Fun fact! The reason kayns rapping voice is so low and mismatching is because rhaast is more like his alter ego in this universe so the deep voice is rhaast. They arent fighting for control in this one like you yourself pointed out, but rhaast seems to essentially act as kayns intrusive thoughts and edgy alter ego/stage persona
Listen to the skin spotlight video going over heartsteel kayn and his voiceless! Hearing kayns regular talking voice really shows this off as well, just the sheer difference between talking vs singing sells that he's kinda leaning on an otherworldly power for that deep singing voice
Update: They released a Heartsteel bloopers reel. Not only do they have their regular voices, I guarantee you that after you watch it, you will come out begging for a Heartsteel animated series.
This is me right now, their bromance relationships feel so damn organic that it would be a crime to waste this. I’m not even asking for a masterpiece like Arcane, just atleaat give these guys a mini series since they were done so dirty with their splash arts.
I think the bloopers also directly address the "break in fiction" that Skyen mentions, the bloopers show that it's an actual music video with multiple takes and to me that adds to the immersion of these musicians with resources trying to construct a presence around this scrappy underdog narrative. Ofc the dog is in frame even, he's a paid actor!
One thing that I noticed towards the finale of the music video was how each member of the group gets a chance to be "saved" or helped in some way by the other members. In other parts of the video, the group dynamics could be defined as a sort of playful and teasing, but loving camaraderie. But in the last minute or so, after the bridge of the song, we lose most of the teasing we saw earlier, and instead see genuine support for one another from each of the band members. Kayn catches Aphelios in the car, Sett catches Ksante falling off a roof, Yone jumps into the arms of the rest of the group at the very end, and even Ezreal grabs the dog's collar to bring it out of the water with him. I interpret this as a "we like to poke fun sometimes, but ultimately we got each other's backs when it comes down to the things that really matter." Very heartwarming, actually.
Yeah the camaraderie bleeds through with this cast of goofballs that the others just don’t have. You get the feeling that these guys actually hang out together and enjoy each other’s company, to the point where on-time and off-time doesn’t seem to matter anymore? I can imagine these guys crammed into a large apartment or frathouse together you know? Like they spend their personal time off-duty as it were just doing this sort of crazy shit anyway.
@@kvatch Seriously?!!! There are SO many little moments: 1) the first time you really see his face is at 0:56 , which, yea, it's just his face so it's not much of anything, BUT he does look adorable and you can tell he really has personality in that scene. 2) one of the best moments is at 1:22 where he tings the bell. THE SASS AND THE SIDE EYE MAN!!! There isn't much else to this scene but it really shows his sassy personality very well. 3) soon after that you can see him pointing behind sett with Ksante and Ezreal, and compared with those two he shows just as much personality 4) at 1:58 he is driving the motor cycle and just.... idk how to explain this one, but the way he is riding it gives off vibes of "I am confident in my own sassiness and introverted ness ". IDK HOW to explain it, but that's what I get. Compared to Yone, as band mom, it felt like he only did that because he had to, but with aphelios it felt like he is actively enjoying it with the way he is driving the motorcycle. and not to mention the zoom in on his face as he spins. 5) 2:16 definitely has the most obvious "aphelios moment". In the Heartsteel lore, aphelios isn't confident about his musical abilities, and this is a perfect representation of that. He is thrown into a pool of water seemingly creating a melody and then at the end he gets sucked into a vortex and is sinking deeper and deeper into the water which represents his anxiety. 6) one of my favorite little moments is at 2:51 . Here he barely is able to hold onto the car and then gives a thumbs up as he does. The best part is that you can only see him in the car mirror, so you can easily miss him. little moment, but still nice. 7) THIS! OMG! THIS! THIS MOMENT 2:58 . There is so much said in such a little bit of time. Sett catches Ksante and Ksante, being canonically gay, looks impressed at Sett TO WHICH SETT does a "yikes" face because of course he is totally straight. Aphelios then pops up and gives sett a confused "what the hell?" glare. does this because in the spirit blossom universe sett and aphelios are a thing, or at the very least sett has some flirty lines and the fandom made it bigger than it is, but either way aphelios' look here was basically saying "Why do you look uncomfortable with holding a guy? I thought you loved me you bastard!" Best scene in the whole video. 8) 3:06 the way he is talking to the dog there before being shocked by Yone is absolutely adorable and, again, shows his personality. 9) 3:17 there is of course the "I am so done with this bullshit" look of pure sass that he does to the cops. 10) and then lastly at the final scene he does a cute little ... hand to head.... "goodbye wave?" (you know what i mean), while holding the dog. It's not so much about how many scenes he is in as it is about how much they were able to say about his personality in the scenes he was in. Looking at it that way they did SO much. Don't get me wrong, everyone else showed a lot of personality as well (Kayn and Ksante had some really good moments ), but my point is that I just don't think Aphelios was lacking in overall effort that they put into him. He isn't as present as the others because he doesn't speak and so he isn't a singer, but I think they did an excellent job in making him present in a more subtle way, but still VERY much so there.
@@nimrodfilms5104 Have you seen the "Behind the scenes" video? Sett full on takes a nap on Aphelios, I don't think he has issues with holding onto men - especially Aphelios - in this universe :D I think the look is because of the speeding car, not because of anything else.
@@nimrodfilms5104i interpreted sett flinching away from ksante being the case because of aphelioses glare, that phel was jealous and ksante annoyed at that
Some more fun details: - When the boys get sent flying after the chariot crash, you can see that Kayn's gone Rhaast-mode behind Aphelios and is just sort of chilling mid-air with one hand behind his head and the other doing a peace sign at the camera. - Right *before* the chariot crash, Sett's first to realise the dog's in the back seat, and you can see him start to react right before the camera cuts to the mirror view. - In Sett's section in the ring, on the line "growing up i was the problem that they didn't solve," Ezreal nearly gets run over by the monster truck and when he stumbles back, Aphelios turns around like he's going to catch him. - That's actually Sett slamming the tape into the camcorder at the start, not Ezreal! Ezreal writes the tape label, but that's Sett's camcorder. (Who else of these boys would use brass knuckles as a camcorder grip?!)
@@slylover123 These timestamps are for the regular Heartsteel video, because Skyen didn't actually show the footage for some of them. - Rhaast peace-signing the camera: 2:18 - Sett reacting to the dog: 2:12 - Ezreal nearly gets run over: 1:28
Headcannon: Sett is the only one of the bois who can actually draw, and not just scribble. That`s why his punch has this "comic-book" frame in it. P.s. and K'sante is the painter.
@@snowpawzvideosyeah i headcanon that Phel likes drawing if he isnt making music! he makes little doodles of him and the other memebers. As someone who lowkey ships themselves with aphelios (please dont judge) and also loves drawing it just gives me a lot of comfort :)
I like the little story telling of Kayn and the truck. At first he gets the key stolen by KaSante, later Sett drives it and in the last section Kayn is finally the one driving. Also, the fact that he is the one in front, pointing behind him to give the others the spotlight in the final shot of the video is a cute end to his "character development"
After watching music producers react, it is 100% cranked down in post. You don’t hear that deep a baseline in any of the choruses after his solo. So edgy! 😂
If you listen to the rapper who voice acts Kayn, his voice is not that deep. He just sounds like a guy, haha. They clearly deepened his voice with intention
Minor point - at 17:20 the scribble on the box doesn't say "one drone"; the Y at the front is slightly hidden by the shot but it does in fact say Yone Drone, which is... just delightful to me.
Came to the comments for the same exact thought =) And what made me pay more attention to scribble there is the fact that in his mugshot Y is also somewhat concealed, so I immediately went «Wait, is it really "one drone" though ? 🤨». And now I'm very curious what is behind this Y-concealing, because at two occurances it just can't be a coincidence.
About the laser beams: My thought was that it is a set in the movie studio (for a spy movie ore something) so it doesnt matter if they are broken or not.
Yeah, I think Sett's camera also cuts through the laser beams so they're probably not real in terms of an actual security measure that will trigger alarms.
Yeah you can see when it pans to Ksante on the top that it's just a set. Which makes Kayn trying to pose like he can dodge all the laser beams even funnier because it literally doesn't matter, he is doing out of fun and to look good lol
In the first scene of Kayn, he removed his eye patch signifying that it's Rhaast that is 'taking control', hence the deep chaotic voice he says in his lines
I think recently released "bloopers" video for the music clip answers a lot of questions about fiction in indirect way, like that the dog is clearly part of the filming process.
