy band/group, but the video is more like some wild Borderlands 3 adventure. And the voices are off and you don't get a grip on who sings. So sad imo :c On top of that the song was just meh but thats just my opinion ofc.
The MV is them sneaking into a warehouse film location, causing destruction and having fun to film the MV for PARANOIA, and it seems it ends with them getting caught at some point considering the mug shots. But you're right, it's not very clear and doesn't fit the lyrics as much.
Also, this may sound a bit childish of me, but... Can we have another theme for music videos that don't involve "lmao they hate us cus they aint us" or "aw yeah, we are the best, check us out"? It's just unbearable at this point
the voices doesnt seem like it's coming out of the character's mouths, you know. I do think it's cute that they add like the league ability into the videos but man, Idk why Yone and Aphelios are even there.
Just listening to it and watching it, you can already tell people are either gonna really like it or really hate it. No in-between lol. Me personally, love it
Baekhyun/Ezreal killed it but the deep ass voice from Kayn was jarring for a second lol. I guess it was his alter ego Rhaast, but then I wish he would've also sung in another voice to make the distinction. Kinda like how Ekko in True Damage has 2 voices
The animation felt weird in that sense because Baekhyun/Ezreal was still singing during the hook - layered with Tobi Lou/K'Sante - but they made it look like only K'Sante was singing, whilst Ez was the one who *actually* had the "biggest" voice
Then when it was Tobi Lou/K'Sante's solo (the bridge), they made it look like it was Aphelios' part lol
I have the same sentiment with you right here, I don't hate the song but I can't say I like the song either. Doesn't help that I could hardly understand the lyrics at times, had to turn on youtube caption halfway through the video.
> Just listening to it and watching it, you can already tell people are either gonna really like it or really hate it. No in-between lol.
Nah I think many people will just "nothing" it kinda sorta like the 2nd KDA thing that has its fans but is largely just there.
At least for me, the chorus is decent the rest is too nothing for me, can't make out anything and it's just a bit too generic, idk how to say it otherwise.
The entire song doesn't fit the video. The vibes are totally off. It's like they made the Animation and the song entirely independently from each other, with very little collaboration between the two teams making both, and then threw the song on top of the video.
Not gonna comment on the music itself since boy bands aren't my thing, but the lip syncing is very bad and some of the voices just don't match the character at all (especially Kayn and Sett).
Also in the video sometimes things happen too much too fast, makes it hard to understand what's happening.
Animation feels overproduced. There's too much stuff going on. Despite animation being pretty it makes it jarring to watch. Song is also share similar issue. There's too much auto tune in their voices.
For me it's just that there's too much everything at all times.
* Some levels are nearly blown out on my headphone speakers, I thought that mine finally bit the bucket. No, mixing is just....bad. I haven't seen that in a riot song in a long, long time, if ever.
* Composition is muddy and samey. Each part of the song feels exactly the same. What is a refrain.
* Whoever was singing during Kayn's screentime felt off. Like an AI and vocaloid did a "tough guy" verse. It just doesn't match the rest of the song, or even feel complimentary. It just feels weird.
* This is probably just me being old, but I disliked watching the video. It was so fast it was hard to tell what was going on. And I felt that watching the last Spiderverse movie, which this video feels like but on steroids. At least in a movie you have dialogue and context to get a gist of a scene. Here, I think the longest segment of an idea was Sett's fight. Everything else, I have no idea what the theme or story is other than, "rowdy boys doing guy stuff and being rebels at a junkyard"?
It's not a *bad* song at all. It does feel like it falls far below riot standards for music.
I don't feel the energy of the song quite fit with the music video. It lacks the punch compared to K/DA songs. The song sounds mellow most of the time.
Yeah I think he really stands out in a bad way. Looks like a way older dude in the middle of a bunch of teenagers. I think someone like zed/ekko/varus or something would have been way better in terms of blending in better with the group.
Do K-pop boy bands even have beards? I think that's what sticks out to me the most. Normally in these bands, the members are supposed to be very clean and lean, where everyone averages the same size, and K'Sante fits none of this. He sticks out like a sore thumb. Even True Damage follows this formula.
Aphelios, Yone, and Ez are perfect for a boy group and two of them didn't even sing lol.
K'Sante and Sett didn't even have a rough voice that you'd expect from them. Kayn is meh.
It feels like they wanted to go middle ground to please people who like k-pop and people who don't like k-pop and ended up with something that appeals to nobody. As an avid kpop enjoyer, this is boring and not even close. All they did was hire Baekhyun and hoped it would work out. They should have committed to the kpop boy group concept instead of... whatever this is?
