The song's decent overall. It's not bad by any means, but it doesn't quite reach the quality of FitL. It has grown on me a lot, though, in the few times I've listened to it. Lyrics are really good and the track is very well written. I wish JR's keyboard parts were higher in the mix, because they're fantastic whenever I do hear them and I'm sad that they get buried. I like it, but don't love it.
The animation video is much better done than the one for Fall Into the Light, tho. Whereas FitL feels like it's a 4min video stretched to 8, Paralyzed doesn't have as much repeating and is overall more entertaining. There are some things that definitely do NOT work (saggy d-cup ladybots, the awkward fleshy suit rendering, the hallway shot at the end, the awkward logo shoo-ins, the dirt triangle???) but it's definitely a step up in quality over the last one. It's much higher quality than a lot of metal music videos, which is good. But...
What the HELL does any of this have to do with the song? The song, in JP's own words, is about "The song is an introspective reflection on the negative impact that being obstinate or single-minded can have on important relationships." Which isn't really shown in the video whatsoever. It's a bit of a leap from "don't be stubborn because it'll damage your relationships" to "mass-produced saggy d-cup ladybots and floating dirt triangles". And this is a problem I'm seeing with a lot of metal videos in general: it just doesn't match the music or lyrics whatsoever. All there is nowadays is futuristic dystopian visuals with randomly inserted CGI futuristic technology, which have become to metal what focus-group attractive young adult blonde women in bikinis walking on the beach is to EDM.
Compare that to, say, the video for "Call Me Maybe". It is, while simple, a great illustration of the overall "story" and meaning of the song. Girl sees hot guy, is attracted to him, gives him her number, and then finds out he's gay at the end (because all Carly Rae Jepsen songs are actually about unrequited love). "Bad Blood" is essentially about a celebrity feud and the overall plot of the music video reflects that. "Animals" by Muse is about runaway corporate greed turning us into savages, and the video reflects that with the big suits literally grinding people up into money. I hardly ever see that with metal, which seems like it's more focused on what "looks cool" rather than reinforcing the music and giving a visual element to what the song is trying to say.
idk it's just been bothering me lately