I interpreted the deep voice to being Rhaast coming through, as he starts rapping after taking off the eye patch and Rhaast shows up in the following break in segment, and if it is Rhaast "possessing" Kayn to do the verse, the suddenly deep and growly voice is pretty fitting for Rhaast
I think the reason they portrayed Sett and KSante that way is because they’re the co-leaders of the band, and gym bros! I think their dynamic is cute as friends who try to one up each other 😊
The dog are their pet (or at least one of them) because in Kayn's voicelines he said the dog's name is Ernie (or something like that), so yeah, they basically has their dog play a security dog. Which wild in the context that they are breaking into a film studio.
Canonically, that’s not Kayn’s normal voice. It’s his Rhaast voice. And the diagesis problems might be the result of the boys adding SFX in post prod and reshooting shots. The fiction of them having powers might just be part of their stage personas.
I think the music universes do have powers but I actually like it that way. You have these hyper skilled people with extraordinary abilities and they use it for hijinks and their music careers.
I love how they portrayed KaSante and Sett. The mug shot with the two of them together and Sett’s name is upside tickles my brain in all the right ways. Also Riot better not pass up a golden opportunity of having Corporate Mundo being their manager. Just imagine all of them stuffed into a conference room and Mundo just pointing at a PowerPoint while all the guys are confused.
I really like Heartsteel. I hope Riot doesn't abandon it, I'd really like to see more content from this. Hell, maybe even their own animated Netflix series
It would be cool if we had a universe in Arcane with all of band skinlines as the focus, but fit in a few of the others that would still match in a modern setting. And then maybe a funny easter egg with characters barging into a room with the rpg skin line fully cosplayed out playing D&D.
My reading of the fiction is that even the heist was all staged, like "let's film it like we're raiding the studio and doing it all unauthorized" and the dog is just their dog who's a very good actor boy (his name is Ernest btw)
When I first saw the little scene of Sett catching K’sante and then being like, “oh whoopsie-daisies”? I got the interpretation that he was anticipating catching Aphelios and was preparing a little cocksure grin, but then Aphelios happens to pop up from behind him to just hit him with the judgemental little, “I’m here, dumbass🙄”
Oh Kayn definitely broke those laser beams in that one scene but it's a movie studio, those laser beams do nothing except look cool. The animation also looked similar in parts as when the dog activated one of those lasers a bit earlier
I fucking loved how they animated Ezreal panicking and teleporting away from the falling ship/plane/thing, so much that it made me decide a character of mine's "thing" is gonna be that they blink around kinda like that. It's just such a good shot and the way he moves looks SO good. Thanks, Heartsteel!
i keep coming back to this video because it puts so much love and appreciation for all the tiny little details that make heartsteel so endearing there's just so much character expression to derive from the artistic choices and i see the fans/community create so much wonderful and creative things in turn i can only hope that riot gives heartsteel a chance or at least consider it a success worth being proud of, im genuinely so entranced by this mv
I would love to hear TB talk about the discord calls, honestly. Sett and K'sante having a strong gymbro friendship, Aphelios's typing and habit of throwing stuff at Sett in their shared room, Yone and K'sante absolutely being mom and dad, etc. With the talks on the personality front, I actually really enjoyed that little bit of content Riot gave us pre-release.
They're everything to me. Aphelios being soooooo cunty in every little bg thing he does, K'Sante and Sett hanging out as co-leaders (see them taking their "mugshots" together) and the thing where you saw it as K'Sante swearing revenge but to me it almost looks like Sett hadn't planned to be catching K'Sante /specifically/ (Phel sliding into the frame right after with a raised eyebrow). Also just the whole "mugshots" thing but they're not even really mugshots and they just used a clapperboard as their mugshot board.
What i’m getting in comparison from the music videos is a total juxtaposition. In the context of the universe the original K/DA is very ‘professionally stylised’ lots of effect work and set pieces tailored to each of them. It’s very camera-loving. They want your eyes on them. Look at me, admire my style, worship me. I’m your fantasy but you can’t touch. They’re putting that image of coolness and style on a worship-level for you as a fan to buy into. Kind of to a self-indulgent degree of “I’m so damn cool, so far above you, watch me prove it.” Heartsteel goes almost the opposite with an extreme “Hold my beer and watch this.” maniac attitude. Everything from the wild vehicle chases and crashes, the frantic camera work, the off-kilter “Not as planned!” moments gives it that spontaneous feel of a drunken idea gone predictably wrong in as chaotic and unpredictable a fashion as possible. They’re skilled enough to keep up with the mayhem, albeit gracelessly, for most of them, that gives you the feeling this loony idea might just work despite how comically inept they are at doing it professionally, that their insane, unhinged and unpredictable antics might just tip the scale so far that it ends up in their favour. It does have that DIY feel as if instead of watching a carefully choreographed affair, you’re taken on an improvised heist gone way off the rails. Like you are taken along for the ride in a day in the life of Heartsteel and they thought it would be a good idea to record/broadcast it rather than being shown the curated best side. And there is a decent split and scale between a few different themes in the lineup. K/DA is mostly synergistic, keeping to a general aesthetic and feel with a little bit of uniqueness buddied up to their common elements. Evelynn is very much the seductive diva, giving a more sensual tone to her performance where Akali punks it up with a scrappy overtone. Heartsteel tends to flip between comically absurd to comically serious, competency and attitude with Yone and Aphelios making up the comically serious and generally competent end, K’sante and Sett keeping a more relaxed vibe make some wild decisions that they have to deal with, Ezreal holding on by the seat of his pants trying to keep up and play it all cool and Kayn/Rhaast who are so far off their rocker getting into bad situations but being competent enough at getting them out of them as they are getting in them.
Definitely agree with all of this. KDA is curated to be perfect in every sense and centered in their images. Someone else said that even in the audios/other animations that show them outside their music videos they looked professional. Heartsteel members look goofy and cool at the same time in all their media. They are not professional at all except Yone which is not a band member per se but it's there to wrap up the band as the working group that produces something at all that it should be.
@@rociopaoloni5080 I got to say one of my favourite moments is right at the very end, just after they bust through the gate they all give the camera a salute or thumb up while they’re all joyriding into the sunset. Like you can tell they’re having fun but you can tell that they’re appreciative of each other’s company, the work they’ve done and the audience for coming along with them. And that’s that feeling of being acknowledged by the artist as a whole. Yeah everyone sings at you, that’s what a band does but there’s a feeling of ‘thanks for coming along for the ride.’ that you just don’t get from the others.
All this talk about settphel on the one hand and sett's interactions with k'sante on the orher has led me to a groundbreaking realization: Sett has two hands, he can have two boyfriends too
Can we just appreciate Skyen's absolutely FLAWLESS Kayn impression at 1:03:00 Edit:Oh and another one at 1:38:04 (I’m fully convinced that Skyen is secretly Robbie Daymond)
some people have guessed sett thought he was gonna catch aphelios instead of k'sante towards the end hence why he looked so smug at first. then his expression changes upon noticing/also maybe noticing aphelios behind them. aphelios also seems to have a suspecting expression at sett, making people wonder if it might've been out of some jealousy or "🤨 HUH?"
The robot scene was so endearing to me because it's shown in the interview with CQ that Sett genuinely punched some paparazzi off of ezreal once, and this scene is like Ez "returning the favor", very adorable 1:18:57
About Kayn and the laser grid; at 47:29 the wide shot seems to reveal that the “laser security hallway” is actually just a set rather than an actual security measure, hence the beams overhead and the cameras set up in there. So it seems to me that the security guard is literally just behind a door, and Kayn’s laser grid shenanigans are all them messing around on one of the sets lol
43:32 I view the entire scene of Kayn "not triggering any laserbeams" as him still using his smoke/shadow powers so he literally can't trigger the lazer beams but he still wants everyone to think he's just that cool and can walk through lazer beams without problems so he acts like he's not touching them
Heartsteel's "Blopper Reel" answered many of the storytelling questions! It was made to look like the boys were breaking in, doing stuff and getting arrested for it, but in reality, it was a planned shoot. Look it up if interested :) We'll also get more interaction between the boys. ^^ Also Kayn ability and smoke seems to be an ability he can do? This would indicate that the music universe has some kind of magic in it (like Ahri's tails)
The one thing that I really like about this Music Video is that the boys really interact and vibe with each other, giving the sense that they're really friends. From the top of my head (I could be wrong), the K/DA videos are more isolated with 2 or 3 duo scenes. EDIT: So glad that you mentioned it. It's really the charm that this group has.
I don’t know if you saw the official teaser snippets where they had the boys just having banter over discord but it’s definitely worth a watch if you like seeing them interact as bros.
I think you're definitely right about the scene with Aphelios in the water. The imagery of the sudden loss of air is representative of losing one's voice, but the setting and angles also make that part look like a big little mermaid reference, like Aphelios reaching out for the light feels like it could from 'Part of your World' or something, which DEFINITELY strengthens the whole 'losing one's voice' motif.