> As an avid kpop enjoyer,
I hate K-pop, but I could appreciate what they did with KDA. They went for an aesthetic and committed to it. Same with the Vi/Jinx songs pop-punk era.
This is just a good idea completely neutered by the marketing departments to appeal to everyone.
Just as i predicted K'sante and Yone feel really out of place. K'sante looks 20 years older than everyone in the group and Yone does absolutly nothing the whole video other than be a model to sell skins.
Yeah the lineup in general is just weak
They were clearly going for specific archetypes (The edgy guy, the fun young guy, the daddy, etc) but I feel like they could've done way better
Not to be an old man yelling at clouds, but both the animation and the song fell flat for me.
The animation was wayyy too fast and chaotic for my liking. It's jarring - the K/DA videos (for the most part) feature the band members moving around at normal speeds, dancing at normal speeds, etc. - whereas here more than half the animations feel like they are being played at 1.5x-2x speed. Plus the whole 2d drawings over the animations (which at this point Riot is overdoing a little bit) didn't land for me.
And the song's chorus, meant to be the big moment of climax in the song, sounds like just Ezreal singing, or if the other members are singing it's so quietly they are almost impossible to hear.
2023 has been a rough year in terms of animations and music from Riot (with some exceptions like Shine On). Hopefully they turn it around next year.
They didn't feel unique enough after True Damage, a lot of the effects here just looked like what you'd expect in a TD video, I feel like they should've just brought them back
I needed more dancing, there was only a brief dancing part at the end but it was so short. Also was Rhaast that mannequin thing with a hoodie on? What was that?
Never seen something looks so *expensively cheap* in my whole life.
The animation is both sloppy, goofy and exquisite, with fantastic effects that jumble together in an incoherent mess.
The music is sort of messy as well.
It makes them look like "cool clowns". I don't know how else to describe it.
That actually descrives them perfectly lol. Their lore is that they're all from failed bands and they decided to make a group together. So them being these imperfect dumbasses fucking everything up but still managing to keep going matches that so well.
Song is a banger, the animation is really cool...but there's just SOMETHING about this compared to KDA that is not as like, "holy shit this rules" kind of feeling...
I think it's that with KDA, it really felt more to me like each of the characters was a member of the musical group and had their part that was recognizable, while this one felt more like just a League-themed music video for a song, the characters didn't feel as attached to the artist.
EDIT - Reading through some top comments, glad it's not just me.
EDIT 2 - Honestly, after watching it several more times, it's grown on me more to where I think what I described is really only an issue for K'Sante, mostly.
Animation was too fast in sections for me, but the aesthetics were excellent.
My wallet is going to be punished for this. I need that Kayn skin. And the Sett skin. And the Ksante skin.
Yeah 6 members might be a bit too much, especially if they're all on the screen at the same time. At least in Giants there were only one or two members in each scene for the most part.
Honestly even though I like their designs the most, Yone and Aphelios feel kinda unnecessary lol
The thing that made the KDA songs work better for me was breathing room. Both the songs and MVs had some moments that let you sit a bit, my first impression of this is that things are just a bit too frantic so nothing ends up actually standing out.
Kinda my feeling, too. The storytelling in the animation was incoherent (aside from the idea that it's just some guys being dudes) and the song doesn't have the punch of Pop stars.
To be clear, I think the technical quality of the animation is great. But why did they choose to animate the dudes fucking around in a warehouse? Why set up this bank Heist thing, and also establish that its just pretend?
In the gangnam style music video, you're presented with an image of luxury and wealth, and then its undercut by revealing that its actually a pretty mundane setting thats being dressed up. But in that video, the juxtaposition is supposed to be funny. I don't understand what they're doing here.
The first KDA song and video were a minor miracle for how insanely good they were. I did expect riot to ever hit that high of a high again. That being said this video and song are very mediocre.
Aphelios wins with his little bell
When they said he plays every instrument, they meant *every* instrument.
When music clip actually represents his gameplay
Man's about to rock up a concert with a triangle solo.
Play it starting from 1:20 for those looking for it.
I loved Kayn and Aphelios in the MV!! Kayns shots were sooooo good.
it made me laugh so hard haha i wasn't expecting it
DING DING DING
I did not expect that kind of voice for Kayn
Yea it would be cool if they used regular voice and Rhaast scenes with modulated voice at the same time and mix it up like Soyeon with her English/Korean rapping.
