βKevin Lacerda of It Lives, It Breathes discusses the origin of a popular theme song.
πTheme songs are an important part of a wrestler's presentation, as they often resonate with fans, who then sing along during the talent's entrance. Among others, Will Ospreay's "Elevated" by It Lives, It Breathes has become an especially popular theme.
κ§ Speaking on , It Lives, It Breathes vocalist Kevin Lacerda discussed how the theme song came together.
"It was crazy because nothing [for It Lives, It Breathes] had ever become viral huge. They were just getting solid attention, enough for us to keep building on it and keep trying different covers and seeing what stuck. Because at that point, what made it fun was that we weren't worrying about anything becoming viral. We're just having fun doing this, and we wanted to keep it going and see what happened. Not having to really worry about anything becoming famous because we're just in the process of writing for an X record, and this was kind of like transitioning us across. But it was apparently enough for me to just all of a sudden wake up one day andβ¦on Twitter and people were just sending us and Will's replies when Will had just basically been looking for a new theme. I think it was around 2016β¦he was still in the junior heavyweights in New Japan, and he just made a tweet that he was looking for someone [for] a new theme, and if there were any bands or anything out there... I would love to go and be able to find that just to kind of like as a like an archive and be like, 'Wow that's where it all started....' He and I went right into email after that. The only thing that mattered to me was [getting] into what he wanted out of a theme," Lacerda said.
π«Lacerda went on to note that this came around when Ospreay had his unforgettable match with Ricochet in NJPW. He said that he thought it was a cool opportunity, and he had no idea that it would turn into what it became. Lacerda made it clear that he wanted the theme to be timeless.
"Soon after, he and Ricochet had kind of created their little viral wave. So I thought it was a really cool opportunity, especially with what he wanted at that time to kind of just start creating that road with him. I in no way expected it to be what it turned into now and hopefully what it turns into in the future. I am, from the first time I saw that clip and then watched other stuff, stuff of him in New Japan was just like, I always had that feeling in my gut and that he was special. I knew in my gut that when we wrote his theme, [it] needed to be something just as special that could sound timeless. I didn't want it to be a theme that would just kind of last for the next three years and then [someone] could write something new for him," Lacerda said.
πLacerda then detailed how he wanted the theme to be the kind of song that could be synonymous with Ospreay. He recalled talking to Ospreay about the kinds of music that he liked, and he cited a band like Linkin Park as one that was used as an example.
"I wanted to say, even if it did change, I wanted it to potentially be a theme that could be for the rest of his career. It needed to be that good. There are some guys that have had theme changes, and some of them are like whatever in the eyes of the fans. Then some guys have theme changes that are just as epic as the first. Chris Jericho has had many themes, but he's also like that master of reinvention. So it kind of works in tandem with what he's doing in his career. But there are some guys that have themes that are synonymous with them. I wanted at least his to have that kind of opportunity to go into play. When he got the email going, I was like, 'What kind of genres are you into?' He was like, 'Either like hip hop or big epic arena rock, like Linkin Park, things like that. A band like Linkin Park was a band we always had to keep in mind as far as the way to approach the bigness and the intensity of how you're going to, when it comes to specifically things like a chorus and how that's supposed to stick in somebody's head. So once he said stuff like that, I knew that it was right in line with something that I could provide," Lacerda said.
ꦫLacerda has said that he wants to play Will Ospreay to the ring. Check out his comments .
Ospreay is set to face Claudio Castagnoli at AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming.
Fightful will have coverage ΰΆ£of AEW Dynamite as it airs on December 11, as well as a .
Thanks to Ropes N Riffs for sharing the quotes used in this article.