KDA is very much on perfection, beauty, the typical things that female kpop idols always usually portray and are made to because of how the industry is. Meanwhile Heartsteel is being cool, and having fun. They feel more realistic that way and relatable, I'd LOVE to hangout with them xD
God i love this man so much lmfao The enthusiasm about his passion is really infectious i am at the ready each toime to listen to even 5 hours of breakdowns
i think the diogesis is exactly like thr product itself, its a boy band with multimillion budgets co-opting the aesthetic of anti-establishment art/music movements. Making a music video where the conceit is that theyre underground artists breaking and entering a studio. Just like how a lot of kpop bands use military aesthetic, its just visual flair to make the group more edgy. everything is meticulously curated for it.
Maybe (and that's just my kpop knowledge coming through) they're a band akin to Omega X and similar projects? Taking members from groups/artists that haven't done well and giving them a second chance? And so their image is "Now you have to pay attention to us"
Yeah, it's not uncommon at all for boy bands to use the "underdog" image as a kind of narrative, even if they have a huge studio (or I guess producer in this case) backing them up. It's all about the image they wanna project to the audience and not necessarily sticking to reality. To me it was kinda obvious the "breaking in" was just the theme of the music video and they weren't actually breaking in so maybe boy band tropes are not common knowledge? lol
Also the ambiguity between what's real and what's in-world edition (that is, done by the characters themselves) is on purpose. You aren't supposed to be able to really tell. It surprises me that Skyen didn't pick up on that fully given that ambiguities that aren't supposed to be discerned were part of KDA videos too. I mean, does Ahri really have nine tails? Are they high-budget prosthetics or does she have actual organic crystal-like tails? Does she really have those animalistic ears? What are those floating things behind Kai'sa's back? Is Eve really demonic or is a pose, an artistic persona? I don't remember him being so puzzled by those things back then (I barely remember that he mentioned Kai'sa thingies as part of the skin design itself) but now somehow these are. Maybe it reached a point where he doesn't recognize intention behind it, or it's so out of what he prefer in terms of design that he is on the verge of deciding if it's bad or just not his preference (which seems to be a constant in the analysis with the blur motion that aligns perfectly with the "we did it afterwards with the almost none existing animation skills we have" thematic, yet he stills is resistant to not see as negative).
it always makes me laugh that...since kpop is the way it is, the idols have to have relatively squeaky clean public images which means that, if they have to be "bad boys" for a concept, the "crime" is always either graffiti and spray painting everything, OR just. breaking shit 🤣
Yeeee another animation breakdown I saw it as the characters really do have their champion abilities...so kayn really does phsse through that door, ezreal really does teleport short distances, sett really is strong enough to jump like that and tough enough survive a punch from a 7ft robot
K'Sante and Sett are the biggest gym bros. You can really tell their dynamic of we're himbos lifting weights and hanging out in the Discord call thingies that Riot games music has posted on their socials. Also, I interpreted the ''Sett catching K'Sante scene'' a bit differently haha. For me it was sort of like Sett being smug like 'I got you bro' and Aphelios popping up behind like 'ehem? what is going on over here?' (as in a sort of jealous way) and then grimaces like ''Whoops >>'' knowing what it looks like. Ofc, I ship Settphelios so I'm biased haha, but I've seen loads of people interpreting that scene as Aphelios being Sett's boyfriend going ''🤨 ehem??? what is going on here, mister??''. I think it's just funny.
yess the discord calls really added context to that scene the first element that they are gym bro besties, & the second element of aphelios assaulting sett with plushies which implies a romantic dynamic
Skyen, you should know that Sett is the one writing PARANOIA and instering the movie into the camera at the beginning! It matches his gloves and Ezreal is left handed, so he wouldn't write with his right :3 It also makes more sense with the knuckles guard.
I understood the aphelios/yone section as follows: aphelios falls into a rocket launcher support(to the moon stuff), yone enters his "hacking" mode - the "underworld" is supposed to represent the "virtual realm" - to launch the rocket; when the rocket flies, the support breaks and releases aphelios.
THIS!! This is why Heartsteel has become my favorite, its because everything about the Boyband has been done to emphasize the CHARACTERS rather than the MUSIC! You don't gotta do too much fanon/headcanon-ing to check how these guys would interact bc it's all laid on the music video and the publicity, I just ADORE IT
Re: breaking the fiction with the dog, if you watch the bloopers they released, the dog is actually in on the whole thing 🤣 A very good boi who is also a trained accomplice. (Actually answers a lot of "in-universe" questions while adding even more personality to these glorious himbos) Edit: I (33YO) knew the Ben Hur reference, and I'm so glad someone else pointed it out too! 😍My dad's a huge Charlton Heston fan, so we had to watch allllll the DeMille movies growing up (love the RAMMING SPEEEEEED coming out from the car behind the chariot) Also believe it or not, they didn't get arrested at the end -- they're taking fake mug shots with movie clapperboards hehehe
I really love your commentaries/reviews. you convey so much emotions and it makes me feel that you are very genuine about all your videos. It's not like you did this because you have to but because you love it. your voice quality is just a bonus
You know something works when you look up fanfic about it the moment it comes out. (or maybe that's just me looking for a new hyperfixation 😂) Skyen's animation breakdowns always make me so happy. I'm glad you had time to do Heartsteel, Skyen.
No one, and I mean this in the best way, but no one can say "We'll talk about a golf cart later than I'm quite fascinated by-" and have me wait patiently for that design discussion like Skyen :)
The character relationships that are shown through the music video, the blooper reel, and the discord calls makes me so happy! K’Sante and Sett’s close friendship, Yone’s single mother vibe, Ezreal and Kahn’s constant bickering but respect for one another, and the SETTPHEL POTENTIAL!!!!!!
I don't know anything about League or the lore of these characters, but I LOVE this music video. I've been turning it over in my mind for a while and I think to answer your confusion at 1:28:00 I think Phel's whole section is just a visual metaphor to represent his backstory since he lost his voice. I read it as a performer who enraptures and inspires all, including his future band mates, who loses his voice just as he was about to break into the big leagues. I believe the whirlpool is meant to show his mental downward spiral of losing what Phel thought made him great, but then Yone, this stoic producer, comes along and gives Phel the tech he needs to not only create music again, but to unleash more talent than Phel originally got to show off, thus the tidal wave. All of that to say, I think it was a great way to show Phel and Yone's stories while the others got to sing their parts, and this was a great breakdown of the music video.
Long Sett returns... Edit: Funny lore about Sett boxing with an automaton made of cameras: In HS lore, his last music career ended because he punched a paparazzi guy!
i love the detail of kayn's mugshot 'good side' is the left side of his body, because there's where his awkward eye is, ergo rhaast the attention seeker side
17:15 one small detail, the case actually reads "yone drone", not only because it is yone's drone but also because it rhymes, and I think that silly little rhyme just being there also gives some character to the kind of humor this adorable group of himbos like haha
37:40 alright, now I've made a new HC: when they arrived at the studio and found the dog they IMMIDEATLY fell in love with it and decided they would put him in the video too and take it with them to be their band's mascot
LOVE this video!! Some things i wanna add, especially now after the release of the bloopers video: The dog chasing scene is 100% staged!! So it was recorded by Yone most probably, and the dog breaking in was intentional as Kayn kept tripping with the dog or getting stuck on the door. The door phasing thing is part of his powers. We do have this mostly normal setting but we do get small moments and character details that are straight up from their in-game kits. Such as Ezreal teleporting, Kayn doing the shadow phasing through the walls, Sett's cat ears, etc. K/DA did the same thing keeping some fantasy details such as Ahri's ears and tails, Evelynn's blades, etc. They don't go too fantasy with it so it's not too out of place, but enough to make you go "huh how did he do that?", while being a direct nod their in-game kits. Also at the start of Kayn's scene, he doesn't take off sunglasses he takes off his eyepatch which symbolizes Rhaast! That's why his voice is so deep, especially after knowing that is not how he normally talks in this AU (based by the official discord call clips) The car keys Ezreal and the rest had are the same as the ones Yone had at the start because those cars were theirs! Or at least rented or had permission to use them. And they did break them. And Yone was indeed very very mad about it and he did scold all of them (again, seen in the blooper!) During the scene where Sett catches K'sante, I think his grimace is more over Aphelios popping out and looking clearly not very pleased about it lol maybe jealousy or something? And I want to point out the constant theme of falling and catching each other and making sure they're okay. The group does it constantly. Like i mentioned, Sett catching K'sante. K'sante holding Ezreal while driving so he doesn't fall. Kayn checking on the mirror if Aphelios is okay. They repeatedly "save" each other and watch each other's backs. I love it and I love their dynamic, I hope we get to see more of them!!!
also something i just noticed, 1:37:24 kayn is doing the classic "cool guy walks away from explosion" scene but the illusion is broken by the little wind fan in the shot which i think is just so goofy like just emphasizing how theyre trying to be so cool but it's really just some guys being dudes breaking into a studio
One of my favorite lil details is that in the mugshots, the boys are holding clapper boards as opposed to boards noting their names and where they were arrested. moreso supports the idea that this music video wasnt a completely illegal jaunt lmao. more likely that they thought itd be a funny thing to include Kayn being dragged away made me think that he was enjoying the idea of being arrested for something and yone had to drag him away or hed take too long haha
Id like to imagine that the boys are able to use their abilities in real life (ie: kayn shadow walking through the wall, ez blinking through time and place) but the movement didnt quite look cool enough when the boys were going back over footage and so they decided to draw and color stuff over it to make it seem more dramatic.