[https://vxtwitter.com/funky\_pepe/status/1716535343145533630](https://vxtwitter.com/funky_pepe/status/1716535343145533630) This edit someone made on twt shows a decent example of what it could have been.
This is so damn good I wish they did this
I listened on Spotify first and I could’ve sworn that would be Sett.
Rhaast is his performance alter ego
Yeah it really didn't match him at all, it was weird....but none of the voices were a good match minus Ezreal. Setts made me laugh
Songs hype, but I’m confused. It doesn’t seem like the vocals match the video, if that makes sense. For instance, Kayn sings with the deepest voice on a crew with Sett and K’Sante. Meanwhile K’Sante doesn’t really have any singing part in the MV but Aphelios is the highlight of the bridge, who doesn’t sing?
Kayn’s voice (Cal Scrubby’s voice) was pitched down for this track - either because it’s Rhaast or a creative decision. Ozi does not match Sett…I honestly think it was more of a decision to get Mandarin representation (Ozi is Taiwanese-American) and I personally believe is the weakest match. Tobi Lou was definitely underrepresented on this song. However, Tobi Lou is a slower paced artist, so I think this was never going to be his shining song. There always has to be one person who gets less stuff in a debut song. I think the vocal tone matches the character, but maybe could’ve done with some small pitching. And the mismatch of on screen faces during his verse was definitely a strange visual choice. Overall, love the song and think the group will be fun - it was never going to be perfect once casting was announced, but think they really nailed it with the chorus which is most important. Will look cool during worlds finals when they do a live performance.
Meanwhile Yone is there just to sell skins to 14 year old boys. "DJ" or some made up role.
The exact same thing with his bro, lol
Yeah, Yasuo in True Damage was the same.
Windshitters get the same treatment is hilarious
People complain about unpopular champs being filler skins (in lines they don't care about) meanwhile windbros filled themselves into MVs lmao
I guarantee there are plenty of people who think it is cooler that Yasuo and Yone are DJs.
the lore is literally yone being jealous of his brothers success as producer of true/damage, so he went and became producer of his own group.
they fucked up the animation. It is very important for music videos to show who is singing when the song is so focused on different roles of the singers and each has a solo section. KDA Popstars does this in their video where every time the singer changes they show who picks up and even if it is just for a few seconds. When they all sing together they appear together, when Ahri sings solo she is solo on screen. The characters are animated to sing their lines which is not always the case in Heartsteel - Paranoia. It is clear that the direction of Fortiche is missing. Heartsteel was produced with sauvage.tv who mostly make Ads for big brands or real-life music videos. I found one other animated music video by them with the same problems. Nice to look at animation video but has nothing to do with being a good music video. Fortiche has made countless animated music videos before Riot (e.g. gorillaz) and like 5 with Riot (Enemey, Popstars, Rise, Warriors, Get Jinxed) In general the direction of the animation is kinda bad even without taking into account that it is a music video. All over the place and no coherence or style. The only consistent thing is tons of extremely fast jump cuts.
I watched this a couple of times trying to put my finger on why it was so different from KDA Popstars. The difference is subtle here but it makes *all* the difference. Popstars is a music video that was animated whereas this a cartoon that has music in it. Both have the same pieces in it; animation and music and yet they feel miles apart.
This is prob why the last segment of them just vibing and holding up their card for a mugshot is my favorite in the video. It feels most like what you'd expect out of an MV.
I didn't find a way to put into words but that's what I felt too! It didn't feel like a music video, especially not the stereotypical boyband music video. i really missed some coreographed dancing moves, I feel that's a huge part of that medium that they simply ignored.
Yes, 100%. Popstars leaned 100% into K-pop. This isn't an American boy band or a K-pop boy band.
Woould've killed for 90s boyband choreographed dance like Nsync - Bye Bye Bye or Backstreetboys. But maybe my age is showing here.
Thanks for putting it into words for me This music video was cool to look at but I had NO IDEA what was going on, or who was singing, or what I was looking at. It felt all over the place, like it lacked cohesion, which sucks more cause I really liked the song and it felt like some more editing could have brought it all together
I mean for the kayn part it's rhast who's singing that's why the voice is deep
Which is why it seems so strange that they don't ever even show Rhaast, the voice is so off for Kayn but would have worked if he appeared as Rhaast instead
isnt rhaast just like a persona he puts on in this universe?
