I Was Disappointed By HEARTSTEEL’s Latest Comeback “Live My Life”
It has been almost 3 years since HEARTSTEEL debuted with their first single “PARANOIA”. Last week, leaks about HEARTSTEEL coming back this year leaked online along with their new skins for the Season 3 Pass. On September 18, the group finally dropped their second long-awaited song, “Live My Life.”
And the song…did not meet many fans’ expectations.
Who Is HEARTSTEEL?
League of Legends (LoL) is a popular free-to-play multiplayer game developed by Riot Games. In the game, two teams of five players battle to destroy the enemy team’s central base structure. These teams are made up of characters called Champions who possess unique powers and abilities. To expand the storytelling of beloved Champions beyond their fantasy lore, Riot Games established “Riot Records,” an alternate universe where their Champions become modern pop stars.
After the success of their three virtual bands, Pentakill, K/DA, and True Damage, Riot Games decided their new group would be a boy band. HEARTSTEEL featured six Champions: Ezreal, Sett, K’Sante, Kayn, Yone, and Aphelios. Considered outcasts in the music industry, these artists decided to come together to form a band to boldly express their individuality and rewrite the rules of success on their own terms. On October 23, 2023, the group dropped the MV for their debut single, “PARANOIA”. In its first hour, the video gained 600,000 views and accumulated 25 million views in under a month.
Ezreal
Kayn
K’Sante
Sett
Aphelios
Yone
HEARTSTEEL – “Live My Life”
Honestly, my first instinct that I knew I wasn’t going to like HEARTSTEEL’s comeback was the group’s new design. It is typical that when a group is coming back with a new song, they change up their looks to match their newest concept. However, these look more like beta designs and appear incomplete. This is by no means an insult to the artists who work hard in creating these looks, but I feel like, compared to their debut looks, these are very underwhelming. Their old designs were more cohesive and you can tell from looking at them that they were a group.
On to the song, “Live My Life” feels like a stereotypical pop song. It sounds like a feel-good summer track that would be played on the radio while you’re driving. It sounds like a pop anthem that should have been released in the 2010s during the EDM-pop era. This song feels like a complete 180 compared to “PARANOIA,” which defined HEARTSTEEL’s unapologetic individuality and gritty energy.
Structurally, “Live My Life” does not have any hard-hitting rap breaks or outstanding vocal parts outside of Ezreal’s parts. In “PARANOIA”, the song established everyone’s parts and the positions they play within the song. Sett and Kayn were the group’s rappers who enhanced the song with their aggressive flows; Ezreal was the main vocal anchor whose pop vocals carried the chorus and pre-chorus; and K’Sante was the versatile vocal bridge whose rhythmic R&B melodies tied everything together.
With “Live My Life”, everyone feels like they all have the same voice except for Ezreal, who is the only one who sticks out vocally. The entire song is an EXO’s Baekhyun was the only original voice that made a return to be Ezreal’s again for this newest comeback. I can’t help but like that as an intentional move on Riot’s part. If you are a K-pop fan, you know Baekhyun is one of the golden vocalists of the K-pop industry who is best known for his soulful vocals. With that in mind, Riot Games Music was banking on the fact that K-pop fans would come running that seeing he was coming back to the group. In fact, this almost feels like this was supposed to be an Ezreal solo song with the rest of the group as the backup vocals.
The song is also much shorter than its predecessor, being only 2 minutes and 53 seconds long. From what I can guess, the producers were trying to switch the group’s style up to keep them from being too formulaic and show a new side to them other than their rebellious image, but this was way too soon. The group should have continued with their original hip-hop and EDM sound with more songs that should have been released during their 3-year absence. This song is too much of a sonic departure from their first song, especially since this is only their second single. It would have done better if it were a track on their first mini-album or something they released after a few more songs and then showcased their versatility with “Live My Life”. They could have also made this into an Ezreal solo track on a mini-album or solo project as well.
In terms of the music video, it does match the song’s summery vibe with the members all hanging out together in a slice-of-life-esque scenario with them hanging out together and having fun. Applause to the animators who did a fantastic job on it and brought all the characters’ personalities and interactions with each other to life. However, it is not as attention-grabbing or exhilarating as their heist movie concept in their previous MV (but seeing Kayn trying to get into a dryer was acually kinda funny).
The Replacement of tobi lou, ØZI, and Cal Scruby
The biggest disappointment for everyone (including me) was how nearly all the original voices for the characters were replaced. In the original lineup, tobi lou, ØZI, and Cal Scruby were the voices of K’Sante, Sett, and Kayn, respectively. As mentioned before, only EXO’s Baekhyun made a return to be Ezreal’s voice for this latest comeback. Instead of the original trio, K’Sante, Sett, and Kayn were replaced by Anderson .Paak, Connor Price, and Nic D, respectively. Fans online were very disappointed and confused about why the cast was suddenly replaced for “Live My Life”.
This isn’t the first time this has happened. When K/DA was coming back in 2020 for their ALL OUT album, Madison Beer and Jaira Burns were replaced with Wolftyla and Bea Miller on the track “THE BADDEST” while Miyeon and Soyeon from G(idle) continued to be the singing voices of Ahri and Akali. Although the song was a massive hit, fans were concerned about their absence from the group, as their voices were what made the characters, especially Madison, whose sultry vocals perfectly embodied Evelynn. However, concerns were quelled when both returned for “MORE,” and Madison appeared on Evelynn’s solo track, “VILLIAN”, along with Kim Petras.
On September 14, tobi lou reposted on his official Twitter a photo of him, Cal Scruby, and Baekyun posing together in January. He claims this photo was taken the day he, Cal, and ØZI were being replaced by Riot Games. A user asked why and what happened, and the rapper stated he was unable to discuss the reason why.
It could be possible in the future that HEARTSTEEL might release an album with the original voices coming back for more songs. Now, I am not a music producer, but I’m guessing the producers were trying to experiment with a new sound with different artists. But then again, it doesn’t make any sense to replace the voices, especially given the fact that Cal Scruby was one of the writers for “PARANOIA”.
Is “Live My Life” A Flop?
Overall, I don’t think “Live My Life” is a completely terrible song. I think it is just a bad song to follow up “PARANOIA” that established the group’s sound and their concept. Going from these badass outcasts from the music industry to this slice-of-life summer concept is too much of a sudden concept and music shift for the group, especially since it’s been almost 3 long years since they dropped their first single. After their debut, K/DA’s debut, they took a 2-year hiatus before dropping ALL OUT hat featured two new songs and three solo projects. During those 3 years, Riot should have put out new music for HEARTSTEEL to keep their momentum and popularity going with the original voice cast, maybe go on a year or two hiatus, and then drop “Live My Life” with the new cast to switch things up and show the group in a new light. I don’t believe this will completely ruin HEARTSTEEL as a group forever, but Riot needs to be careful in how they approach HEARTSTEEL’s next project if they want them to succeed like all their other virtual groups.