25:54 I don't play league, and I don't know this guy's voice, but it definitely stood out to me when I first heard the MV and got a chuckle out of me. I was REALLY not expecting that You're right in that it doesn't really MATTER to me, but it did stand out a lot
I bias and love playing as all the champions in Heartsteel so seeing all of them become a new music group, have some great personalities, and have this banger as their introduction is amazing
Also for the diegesis the bloopers video actually provides a lot more context and clarity for what's actually happening in the scenes I trust that you've seen them already
I love watching the music video and finding a new funny detail every time. Just last time I noticed that at around 2:55 (music video not this video) when Kayn is doing his little smirk you can see Aphelios in the mirror just clinging to the car and being thrown around by the wind until he catches himself and does a little thumbs up. Thats so freaking cute I love it.
I've just finished watching heartsteel bloopers and I can't resist coming back here to make another comment 😂😂😂 The dynamic between Kayn and Ezreal is so funny like how you described it in this video lmaooo
I have a personal headcannon that this yone is the same one from Ocean Song. From his breakout at the festival, he got scouted, got bored, didn't release anything for a while until K'sante and Sett (mostly Sett) pestered him into Heartsteel.
"We have gamers, who wants K-pop," I did, me, the K-pop stan who likes video games. It's for me. Heartsteel has my heart (that's so funny to read) and it's my cup of tea. And I literally have this video playing in the background as ambient noise when I study
21:55 Kayn is still fully removed from this security cam shot, so the tracking nature of it with the movement could be Kayn ripping the camera out of the wall.
Υοne's mask may be a mental switch for him to block out the world to focus on a thing and like get in the zone and that may be what the spirit realm section represents
Lovely analysis! I've watched the music video several times and yet there were so many things I missed (especially in the Kayn section). Also I would like to comment some of my favourite moments and details from the mv! 1. When the robot punches Sett his back is facing the camera, so they sketched his face getting punched for a few frames 2. After the watertank breaks Kayn is worried about Aphelios holding on to his car, but then Phel gives him a thumbs up 3. During Sett's rap verse (when he's preparing to fight the robot), the moment he says the word "boss" his face is lit by the stage lights, it's a small thing but I love how it emphasises what Sett is singing about 4. Finally I love the different reactions they have to the dog appearing in the car before they crash, Ezreal is scared (propably knowing they're going to crash), Kayn is annoyed and Sett is just so happy to see the dog that he forgets he is driving and crashes the car There's so many more but I wanna keep it short. Overall I loved Heartsteel and I genuinely hope that if they do make a comeback in a few years, they will get the splash arts they deserve and maybe even a comic or an animated short if riot is feeling generous.
As a fellow who as also reseen this music video countless times i like how each ''spotlight'' to each of the characters really show of bit of their roles in the band and their personality, the scene with aphelios for example, Aphelios lost his voice and we can asume it wasnt easy for him to just let go of singing, and you said as he lost his mask it looks as if he opens a lot more, that leads to him drowning in his own toughs maybe even feeling sad and depressed and even in the song the instrumental comes out pretty clear in this part as it is calm and it focuses on Aphelios who is the guy that plays the instruments, when Yone comes in we can see him step foward in the prespective of kayn looking at what aphleios is going trough, and as the father figure of the band he puts on his mask, wich in his lore makes him see the demons, azakana, spirit world and all that, and that dragon thing was problably aphleios demons keeping him inside the water, and so after that Yone starts dropping the beat on top of the instrumentals, and kind of beating Aphelios demons, this way Aphelios shows of his intruments and who he is, and Yone shows that he is the DJ and the role he plays in the band. I know this was a big comment, but as these two had less appearence on the video i tough it was really cool how they got represented, and since you said you were confused maybe this could clear it a bit, even tho it is just my observation really.
Honestly im really glad i found out about the music video via this and your shorts bc i can consume it EXACTLY the way my brain wants to: watching the music video over and over and over and then watching this and drinking up all the details that you so eloquently lay out for us!!! Absolutely wonderful thank u skyen
I think they didn't create custom textures, I think they might have just painted brush strokes onto the model's normal map, essentially allowing the brush strokes to be visible depending on the angle or lighting! There's a great video by Cody Gindy explaining it!^^
gosh I love diving in your hyperfocus noticing so many interesting details that most people wouldn't care about but it's SO COOL! aah thank god youtube exist so you can share it with us!
LETS GOOO! The animation for this really impressed me (esp cause i was also very mild about the worlds animation) and i love how sassy an expressive my boy aphelios was
I see everyone giving the lore reason that Kayns voice is like that but the second Skyen was like I need you to hear his voice my brain went "This is going to be a Felix from Stray Kids moment, pretty boy here is going to have a wildly deep voice" and I did enjoy it
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
Fun fact! The reason kayns rapping voice is so low and mismatching is because rhaast is more like his alter ego in this universe so the deep voice is rhaast. They arent fighting for control in this one like you yourself pointed out, but rhaast seems to essentially act as kayns intrusive thoughts and edgy alter ego/stage persona
Yep, that’s why you see him rip off his eye patch right before he sings
SCHIZO
The fact there are people who potentially played the game and doesn't get this
youre telling me he tells himself to removes his shirt
Listen to the skin spotlight video going over heartsteel kayn and his voiceless! Hearing kayns regular talking voice really shows this off as well, just the sheer difference between talking vs singing sells that he's kinda leaning on an otherworldly power for that deep singing voice
Update: They released a Heartsteel bloopers reel. Not only do they have their regular voices, I guarantee you that after you watch it, you will come out begging for a Heartsteel animated series.
This is me right now, their bromance relationships feel so damn organic that it would be a crime to waste this. I’m not even asking for a masterpiece like Arcane, just atleaat give these guys a mini series since they were done so dirty with their splash arts.
Tbh ... they can very easily just make newer better ones and replace them?
thank you for mentioning this. it was a grand joy.
YES YES YES
boy band drama for heartsteel would be so fucking dope
THIS is why we dont play chicken WITH THE VVERY EXPENSIVE VEHICLES
I think the bloopers also directly address the "break in fiction" that Skyen mentions, the bloopers show that it's an actual music video with multiple takes and to me that adds to the immersion of these musicians with resources trying to construct a presence around this scrappy underdog narrative. Ofc the dog is in frame even, he's a paid actor!
One thing that I noticed towards the finale of the music video was how each member of the group gets a chance to be "saved" or helped in some way by the other members. In other parts of the video, the group dynamics could be defined as a sort of playful and teasing, but loving camaraderie. But in the last minute or so, after the bridge of the song, we lose most of the teasing we saw earlier, and instead see genuine support for one another from each of the band members. Kayn catches Aphelios in the car, Sett catches Ksante falling off a roof, Yone jumps into the arms of the rest of the group at the very end, and even Ezreal grabs the dog's collar to bring it out of the water with him. I interpret this as a "we like to poke fun sometimes, but ultimately we got each other's backs when it comes down to the things that really matter." Very heartwarming, actually.
Yeah the camaraderie bleeds through with this cast of goofballs that the others just don’t have.
You get the feeling that these guys actually hang out together and enjoy each other’s company, to the point where on-time and off-time doesn’t seem to matter anymore?
I can imagine these guys crammed into a large apartment or frathouse together you know? Like they spend their personal time off-duty as it were just doing this sort of crazy shit anyway.
haha for sure
After three pop bands and a metal band, I can't wait for Taric's solo country album.
targonian band
a metal band they ruined putting viego in
@@murillomesmo8189Viego isn’t even in the band, he hates them
@@murillomesmo8189 Clearly never saw the event lol. Viego is the antagonist. Also, his songs in the album are fire
@@murillomesmo8189 Hah! you just 🤡 yourselve
They gave Aphelios so much personality with this music video and that personality is 100% Sass and I love it!
Tsundere Aphelios is something I never thought i would have needed but omg.