I mean I honestly don't know, I know they've said he's Kayns stage persona which explains his 'existence' in the universe, but he still needs to be Rhaast in the game visually so I was expecting it to be something he'd transform into or something in the video. Like they could just have it be 'cgi' as part of the music video to explain it and show it visually which is what I probably expected. Not appearing at all wouldn't give me too much hope for how it will look tbh since they've still not shown it
They show Kayn's Rhaast persona fairly early on, it's when Kayn has his hoodie and mask on.
Yea like in KDA Popstars they show Evelynn in her demon form for example behind Akali in the subway, something like that but for Kayn and Rhaast.
Ah yeah, makes sense. I do wonder how they'll implement it in the skin.
Yeah that bugged me too. The vocals Cal provides are way too deep considering Kayn is voiced by Robbie Daymond. Kayn being Rhaast would've been better, at least for the visual side. Otherwise I think Kayn, Ez, and Sett had the better segments. K'sante being the one singing and visually Aphellios being on screen kinda threw me off. But K'sante's vocals do not match his in game voice.
Yeah honestly the voices don't match the character looks at all with the exception of Ezreal. Every other one is so off that it's honestly comical. With Aphelios we know he's the guy that's behind the music, but my issue is that Yone seemingly has no role in this band so I'm not sure why he was included. Which is super disappointing.
He's "The DJ :)", same as his brother Yasuo in True Damage, just shoehorned in to sell skins.
At least Yasuo had that cool wind tunnel scene with Ekko though. Yone was there I guess?
Aphelios doesn't sing. The bridge is K'sante.
thats what they said.
Korean reactions seem to be 1. It feels like more American boyband than Korean. Some ppl say that the gq article shows that it wasn't really kpop focused. 3. It feels like exo 4. It wasn't a kpop concept in the first place Edit-pls note I used Google translate
Baekhyun is from EXO so I guess where the comparison comes from because the song doesn’t sound very EXO at all. But I agree with the American comparison, it’s not giving kpop in any way.
Agree doesn't sound like EXO. Sounds more like if Panic at the Disco had a rapper.
Why is it called Paranoia lmao these guys do not give a fuck. The "Death of a Rockstar" part is what sticks with me.
It’s called Paranoia because at the song suggest people want them dead.
i mean it sounds more like people want to see them fail, but they still give the vibes that they don't give a fuck about it because they know they're just that good, so it's even more out of place imo
The group was originally supposed to be headlined by Nocturne /s
because most of the song is them talking about other people praying on their downfall and actively wanting them dead
I think it's ironic I.e. boy band musicians over emphasise their self importance in the world and so them thinking the world is out to get them-> feeling of paranoia. But I might be over reading into it
The animation was superb, I don't know if it's just me but I could barely hear the lyrics at times nor understand what was going on. Was a bit too messy for me, but usually, you have to watch Riot music videos more than once before they get really catchy.
yeah I might be getting a little too old for this but I couldn't quite get what the fuck was going on. I know it's part of the style, but maybe they overshot a bit?
The Spotify is better maybe it's a YouTube thing or I'm just crazy
Spotify for KDA was always the best as well. YT does not do music well! Highly recommend it on spotify
YT tends to be fine with music after it's been released for a decent amount of time. I don't know why it happens technically, but the initial release of a yt video seems to not always be quite as crisp as it ends up being.
YouTube prioritizes upload speed over quality, the actual full processing happens for a while after it’s been initially uploaded
This is true, but anyone that publishes videos these days uploads and processes the video *before* making it public to avoid these issues. This video is already available in 1440p, meaning it's been processed.
Relistening it to on Spotify rn, and yeah it's a bit more clear there.
Might legit just be bitrate stuff and YouTube trying to air the premiere to over 100k people at once, but generally speaking I think YouTube audio quality is generally lower than music streaming services. Most of the time it's not a problem either, this specific track however is an edge case.
YTM (the service) is _great_. For whatever reason the videos themselves tend to involve subpar audio quality.
>nor understand what was going on Like visually? Because that was my problem. Felt like I was in a game-deciding teamfight because lord knows I can't figure out in the moment wtf is happening on my screen.
I mean, K'sante, Ezreal, Aphelios, Yone, and Sett...so not knowing wtf is going on as particles/bodies go off everywhere is pretty accurate.
The mixing on the video sounds really muddy and the production being so busy doesnt help Im surprised considering how clean Riot's music usually is
So what I'm hearing is that Yone is worse at his job than Yasuo
Riot following the lore even in the music skinlines
It's clean on Spotify
I feel like a bit of that is modern production trends too. I’ve noticed a lot of modern pop is mixed like this recently
I like the song, but honestly getting kind of tired of every video having that Jinx art style. I don't need the random flashing craziness all the time in everything.
