Elsword Contest - PLAYING WITH FIRE

290 videos
7115  votes
12 jury members

2 winners

STARRYSKY
Reaching for the skies and beyond: the duo behind our #1 cover song.

What inspired you to take part in the Elsword contest?
Tai: A few friends of ours were on the look-out for a free-to-play title we could play together, and we came across Elsword. The first time I heard the song ‘Playing with Fire’, I thought it was amazing! To tell the truth, I listened to it over and over again before even finding out about the contest.

We certainly never thought we’d reach the top spot, but that didn’t stop us making it our aim to get on the podium and pick up the music equipment! The long and short of it: the song was awesome, the prizes were cool, so why not take part?

I log into Elsword occasionally, but in general I don’t have much time for playing (though having said that, my Add character is already level 70 *haha*).

Sasha: Tai’s the one who plays Elsword. I don’t know very much about the game personally, since I prefer TERA: Fate of Arun. Still, we thought it would be a cool opportunity to have some fun and with a bit of luck maybe even pick up some cool prizes.

Your pop-rock band is called STARRYSKY. Could you tell use where you got the name from and what it means?
Sasha: There were a few reasons we chose the English name Starrysky. A star-filled sky is a very important symbol in Japanese culture and is also an inspiration to us in creating our musical and graphical world. The star-filled firmament is also linked to the world of dreams, as well as science, of course. These associations underline exactly what we want to achieve with our music and our performances: entertaining pieces which cost us a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

Tai: We make pop-rock music with a tinge of metal elements, and we’re principally inspired by popular geek culture: manga, video games, new technology and so on. People know us from the internet, and most of our performing is also done online. Incidentally, you can access our music free on our website and YouTube, so feel free to check us out! (www.starrysky.fr)

Where does this passion come from to play so many instruments?
Tai: Because nobody else will! Music is easily accessible these days, and it’s better to be able to play multiple instruments and create music exactly as you envision it. It isn’t rare for musicians to play a variety of instruments, at least those who want to compose their own music.

How long did it take you to learn ‘Playing with Fire’ and film your cover version?
Sasha: It didn’t take particularly long. Our decision to take part was fairly spontaneous, once we’d learned of the contest. At that point the contest was already well underway, and plenty of participants had already uploaded their videos. That wasn’t very surprising though, since the song is really catchy, it gets in your head and stays there for a looooong time!

Tai: We certainly didn’t hang about, since we know how quick the internet, or rather the community, can be. I think I had the recordings and composition ready in a single afternoon. It took another day to film and edit the video. Actually, the longest thing was waiting for Sasha’s recordings *haha*. 

Any funny stories from your rehearsals? Any outtakes? Any moments that were particular stressful or special?
Tai: I’d already recorded the male voice for the cover, but listening back to it more objectively, thought my English accent was terrible. So I recorded the whole thing again from the top. The second take sounded a lot better, but I realise that my accent still isn’t as good as it could be! Ah well, guess I just have to live with that!

Sasha: I had to do my recordings twice because the quality of the first recordings just wasn’t good enough in my eyes – even though they were more difficult to do than the second set. I’d originally set up a green screen for the video which I kept slipping on. The sun was already starting to set and I got a bit panicky that there wouldn’t be enough time for the recording. My father was there to help out with the wind effects, waving a piece of cardboard from below the shot. There was me staring into the camera trying to look all serious, while my dad was going red in the face from scrabbling around waving this piece of cardboard about. For the second take we left out the green screen and wind.

When do you want to fly to South Korea and is there anything you really want to do when you’re there?
Sasha: Probably in August, that’s the best time of year! Typical girl, the first thing I wanna do when I arrive is go shopping! The Koreans have a truly unique style and I’m a huge fan! Apart from that, I really want to see some of the beautiful countryside. I’d really like to go to Yangpyeong valley, for example, and of course experience the glow worm festival!

Tai: It’d be great to go in summer, take some time out from an exhausting year, and in particular recover from the Japan Expo. I’m listening to a lot of K-pop at the moment and am wondering if we could make it to a concert. Otherwise I don’t really know a lot about Korea, but I want to find out as much as possible!