He does like 2 things in the whole thing man they didn't do nearly enough
@@kvatch Seriously?!!! There are SO many little moments:
1) the first time you really see his face is at 0:56 , which, yea, it's just his face so it's not much of anything, BUT he does look adorable and you can tell he really has personality in that scene.
2) one of the best moments is at 1:22 where he tings the bell. THE SASS AND THE SIDE EYE MAN!!! There isn't much else to this scene but it really shows his sassy personality very well.
3) soon after that you can see him pointing behind sett with Ksante and Ezreal, and compared with those two he shows just as much personality
4) at 1:58 he is driving the motor cycle and just.... idk how to explain this one, but the way he is riding it gives off vibes of "I am confident in my own sassiness and introverted ness ". IDK HOW to explain it, but that's what I get. Compared to Yone, as band mom, it felt like he only did that because he had to, but with aphelios it felt like he is actively enjoying it with the way he is driving the motorcycle. and not to mention the zoom in on his face as he spins.
5) 2:16 definitely has the most obvious "aphelios moment". In the Heartsteel lore, aphelios isn't confident about his musical abilities, and this is a perfect representation of that. He is thrown into a pool of water seemingly creating a melody and then at the end he gets sucked into a vortex and is sinking deeper and deeper into the water which represents his anxiety.
6) one of my favorite little moments is at 2:51 . Here he barely is able to hold onto the car and then gives a thumbs up as he does. The best part is that you can only see him in the car mirror, so you can easily miss him. little moment, but still nice.
7) THIS! OMG! THIS! THIS MOMENT 2:58 .
There is so much said in such a little bit of time. Sett catches Ksante and Ksante, being canonically gay, looks impressed at Sett TO WHICH SETT does a "yikes" face because of course he is totally straight. Aphelios then pops up and gives sett a confused "what the hell?" glare. does this because in the spirit blossom universe sett and aphelios are a thing, or at the very least sett has some flirty lines and the fandom made it bigger than it is, but either way aphelios' look here was basically saying "Why do you look uncomfortable with holding a guy? I thought you loved me you bastard!" Best scene in the whole video.
8) 3:06 the way he is talking to the dog there before being shocked by Yone is absolutely adorable and, again, shows his personality.
9) 3:17 there is of course the "I am so done with this bullshit" look of pure sass that he does to the cops.
10) and then lastly at the final scene he does a cute little ... hand to head.... "goodbye wave?" (you know what i mean), while holding the dog.
It's not so much about how many scenes he is in as it is about how much they were able to say about his personality in the scenes he was in. Looking at it that way they did SO much. Don't get me wrong, everyone else showed a lot of personality as well (Kayn and Ksante had some really good moments ), but my point is that I just don't think Aphelios was lacking in overall effort that they put into him. He isn't as present as the others because he doesn't speak and so he isn't a singer, but I think they did an excellent job in making him present in a more subtle way, but still VERY much so there.
@@nimrodfilms5104 Have you seen the "Behind the scenes" video? Sett full on takes a nap on Aphelios, I don't think he has issues with holding onto men - especially Aphelios - in this universe :D I think the look is because of the speeding car, not because of anything else.
@@nimrodfilms5104i interpreted sett flinching away from ksante being the case because of aphelioses glare, that phel was jealous and ksante annoyed at that
Some more fun details:
- When the boys get sent flying after the chariot crash, you can see that Kayn's gone Rhaast-mode behind Aphelios and is just sort of chilling mid-air with one hand behind his head and the other doing a peace sign at the camera.
- Right *before* the chariot crash, Sett's first to realise the dog's in the back seat, and you can see him start to react right before the camera cuts to the mirror view.
- In Sett's section in the ring, on the line "growing up i was the problem that they didn't solve," Ezreal nearly gets run over by the monster truck and when he stumbles back, Aphelios turns around like he's going to catch him.
- That's actually Sett slamming the tape into the camcorder at the start, not Ezreal! Ezreal writes the tape label, but that's Sett's camcorder. (Who else of these boys would use brass knuckles as a camcorder grip?!)
I wish you put timestamps to these 😢
@@slylover123 These timestamps are for the regular Heartsteel video, because Skyen didn't actually show the footage for some of them.
- Rhaast peace-signing the camera: 2:18
- Sett reacting to the dog: 2:12
- Ezreal nearly gets run over: 1:28
@@Summergale413you're the best
*kitty paw* brass knuckles, no less :3c
Dang that was one heck of a crash landing😢
Headcannon: Sett is the only one of the bois who can actually draw, and not just scribble. That`s why his punch has this "comic-book" frame in it.
P.s. and K'sante is the painter.
@@snowpawzvideosyeah i headcanon that Phel likes drawing if he isnt making music! he makes little doodles of him and the other memebers. As someone who lowkey ships themselves with aphelios (please dont judge) and also loves drawing it just gives me a lot of comfort :)
Now i love him even more. Himbo, braggodacious, fighter, tough, mama´s boy, heart of gold, big boy and can draw. He´s got it all
@@snowpawzvideos would check out for the sett section too considering Aphelios and Sett's relationship lol.
I like the little story telling of Kayn and the truck. At first he gets the key stolen by KaSante, later Sett drives it and in the last section Kayn is finally the one driving. Also, the fact that he is the one in front, pointing behind him to give the others the spotlight in the final shot of the video is a cute end to his "character development"
Kayn's voice is hilarious to me because I feel like he would totally lower his pitch in post like an edgelord he is (I'm projecting, I would do that)
no, I 100% agree with you! My headcannon as well
Isnt that the actual cannon reason for rhaast to sound like that in the heartsteel versr
After watching music producers react, it is 100% cranked down in post. You don’t hear that deep a baseline in any of the choruses after his solo. So edgy! 😂
I know 3 week late comment is weird but... HAHA edgelord (His subclass is edgelord in tft XD)
If you listen to the rapper who voice acts Kayn, his voice is not that deep. He just sounds like a guy, haha. They clearly deepened his voice with intention
Minor point - at 17:20 the scribble on the box doesn't say "one drone"; the Y at the front is slightly hidden by the shot but it does in fact say Yone Drone, which is... just delightful to me.
Came to the comments for the same exact thought =) And what made me pay more attention to scribble there is the fact that in his mugshot Y is also somewhat concealed, so I immediately went «Wait, is it really "one drone" though ? 🤨». And now I'm very curious what is behind this Y-concealing, because at two occurances it just can't be a coincidence.
About the laser beams: My thought was that it is a set in the movie studio (for a spy movie ore something) so it doesnt matter if they are broken or not.
Yeah, I think Sett's camera also cuts through the laser beams so they're probably not real in terms of an actual security measure that will trigger alarms.
Yeah you can see when it pans to Ksante on the top that it's just a set. Which makes Kayn trying to pose like he can dodge all the laser beams even funnier because it literally doesn't matter, he is doing out of fun and to look good lol
Yeah thats my thought too, thats why Ksante has the directors seat and Sett moving the camera of the studio
In the first scene of Kayn, he removed his eye patch signifying that it's Rhaast that is 'taking control', hence the deep chaotic voice he says in his lines
I think recently released "bloopers" video for the music clip answers a lot of questions about fiction in indirect way, like that the dog is clearly part of the filming process.
I interpreted the deep voice to being Rhaast coming through, as he starts rapping after taking off the eye patch and Rhaast shows up in the following break in segment, and if it is Rhaast "possessing" Kayn to do the verse, the suddenly deep and growly voice is pretty fitting for Rhaast
I think Kayn's usb flash drive scene was him hacking and opening the "garage door" for Ezreal to enter the building.
I think the reason they portrayed Sett and KSante that way is because they’re the co-leaders of the band, and gym bros! I think their dynamic is cute as friends who try to one up each other 😊
The dog are their pet (or at least one of them) because in Kayn's voicelines he said the dog's name is Ernie (or something like that), so yeah, they basically has their dog play a security dog. Which wild in the context that they are breaking into a film studio.
That or the former security dog just became their pet
@@Cassieopeia0Ernest!
Nasus HEARTSTEEL
Canonically, that’s not Kayn’s normal voice. It’s his Rhaast voice. And the diagesis problems might be the result of the boys adding SFX in post prod and reshooting shots. The fiction of them having powers might just be part of their stage personas.
Idk I kinda like them still having powers in the Music universe 😂
@@kitnal4143 wasn't it canon that that universe does have powers too?
I think the music universes do have powers but I actually like it that way.
You have these hyper skilled people with extraordinary abilities and they use it for hijinks and their music careers.
The blooper reel shows that Kayn CAN teleport…because he gets stuck in the vault door and everyone laughs at him 😆
No matter if you love or hate Paranoia, no one can deny the animation is absolutely peak bro energy
Its just a real "dude vibe"
I love how they portrayed KaSante and Sett. The mug shot with the two of them together and Sett’s name is upside tickles my brain in all the right ways.