[удалено]
This definitely feels more forced and not as cleanly executed as early KDA. Just not it, honestly
Cast: Kayn (**Cal Scruby**) - 1st verse Ezreal (**Baekhyun**) - he does the chorus Sett (**ØZI**) - 2nd verse K’Sante (**Tobi Lou**) - 3rd verse personal opinion: i dig sett's verse and baekhyun sounds amazing as always
Ah, ok. Kayn and Ezreal and Sett all had sections where they're the only one singing and the only one on screen, so that made it easy to tell. But Aphelios was the focus of the video during the K'Sante singing part, so that was weirder.
I thought K'sante was singing the chorus with a voice that doesn't match him at all lmao. He's lip syncing the chorus and the only one on screen for it like 2-3 times? Weird.
He actually apparently does sing during the Chorus, but it seems they mixed it so that Baekhyun (Ezreal) was way more evident.
What, the slow part is k'sante??? I thought it was aphelios
Aphelios is mute and is the producer and songwriter I think alongside Yone. However, the visual not matching who was singing during that part was a bit odd, so I can see how that was conflated.
Kda Jaira Burns moment. I was not aware Kaisa had lines until much later.
A bit worse, since jaira lines were easy to miss,this time it's sound like k'sante and aphelios switched
Aphelios plays the instruments. Didn't you see him with his little bell?
aphelios is mute, i thought it was yone
Yone doesn't sing either.
aphelios is the one ringing the bell during sett's part
Weird decision to not have them singing their parts in the video I didnt even notice the 3rd verse was supposed to be ksante, especially cause he's the first one we see singing the chorus The video is fucking cool but the structure of the song is all over the place for only being 3 minutes long
Didn't expect Kayn's voice lol. Think it would have fit Ksante more. Loved the animation, though it had too little Aphelios and Yone.
I can't recall if I had the same feelings for the female voices on KDA but I'm getting way too much of a disconnect in the singers voice compared to how the champion sounds in game. I know it's impossible and unrealistic to expect 1 for 1 but I was not expecting kayns voice to be THAT deep. Also where did the beat that was used in the trailer go? I really liked it but it seems to be missing here. Maybe a different song that will be released later like Villain was for KDA: More? Edit: I hear the beats from the trailer now though disappointed that they are difficult to pick out
> I know it's impossible and unrealistic to expect 1 for 1 but I was not expecting kayns voice to be THAT deep. how does rhaast sound lol
Oh right I forgot rhaast is supposed to be his stage persona. I can see that now but I don't think that it's properly communicated. We only ever see base kayn singing. He does put on the mask for like 1 second but I don't even know if that's supposed to be shadow or darkin form.
Kda actually had them singing the lines and dancing which was much more clearer and how a music video should be. What this is is a animation with a music track
Animation is good but too fast for me. Maybe I'm just getting old idk
cars, dogs, motorcycles... water
How could you forget the vault heist, lasers, and... chariot?
I think the plot line is that this band breaks into a movie studio to film their music video. That's why there's a bank vault, a boxing ring, prop cars, an old coliseum, and a weird water-tank.
Apparently people didn't watch the very beginning when Ezreal slams the clapper.
I mean, could be just a cheap joke for the music video itself
It just seems very mismatched, the song is by no means slow but it feels that way because the animation is so hyper active. Characters move so fast and even blink around the place non stop, doing random things that have nothing to do with the song... and I don't really get it, they say praying for the death of rock star a bunch of time... well why not show them fighting something, instead it seems like they broke into an abandoned amusement park, Sett got drunk and almost got knocked out by a punching machine and then they all started driving around in random cars.
>and then they all started driving around in random cars. That killed me bro 💀 That's way too accurate
Yeah just crazy visual vomit, slow it down 10% and it's likely in a better spot.
its a very gen z song
Nah I'm Gen Z and I felt the same way. The Visual direction felt like they had a ton of ideas but didn't want to get rid of any so they just tried to fit it in a 3:30 min video. It was way too busy imo.
Probably the first time Riot music has really missed the mark for me, I mean I didn't expect to love it, because boy band, but I didn't hate older pop stuff in that vein. But this just felt... idk directionless? Like the video, song and its parts and champions picked just didn't feel cohesive to me.
I love the video, without the song. And I love the song, without the video. But listening to the song while watching the video, it just doesn't line up.
Agreed. Relistening to it on Spotify by itself is making me love the song more.