Also Riot better not pass up a golden opportunity of having Corporate Mundo being their manager. Just imagine all of them stuffed into a conference room and Mundo just pointing at a PowerPoint while all the guys are confused.
Alune is the manager aphelios’ sister
Alune is confirmed to be their manager already, sorry Mundo
Aphelios's sister is the manager, but, better recommendation: Corporate Mundo is the Label Executive
Omg yes
Alune is their manager wich I find even cuter
I really like Heartsteel. I hope Riot doesn't abandon it, I'd really like to see more content from this. Hell, maybe even their own animated Netflix series
ohhh no i hope not.was kinda sad abt true damage but i would be sadder abt this.
Saaame
And now they are putting a thing for tft
I also wish they put more songs for each band
It would be really cool to see the bands (heartsteel, true damage, pentakill, KDA, ocean song) vibing in a yuri on ice kinda way
It would be cool if we had a universe in Arcane with all of band skinlines as the focus, but fit in a few of the others that would still match in a modern setting. And then maybe a funny easter egg with characters barging into a room with the rpg skin line fully cosplayed out playing D&D.
I want it to be the gayest slice of life ever. I know Riot wont do that but one can dream
My reading of the fiction is that even the heist was all staged, like "let's film it like we're raiding the studio and doing it all unauthorized" and the dog is just their dog who's a very good actor boy (his name is Ernest btw)
There's something so funny and goofy about Kayn doing all these cool moves and literally hitting All the lazers. I think it's intentional 😂
When I first saw the little scene of Sett catching K’sante and then being like, “oh whoopsie-daisies”? I got the interpretation that he was anticipating catching Aphelios and was preparing a little cocksure grin, but then Aphelios happens to pop up from behind him to just hit him with the judgemental little, “I’m here, dumbass🙄”
Oh Kayn definitely broke those laser beams in that one scene but it's a movie studio, those laser beams do nothing except look cool. The animation also looked similar in parts as when the dog activated one of those lasers a bit earlier
I feel like that whole laser grid was just set up by the others for Kayn to do his cool opening. Not actual security motions lasers
I fucking loved how they animated Ezreal panicking and teleporting away from the falling ship/plane/thing, so much that it made me decide a character of mine's "thing" is gonna be that they blink around kinda like that. It's just such a good shot and the way he moves looks SO good. Thanks, Heartsteel!
i keep coming back to this video because it puts so much love and appreciation for all the tiny little details that make heartsteel so endearing
there's just so much character expression to derive from the artistic choices and i see the fans/community create so much wonderful and creative things in turn
i can only hope that riot gives heartsteel a chance or at least consider it a success worth being proud of, im genuinely so entranced by this mv
I would love to hear TB talk about the discord calls, honestly. Sett and K'sante having a strong gymbro friendship, Aphelios's typing and habit of throwing stuff at Sett in their shared room, Yone and K'sante absolutely being mom and dad, etc. With the talks on the personality front, I actually really enjoyed that little bit of content Riot gave us pre-release.
I had to come back to say they made bloopers for this music video and it's so good
They're everything to me. Aphelios being soooooo cunty in every little bg thing he does, K'Sante and Sett hanging out as co-leaders (see them taking their "mugshots" together) and the thing where you saw it as K'Sante swearing revenge but to me it almost looks like Sett hadn't planned to be catching K'Sante /specifically/ (Phel sliding into the frame right after with a raised eyebrow). Also just the whole "mugshots" thing but they're not even really mugshots and they just used a clapperboard as their mugshot board.
What i’m getting in comparison from the music videos is a total juxtaposition.
In the context of the universe the original K/DA is very ‘professionally stylised’ lots of effect work and set pieces tailored to each of them. It’s very camera-loving. They want your eyes on them.
Look at me, admire my style, worship me. I’m your fantasy but you can’t touch.
They’re putting that image of coolness and style on a worship-level for you as a fan to buy into. Kind of to a self-indulgent degree of “I’m so damn cool, so far above you, watch me prove it.”
Heartsteel goes almost the opposite with an extreme “Hold my beer and watch this.” maniac attitude.
Everything from the wild vehicle chases and crashes, the frantic camera work, the off-kilter “Not as planned!” moments gives it that spontaneous feel of a drunken idea gone predictably wrong in as chaotic and unpredictable a fashion as possible.
They’re skilled enough to keep up with the mayhem, albeit gracelessly, for most of them, that gives you the feeling this loony idea might just work despite how comically inept they are at doing it professionally, that their insane, unhinged and unpredictable antics might just tip the scale so far that it ends up in their favour.
It does have that DIY feel as if instead of watching a carefully choreographed affair, you’re taken on an improvised heist gone way off the rails. Like you are taken along for the ride in a day in the life of Heartsteel and they thought it would be a good idea to record/broadcast it rather than being shown the curated best side.
And there is a decent split and scale between a few different themes in the lineup.
K/DA is mostly synergistic, keeping to a general aesthetic and feel with a little bit of uniqueness buddied up to their common elements.
Evelynn is very much the seductive diva, giving a more sensual tone to her performance where Akali punks it up with a scrappy overtone.
Heartsteel tends to flip between comically absurd to comically serious, competency and attitude with Yone and Aphelios making up the comically serious and generally competent end, K’sante and Sett keeping a more relaxed vibe make some wild decisions that they have to deal with, Ezreal holding on by the seat of his pants trying to keep up and play it all cool and Kayn/Rhaast who are so far off their rocker getting into bad situations but being competent enough at getting them out of them as they are getting in them.
Definitely agree with all of this. KDA is curated to be perfect in every sense and centered in their images. Someone else said that even in the audios/other animations that show them outside their music videos they looked professional. Heartsteel members look goofy and cool at the same time in all their media. They are not professional at all except Yone which is not a band member per se but it's there to wrap up the band as the working group that produces something at all that it should be.
@@rociopaoloni5080
I got to say one of my favourite moments is right at the very end, just after they bust through the gate they all give the camera a salute or thumb up while they’re all joyriding into the sunset.
Like you can tell they’re having fun but you can tell that they’re appreciative of each other’s company, the work they’ve done and the audience for coming along with them.
And that’s that feeling of being acknowledged by the artist as a whole.
Yeah everyone sings at you, that’s what a band does but there’s a feeling of ‘thanks for coming along for the ride.’ that you just don’t get from the others.
All this talk about settphel on the one hand and sett's interactions with k'sante on the orher has led me to a groundbreaking realization: Sett has two hands, he can have two boyfriends too
polygamy wins again
XD
REAL
Can we just appreciate Skyen's absolutely FLAWLESS Kayn impression at 1:03:00
Edit:Oh and another one at 1:38:04 (I’m fully convinced that Skyen is secretly Robbie Daymond)
Ikr FULL ROBBIE DAYMOND
you mean at 27:59 ? (I couldn't stop laughing at the impression)
I can imagine Kayn straight up saying that to Ez lmfao
@@starvingforrock-1398i was just skipping to various parts and i just landed on the part that i timestamped
Is this how I realize Kayn is Robbie Daymond???
Kayn's mouth ain't straight, Ezreal's teeth ain't straight, Sett, Aphelios and K'Sante for sure ain't straight either.
meanwhile Yone is just chilling lol
Yone is into furrys
some people have guessed sett thought he was gonna catch aphelios instead of k'sante towards the end hence why he looked so smug at first. then his expression changes upon noticing/also maybe noticing aphelios behind them.
aphelios also seems to have a suspecting expression at sett, making people wonder if it might've been out of some jealousy or "🤨 HUH?"
The robot scene was so endearing to me because it's shown in the interview with CQ that Sett genuinely punched some paparazzi off of ezreal once, and this scene is like Ez "returning the favor", very adorable 1:18:57
About Kayn and the laser grid; at 47:29 the wide shot seems to reveal that the “laser security hallway” is actually just a set rather than an actual security measure, hence the beams overhead and the cameras set up in there. So it seems to me that the security guard is literally just behind a door, and Kayn’s laser grid shenanigans are all them messing around on one of the sets lol
43:32
I view the entire scene of Kayn "not triggering any laserbeams" as him still using his smoke/shadow powers so he literally can't trigger the lazer beams but he still wants everyone to think he's just that cool and can walk through lazer beams without problems so he acts like he's not touching them
Heartsteel's "Blopper Reel" answered many of the storytelling questions! It was made to look like the boys were breaking in, doing stuff and getting arrested for it, but in reality, it was a planned shoot. Look it up if interested :) We'll also get more interaction between the boys. ^^
Also Kayn ability and smoke seems to be an ability he can do? This would indicate that the music universe has some kind of magic in it (like Ahri's tails)
And not even a day later Riot goes and releases an animated blooper reel from this music video and it's absolutely hilarious.
The one thing that I really like about this Music Video is that the boys really interact and vibe with each other, giving the sense that they're really friends. From the top of my head (I could be wrong), the K/DA videos are more isolated with 2 or 3 duo scenes.
EDIT: So glad that you mentioned it. It's really the charm that this group has.
Heartsteel is keeping the gold metallic sharpies and gel pen industries in business
I don’t know if you saw the official teaser snippets where they had the boys just having banter over discord but it’s definitely worth a watch if you like seeing them interact as bros.
I think you're definitely right about the scene with Aphelios in the water. The imagery of the sudden loss of air is representative of losing one's voice, but the setting and angles also make that part look like a big little mermaid reference, like Aphelios reaching out for the light feels like it could from 'Part of your World' or something, which DEFINITELY strengthens the whole 'losing one's voice' motif.
If you sync this MV to the music in the MV of Who Let the Dogs Out, it fits disturbingly well
lmaooo
Oh dog I have to see this
just tried and can confirm
but how did you come to this conclusion lmao
@@LeeKnowThyself The dog did it
KDA is very much on perfection, beauty, the typical things that female kpop idols always usually portray and are made to because of how the industry is. Meanwhile Heartsteel is being cool, and having fun. They feel more realistic that way and relatable, I'd LOVE to hangout with them xD
God i love this man so much lmfao
The enthusiasm about his passion is really infectious i am at the ready each toime to listen to even 5 hours of breakdowns
i think the diogesis is exactly like thr product itself, its a boy band with multimillion budgets co-opting the aesthetic of anti-establishment art/music movements. Making a music video where the conceit is that theyre underground artists breaking and entering a studio. Just like how a lot of kpop bands use military aesthetic, its just visual flair to make the group more edgy. everything is meticulously curated for it.
Maybe (and that's just my kpop knowledge coming through) they're a band akin to Omega X and similar projects? Taking members from groups/artists that haven't done well and giving them a second chance? And so their image is "Now you have to pay attention to us"
Yeah, it's not uncommon at all for boy bands to use the "underdog" image as a kind of narrative, even if they have a huge studio (or I guess producer in this case) backing them up. It's all about the image they wanna project to the audience and not necessarily sticking to reality. To me it was kinda obvious the "breaking in" was just the theme of the music video and they weren't actually breaking in so maybe boy band tropes are not common knowledge? lol
Also the ambiguity between what's real and what's in-world edition (that is, done by the characters themselves) is on purpose. You aren't supposed to be able to really tell. It surprises me that Skyen didn't pick up on that fully given that ambiguities that aren't supposed to be discerned were part of KDA videos too. I mean, does Ahri really have nine tails? Are they high-budget prosthetics or does she have actual organic crystal-like tails? Does she really have those animalistic ears? What are those floating things behind Kai'sa's back? Is Eve really demonic or is a pose, an artistic persona? I don't remember him being so puzzled by those things back then (I barely remember that he mentioned Kai'sa thingies as part of the skin design itself) but now somehow these are. Maybe it reached a point where he doesn't recognize intention behind it, or it's so out of what he prefer in terms of design that he is on the verge of deciding if it's bad or just not his preference (which seems to be a constant in the analysis with the blur motion that aligns perfectly with the "we did it afterwards with the almost none existing animation skills we have" thematic, yet he stills is resistant to not see as negative).
it always makes me laugh that...since kpop is the way it is, the idols have to have relatively squeaky clean public images
which means that, if they have to be "bad boys" for a concept, the "crime" is always either graffiti and spray painting everything, OR just. breaking shit 🤣
1:02:50 this shot is so much funnier now that the bloopers are out. no one wanted to drive with Kayn lmao
Yeeee another animation breakdown
I saw it as the characters really do have their champion abilities...so kayn really does phsse through that door, ezreal really does teleport short distances, sett really is strong enough to jump like that and tough enough survive a punch from a 7ft robot
Missed his giant Haymaker
@@thatwolfinyourbackyard6011most accurate thing in the video
K'Sante and Sett are the biggest gym bros. You can really tell their dynamic of we're himbos lifting weights and hanging out in the Discord call thingies that Riot games music has posted on their socials.
Also, I interpreted the ''Sett catching K'Sante scene'' a bit differently haha. For me it was sort of like Sett being smug like 'I got you bro' and Aphelios popping up behind like 'ehem? what is going on over here?' (as in a sort of jealous way) and then grimaces like ''Whoops >>'' knowing what it looks like. Ofc, I ship Settphelios so I'm biased haha, but I've seen loads of people interpreting that scene as Aphelios being Sett's boyfriend going ''🤨 ehem??? what is going on here, mister??''. I think it's just funny.
yess the discord calls really added context to that scene
the first element that they are gym bro besties, & the second element of aphelios assaulting sett with plushies which implies a romantic dynamic
I'm so amused this vdo took 50 mins until it finished Kayn's verse. 11/10
Skyen, you should know that Sett is the one writing PARANOIA and instering the movie into the camera at the beginning! It matches his gloves and Ezreal is left handed, so he wouldn't write with his right :3 It also makes more sense with the knuckles guard.
Also the little heart charm hanging off it matches the heart pin on Sett's hat.
I'm a simple gal. I see himbo and a tb skyen analysis i click
The detail of the frame counts lightly implies that K'Sante has some level of knowledge on animation and that makes me so happy
My interpretation of Kayn's deeper voice seemed like Rhaast growling through him, which made the idea even more badass to me.
I understood the aphelios/yone section as follows: aphelios falls into a rocket launcher support(to the moon stuff), yone enters his "hacking" mode - the "underworld" is supposed to represent the "virtual realm" - to launch the rocket; when the rocket flies, the support breaks and releases aphelios.
THIS!! This is why Heartsteel has become my favorite, its because everything about the Boyband has been done to emphasize the CHARACTERS rather than the MUSIC!
You don't gotta do too much fanon/headcanon-ing to check how these guys would interact bc it's all laid on the music video and the publicity, I just ADORE IT
Re: breaking the fiction with the dog, if you watch the bloopers they released, the dog is actually in on the whole thing 🤣 A very good boi who is also a trained accomplice.
(Actually answers a lot of "in-universe" questions while adding even more personality to these glorious himbos)
Edit: I (33YO) knew the Ben Hur reference, and I'm so glad someone else pointed it out too! 😍My dad's a huge Charlton Heston fan, so we had to watch allllll the DeMille movies growing up (love the RAMMING SPEEEEEED coming out from the car behind the chariot)
Also believe it or not, they didn't get arrested at the end -- they're taking fake mug shots with movie clapperboards hehehe
I really love your commentaries/reviews. you convey so much emotions and it makes me feel that you are very genuine about all your videos. It's not like you did this because you have to but because you love it. your voice quality is just a bonus
The doll/bobblehead is Tobi Lou's personal character design repurposed into that bobbleheady guy. He wanted to have a fun little cameo :D
You know something works when you look up fanfic about it the moment it comes out. (or maybe that's just me looking for a new hyperfixation 😂)
Skyen's animation breakdowns always make me so happy. I'm glad you had time to do Heartsteel, Skyen.
No one, and I mean this in the best way, but no one can say "We'll talk about a golf cart later than I'm quite fascinated by-" and have me wait patiently for that design discussion like Skyen :)
The character relationships that are shown through the music video, the blooper reel, and the discord calls makes me so happy! K’Sante and Sett’s close friendship, Yone’s single mother vibe, Ezreal and Kahn’s constant bickering but respect for one another, and the SETTPHEL POTENTIAL!!!!!!
I don't know anything about League or the lore of these characters, but I LOVE this music video. I've been turning it over in my mind for a while and I think to answer your confusion at 1:28:00 I think Phel's whole section is just a visual metaphor to represent his backstory since he lost his voice. I read it as a performer who enraptures and inspires all, including his future band mates, who loses his voice just as he was about to break into the big leagues. I believe the whirlpool is meant to show his mental downward spiral of losing what Phel thought made him great, but then Yone, this stoic producer, comes along and gives Phel the tech he needs to not only create music again, but to unleash more talent than Phel originally got to show off, thus the tidal wave. All of that to say, I think it was a great way to show Phel and Yone's stories while the others got to sing their parts, and this was a great breakdown of the music video.
kayn actually takes off his eyepatch at the start to let rhaast out, so rhaast can do the rapping :)
Long Sett returns...