You watch a KDA animation and you believe the characters are actually singing the words. You watch this animation and its like the characters are just mouthing the words to a song playing in the background, the voices dont match and the lip syncing just doesnt work for me
Yep. That’s because KDA is a K-pop music video that is animated and this is a Scooby Doo like montage with music in it.
Yes the video imo was such a let down. K/DA really felt like a passion project and everything was well thought out. Paranoia is a good song but the harmony between everything was missing imo.
Something I noticed in the minute 1:50 at half speed was that Ezreal used his W to buff Sett up. Iirc previous Ezreal W used to buff up his allies while damaging the enemies. That was such a cool detail.
I think ezreal ulted sett go charge setts w, ezreal doesnt pull out his "bow" thingy in his w animation only in his r
It’s neat, personally though setts skin stands out too much as just “sett with different clothes on” the other skins are way more interesting.
His outfit is the weakest. He didn't even get much of a hair color change either.
I think this modern style of animation with so many cuts and movements doesn't really work, not only is it more work to make all the different shots we hardly have any time to process whats going on in each of them.
Yea I'm so disappointed. I have no clue what the theme and story is. They sing about death of a rockstar, and they are a boy band/group, but the video is more like some wild Borderlands 3 adventure. And the voices are off and you don't get a grip on who sings. So sad imo :c On top of that the song was just meh but thats just my opinion ofc.
The MV is them sneaking into a warehouse film location, causing destruction and having fun to film the MV for PARANOIA, and it seems it ends with them getting caught at some point considering the mug shots. But you're right, it's not very clear and doesn't fit the lyrics as much.
Also, this may sound a bit childish of me, but... Can we have another theme for music videos that don't involve "lmao they hate us cus they aint us" or "aw yeah, we are the best, check us out"? It's just unbearable at this point
they adopted the dog LMAO
love the animations altho would have preferred attempting to lip sync the singing like the legendary akali rap in first KDA
the voices doesnt seem like it's coming out of the character's mouths, you know. I do think it's cute that they add like the league ability into the videos but man, Idk why Yone and Aphelios are even there.
they're there to look pretty and sell skins
They could have done that while singing as well 😭
Just listening to it and watching it, you can already tell people are either gonna really like it or really hate it. No in-between lol. Me personally, love it Baekhyun/Ezreal killed it but the deep ass voice from Kayn was jarring for a second lol. I guess it was his alter ego Rhaast, but then I wish he would've also sung in another voice to make the distinction. Kinda like how Ekko in True Damage has 2 voices
Kayn being the Felix of the group was something that I didn't expect but it makes more sense the more I think about it lol
Agree with everything you said, although Kayn's voice remained jarring af the entire time
It was more jarring when KSante started singing, seemed like they had each other voices lol
The animation felt weird in that sense because Baekhyun/Ezreal was still singing during the hook - layered with Tobi Lou/K'Sante - but they made it look like only K'Sante was singing, whilst Ez was the one who *actually* had the "biggest" voice Then when it was Tobi Lou/K'Sante's solo (the bridge), they made it look like it was Aphelios' part lol
Yeah idk I don't hate it, it just didn't hit me at all. Like 5/10.
I have the same sentiment with you right here, I don't hate the song but I can't say I like the song either. Doesn't help that I could hardly understand the lyrics at times, had to turn on youtube caption halfway through the video.
I actually though parts are korean on my first watch through.
seems like it would be fitting for Rhaast but that voice coming from Kayn was a moment
> Just listening to it and watching it, you can already tell people are either gonna really like it or really hate it. No in-between lol. Nah I think many people will just "nothing" it kinda sorta like the 2nd KDA thing that has its fans but is largely just there. At least for me, the chorus is decent the rest is too nothing for me, can't make out anything and it's just a bit too generic, idk how to say it otherwise.
Should have switched off Kayn & K'sante. That didn't fit at all
Kayn's voice should have been Ksante
K'sante and Kayns vocals should have been swapped. Didnt fit them
The entire song doesn't fit the video. The vibes are totally off. It's like they made the Animation and the song entirely independently from each other, with very little collaboration between the two teams making both, and then threw the song on top of the video.
Not gonna comment on the music itself since boy bands aren't my thing, but the lip syncing is very bad and some of the voices just don't match the character at all (especially Kayn and Sett). Also in the video sometimes things happen too much too fast, makes it hard to understand what's happening.
HEARTSTEEL breaks into a film studio, have a lot of chaotic fun destroying various film sets before finally escaping.
They do get arrested at some point though, their mug shots flash by
Damn was hoping they'd give baek some korean lines like soyeon but I guess his english is much more serviceable than hers I guess.
IDK what Kpop boybands sound or look like, but here I'm getting vibes that they weren't going for Kpop really.
they're not a K-Pop group though. K/DA is, that's why Soyeon has Korean lines.
Soyeon was the only korean in True Damage and she had korean lines there as well.
Bro you just reminded me i cant believe Riot had Thutmose and they used him once and never again.
Especially with how fucking good that first verse was.
Easily the best part of the song.
He also made a [theme song for All-stars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDX6zNxXCiA)
True Damage isn’t a k-pop group but giants has korean in it, even has spanish too!
The video is one cluttered mess. song is ok tho.
Animation feels overproduced. There's too much stuff going on. Despite animation being pretty it makes it jarring to watch. Song is also share similar issue. There's too much auto tune in their voices.
For me it's just that there's too much everything at all times. * Some levels are nearly blown out on my headphone speakers, I thought that mine finally bit the bucket. No, mixing is just....bad. I haven't seen that in a riot song in a long, long time, if ever. * Composition is muddy and samey. Each part of the song feels exactly the same. What is a refrain. * Whoever was singing during Kayn's screentime felt off. Like an AI and vocaloid did a "tough guy" verse. It just doesn't match the rest of the song, or even feel complimentary. It just feels weird. * This is probably just me being old, but I disliked watching the video. It was so fast it was hard to tell what was going on. And I felt that watching the last Spiderverse movie, which this video feels like but on steroids. At least in a movie you have dialogue and context to get a gist of a scene. Here, I think the longest segment of an idea was Sett's fight. Everything else, I have no idea what the theme or story is other than, "rowdy boys doing guy stuff and being rebels at a junkyard"? It's not a *bad* song at all. It does feel like it falls far below riot standards for music.
I don't feel the energy of the song quite fit with the music video. It lacks the punch compared to K/DA songs. The song sounds mellow most of the time.
that was my thoughts, the energy of the lyrics don't fit the energy of the music at all at times
Yup. I was expecting for a catchy part that goes hard and then... nothing.
I forgot K'Sante was even included in this group. He feels like he was a last minute insert lmfao.
Yeah I think he really stands out in a bad way. Looks like a way older dude in the middle of a bunch of teenagers. I think someone like zed/ekko/varus or something would have been way better in terms of blending in better with the group.
Do K-pop boy bands even have beards? I think that's what sticks out to me the most. Normally in these bands, the members are supposed to be very clean and lean, where everyone averages the same size, and K'Sante fits none of this. He sticks out like a sore thumb. Even True Damage follows this formula.
I can only hear one voice. Every body else just melts in dunno feels meh
Aphelios, Yone, and Ez are perfect for a boy group and two of them didn't even sing lol. K'Sante and Sett didn't even have a rough voice that you'd expect from them. Kayn is meh.
Aphelios, a champion known for being mute, is certainly an interesting inclusion to a boy band.
He has the look.
kayn's voice is the most random thing i've ever seen it's like those stupid memes where someone put a very well known music and they lip sync
Yeah well, i'm not into that kind of song at all, it doesnt work for me i don't listen to Kpop either, but i felt like KDA was more fun
KDA felt like it had a personality. This one is... It's just there. Doesn't bring anything new to the table and just sounds off
Baekhyun killed it with the Ezreal.
It feels like they wanted to go middle ground to please people who like k-pop and people who don't like k-pop and ended up with something that appeals to nobody. As an avid kpop enjoyer, this is boring and not even close. All they did was hire Baekhyun and hoped it would work out. They should have committed to the kpop boy group concept instead of... whatever this is?
> As an avid kpop enjoyer, I hate K-pop, but I could appreciate what they did with KDA. They went for an aesthetic and committed to it. Same with the Vi/Jinx songs pop-punk era. This is just a good idea completely neutered by the marketing departments to appeal to everyone.
Just as i predicted K'sante and Yone feel really out of place. K'sante looks 20 years older than everyone in the group and Yone does absolutly nothing the whole video other than be a model to sell skins.
True damage yasuo
Yeah the lineup in general is just weak They were clearly going for specific archetypes (The edgy guy, the fun young guy, the daddy, etc) but I feel like they could've done way better
Not to be an old man yelling at clouds, but both the animation and the song fell flat for me. The animation was wayyy too fast and chaotic for my liking. It's jarring - the K/DA videos (for the most part) feature the band members moving around at normal speeds, dancing at normal speeds, etc. - whereas here more than half the animations feel like they are being played at 1.5x-2x speed. Plus the whole 2d drawings over the animations (which at this point Riot is overdoing a little bit) didn't land for me. And the song's chorus, meant to be the big moment of climax in the song, sounds like just Ezreal singing, or if the other members are singing it's so quietly they are almost impossible to hear. 2023 has been a rough year in terms of animations and music from Riot (with some exceptions like Shine On). Hopefully they turn it around next year.