Edit: Funny lore about Sett boxing with an automaton made of cameras: In HS lore, his last music career ended because he punched a paparazzi guy!
i love the detail of kayn's mugshot 'good side' is the left side of his body, because there's where his awkward eye is, ergo rhaast the attention seeker side
17:15 one small detail, the case actually reads "yone drone", not only because it is yone's drone but also because it rhymes, and I think that silly little rhyme just being there also gives some character to the kind of humor this adorable group of himbos like haha
37:40 alright, now I've made a new HC: when they arrived at the studio and found the dog they IMMIDEATLY fell in love with it and decided they would put him in the video too and take it with them to be their band's mascot
LOVE this video!! Some things i wanna add, especially now after the release of the bloopers video:
The dog chasing scene is 100% staged!! So it was recorded by Yone most probably, and the dog breaking in was intentional as Kayn kept tripping with the dog or getting stuck on the door.
The door phasing thing is part of his powers. We do have this mostly normal setting but we do get small moments and character details that are straight up from their in-game kits. Such as Ezreal teleporting, Kayn doing the shadow phasing through the walls, Sett's cat ears, etc. K/DA did the same thing keeping some fantasy details such as Ahri's ears and tails, Evelynn's blades, etc. They don't go too fantasy with it so it's not too out of place, but enough to make you go "huh how did he do that?", while being a direct nod their in-game kits.
Also at the start of Kayn's scene, he doesn't take off sunglasses he takes off his eyepatch which symbolizes Rhaast! That's why his voice is so deep, especially after knowing that is not how he normally talks in this AU (based by the official discord call clips)
The car keys Ezreal and the rest had are the same as the ones Yone had at the start because those cars were theirs! Or at least rented or had permission to use them. And they did break them. And Yone was indeed very very mad about it and he did scold all of them (again, seen in the blooper!)
During the scene where Sett catches K'sante, I think his grimace is more over Aphelios popping out and looking clearly not very pleased about it lol maybe jealousy or something?
And I want to point out the constant theme of falling and catching each other and making sure they're okay. The group does it constantly. Like i mentioned, Sett catching K'sante. K'sante holding Ezreal while driving so he doesn't fall. Kayn checking on the mirror if Aphelios is okay. They repeatedly "save" each other and watch each other's backs. I love it and I love their dynamic, I hope we get to see more of them!!!
also something i just noticed, 1:37:24 kayn is doing the classic "cool guy walks away from explosion" scene but the illusion is broken by the little wind fan in the shot which i think is just so goofy like just emphasizing how theyre trying to be so cool but it's really just some guys being dudes breaking into a studio
One of my favorite lil details is that in the mugshots, the boys are holding clapper boards as opposed to boards noting their names and where they were arrested. moreso supports the idea that this music video wasnt a completely illegal jaunt lmao. more likely that they thought itd be a funny thing to include
Kayn being dragged away made me think that he was enjoying the idea of being arrested for something and yone had to drag him away or hed take too long haha
Id like to imagine that the boys are able to use their abilities in real life (ie: kayn shadow walking through the wall, ez blinking through time and place) but the movement didnt quite look cool enough when the boys were going back over footage and so they decided to draw and color stuff over it to make it seem more dramatic.
25:54
I don't play league, and I don't know this guy's voice, but it definitely stood out to me when I first heard the MV and got a chuckle out of me. I was REALLY not expecting that
You're right in that it doesn't really MATTER to me, but it did stand out a lot
I just love how chaotic the music video is, it feels like your with the boys causing mayhem
I bias and love playing as all the champions in Heartsteel so seeing all of them become a new music group, have some great personalities, and have this banger as their introduction is amazing
Also for the diegesis the bloopers video actually provides a lot more context and clarity for what's actually happening in the scenes I trust that you've seen them already
Just seen the Heartsteel blooper, they have so much energy
PhelPhel when Sett picked up K'sante bridal style knew that his bf would be getting the couch that day
“PhelPhel” 💀
lmao
I love watching the music video and finding a new funny detail every time. Just last time I noticed that at around 2:55 (music video not this video) when Kayn is doing his little smirk you can see Aphelios in the mirror just clinging to the car and being thrown around by the wind until he catches himself and does a little thumbs up. Thats so freaking cute I love it.
I've just finished watching heartsteel bloopers and I can't resist coming back here to make another comment 😂😂😂 The dynamic between Kayn and Ezreal is so funny like how you described it in this video lmaooo
I have a personal headcannon that this yone is the same one from Ocean Song. From his breakout at the festival, he got scouted, got bored, didn't release anything for a while until K'sante and Sett (mostly Sett) pestered him into Heartsteel.
25:02 Kaynn singing voice is Rhaast, which is his entertainer persona
Paranoia and Popstars are great video wallpapers for phones. All of the "good stuff" are in the center most of the time.
"We have gamers, who wants K-pop," I did, me, the K-pop stan who likes video games. It's for me. Heartsteel has my heart (that's so funny to read) and it's my cup of tea. And I literally have this video playing in the background as ambient noise when I study
21:55 Kayn is still fully removed from this security cam shot, so the tracking nature of it with the movement could be Kayn ripping the camera out of the wall.
Yes more of Skyen nerding out about pixels and frames, i love it
Heartsteel has managed to drag someone who is like. NEGATIVE into league... into league. aphelios, who'd'a thunk it.
Υοne's mask may be a mental switch for him to block out the world to focus on a thing and like get in the zone and that may be what the spirit realm section represents
Lovely analysis! I've watched the music video several times and yet there were so many things I missed (especially in the Kayn section). Also I would like to comment some of my favourite moments and details from the mv!
1. When the robot punches Sett his back is facing the camera, so they sketched his face getting punched for a few frames
2. After the watertank breaks Kayn is worried about Aphelios holding on to his car, but then Phel gives him a thumbs up
3. During Sett's rap verse (when he's preparing to fight the robot), the moment he says the word "boss" his face is lit by the stage lights, it's a small thing but I love how it emphasises what Sett is singing about
4. Finally I love the different reactions they have to the dog appearing in the car before they crash, Ezreal is scared (propably knowing they're going to crash), Kayn is annoyed and Sett is just so happy to see the dog that he forgets he is driving and crashes the car
There's so many more but I wanna keep it short. Overall I loved Heartsteel and I genuinely hope that if they do make a comeback in a few years, they will get the splash arts they deserve and maybe even a comic or an animated short if riot is feeling generous.
As a fellow who as also reseen this music video countless times i like how each ''spotlight'' to each of the characters really show of bit of their roles in the band and their personality, the scene with aphelios for example, Aphelios lost his voice and we can asume it wasnt easy for him to just let go of singing, and you said as he lost his mask it looks as if he opens a lot more, that leads to him drowning in his own toughs maybe even feeling sad and depressed and even in the song the instrumental comes out pretty clear in this part as it is calm and it focuses on Aphelios who is the guy that plays the instruments, when Yone comes in we can see him step foward in the prespective of kayn looking at what aphleios is going trough, and as the father figure of the band he puts on his mask, wich in his lore makes him see the demons, azakana, spirit world and all that, and that dragon thing was problably aphleios demons keeping him inside the water, and so after that Yone starts dropping the beat on top of the instrumentals, and kind of beating Aphelios demons, this way Aphelios shows of his intruments and who he is, and Yone shows that he is the DJ and the role he plays in the band.
I know this was a big comment, but as these two had less appearence on the video i tough it was really cool how they got represented, and since you said you were confused maybe this could clear it a bit, even tho it is just my observation really.
Honestly im really glad i found out about the music video via this and your shorts bc i can consume it EXACTLY the way my brain wants to: watching the music video over and over and over and then watching this and drinking up all the details that you so eloquently lay out for us!!! Absolutely wonderful thank u skyen
I think they didn't create custom textures, I think they might have just painted brush strokes onto the model's normal map, essentially allowing the brush strokes to be visible depending on the angle or lighting!
There's a great video by Cody Gindy explaining it!^^
gosh I love diving in your hyperfocus noticing so many interesting details that most people wouldn't care about but it's SO COOL! aah thank god youtube exist so you can share it with us!
36:00
"BUT I CAN"T SEE IT, 'CAUSE IT"S BLURRY... So that annoys me a little bit."
I love that 'almost lost my cool there' meme vibe. XD
LETS GOOO! The animation for this really impressed me (esp cause i was also very mild about the worlds animation) and i love how sassy an expressive my boy aphelios was
I think, Ezreal hit Sett with his ult (or Q idk) to charge up his grip bar so Sett can hit with a fully charged W. A helpful frienly fire basically.
I see everyone giving the lore reason that Kayns voice is like that but the second Skyen was like I need you to hear his voice my brain went "This is going to be a Felix from Stray Kids moment, pretty boy here is going to have a wildly deep voice" and I did enjoy it
I wanna see you talk about the bloopers and Discord chats these characters have. Very endearing
I think what Kayn takes off and throws away is his eye patch from the skin and it's like a way to "unleash" Rhaast.