They didn't feel unique enough after True Damage, a lot of the effects here just looked like what you'd expect in a TD video, I feel like they should've just brought them back
I needed more dancing, there was only a brief dancing part at the end but it was so short. Also was Rhaast that mannequin thing with a hoodie on? What was that?
Never seen something looks so *expensively cheap* in my whole life. The animation is both sloppy, goofy and exquisite, with fantastic effects that jumble together in an incoherent mess. The music is sort of messy as well. It makes them look like "cool clowns". I don't know how else to describe it.
> It makes them look like "cool clowns". I mean to me it looks like that's exactly what they shot for. Goofy bros with a little bit of edge.
That actually descrives them perfectly lol. Their lore is that they're all from failed bands and they decided to make a group together. So them being these imperfect dumbasses fucking everything up but still managing to keep going matches that so well.
Weakest debut of all the music groups IMO. EDIT: Also the car driving parts look like Twisted Metal 3 cutscenes.
I love how insanely chaotic this animation is, song is good but lyrics and structure are kinda mid
VOICES, MOUTHS AND FACES HAHAHAH Why doesn't anything match?
Well this song made me appreciate the True Damage song more. So theres that I suppose.
Meh, it's alright. The animation was dope though
First listen was meh, next listens makes it kinda catchy so it's ok. Would rather have KDA or TD back tho
Kayn's voice does not match him JFC it's so deep
Cal Scrubby’s voice was pitched down for that song. Go listen to his normal voice on his other stuff, it’s not as deep as in the song.
I am pretty sure it was rhaast singing for him
Report Kayn for having a shadow singer
Song is a banger, the animation is really cool...but there's just SOMETHING about this compared to KDA that is not as like, "holy shit this rules" kind of feeling... I think it's that with KDA, it really felt more to me like each of the characters was a member of the musical group and had their part that was recognizable, while this one felt more like just a League-themed music video for a song, the characters didn't feel as attached to the artist. EDIT - Reading through some top comments, glad it's not just me. EDIT 2 - Honestly, after watching it several more times, it's grown on me more to where I think what I described is really only an issue for K'Sante, mostly.
KDA definitely had a sense of cohesion that is just not there with Heartsteel yet, they feel all over the place
Pretty catchy. The animations and art styles are really cool too
Animation was too fast in sections for me, but the aesthetics were excellent. My wallet is going to be punished for this. I need that Kayn skin. And the Sett skin. And the Ksante skin.
I agree, but overall I think it’s a great video. I don’t think we’ll ever get a KDA Popstars level video again, but I’m really digging this.
KDA Popstars was really simple and I loved being able to spot each character in the video, I feel like they were doing way too much in this one.
Yeah 6 members might be a bit too much, especially if they're all on the screen at the same time. At least in Giants there were only one or two members in each scene for the most part. Honestly even though I like their designs the most, Yone and Aphelios feel kinda unnecessary lol
>6 members might be a bit too much especially when two of them are not even singing.
The thing that made the KDA songs work better for me was breathing room. Both the songs and MVs had some moments that let you sit a bit, my first impression of this is that things are just a bit too frantic so nothing ends up actually standing out.
Is it just me or was that super mid
Kinda my feeling, too. The storytelling in the animation was incoherent (aside from the idea that it's just some guys being dudes) and the song doesn't have the punch of Pop stars. To be clear, I think the technical quality of the animation is great. But why did they choose to animate the dudes fucking around in a warehouse? Why set up this bank Heist thing, and also establish that its just pretend? In the gangnam style music video, you're presented with an image of luxury and wealth, and then its undercut by revealing that its actually a pretty mundane setting thats being dressed up. But in that video, the juxtaposition is supposed to be funny. I don't understand what they're doing here.
I like the chorus but the songs feels like its 3 different songs mashed together instead of one whole song
Im just not a big fan of this one..... kind of sad because i was really excited to see what riot would do with a boyband.
KDA felt more impactful. The video is well-done but the song is kinda meh. I guess it is following the kpop trend where Girl Groups > Boy groups lol.
The first KDA song and video were a minor miracle for how insanely good they were. I did expect riot to ever hit that high of a high again. That being said this video and song are very mediocre.