Chrissy Costanza knows a thing or two about fantasy games. From growing up playing massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Runescape and making mates in World Of Warcraft guilds to falling in love with the epic universe of League Of Legends, she’s a gamer who adores the more fantastical side of things. Heck, she’s even started working on her own: Starfall.
“The best part about those games is you can do things that you can’t do in the real world,” she tells NME. As well as slaying dragons and exploring strange new worlds, fantasy games give players the chance to experiment with appearance, identity and community. “It’s escapism, but it’s also freedom of expression.”
“In the physical world, you can feel confined by real world limitations like your body, your environment or external pressures to not do certain things. In games, you get to express who you really are, which is incredibly liberating.”
Costanza is best-known as the lead singer of pop-rock outfit Against The Current, who’ve shared stages with the likes of Fall Out Boy. They formed in 2011 and broke through in 2015 with their ‘Gravity’ EP, which they’ll be playing in full at next month’s When We Were Young festival.
As well as being part of the last generation of rock bands to play the travelling punk circus that was Warped Tour (which ended in 2018) ATC also used YouTube and Discord to connect with an international audience. That sense of community has been hugely important to the band – and it’s something Costanza has also found in games.
“I’ve made so many lifelong relationships through gaming,” she explains. “That community aspect is really important, especially with MMOs. Growing up without like-minded people around you can be incredibly isolating, but being able to dive into these games and connect with people who are passionate about the same things you are is so powerful.
With such an understanding of the world of gaming, it’s little surprise Costanza has become the go-to figure when studios need an epic soundtrack. As well as working on three different League Of Legends anthems (2017’s ‘Legends Never Die’, 2019’s ‘Phoenix’ and 2022’s ‘Wildfire’) she was hit up earlier this year to provide vocals for the score for Final Fantasy 14’s newest raid, Arcadion – released as part of the Dawntrail expansion
Being involved in the world of Final Fantasy is “the coolest thing ever,” says Costanza. “Saying yes was a no brainer,” even if it meant recording the vocals for ‘Give It All’ in hotel rooms while on tour with Against The Current.
The epic track plays out as players take on the final boss, Wicked Thunder. “In terms of the vocal performance, I put myself in her shoes,” says Costanza. “She doesn’t know she’s the villain. In her mind, she’s the hero which I thought was a really good reflection of life in general. You can be the villain in someone else’s story, and never really know it, so it was fun to play with the nuances of the character in the softer moments of the song.”
“Still, I felt like she was very badass, very cool and very confident. There’s not a whole lot of being timid in that song,” Costanza adds. “It’s a hype song, even if it’s not technically cheering the player on. It does create this cool underdog moment for them though.”
Costanza calls working on a Final Fantasy game “an honour” but it was also “super intimidating” as well. “You don’t want to be the one that comes in and ruins things, especially when I’ve heard other collaborations with other games that just feel so off-putting. My favourite collaborations between music and gaming are the ones where there’s an authentic connection between the two worlds, rather than someone getting involved just because they’re famous,” Costanza adds. She says she knew this partnership made total sense and made sure that ‘Give It All’ served the player and the storyline of Dawntrail, rather than her own ego. “That feeling of being able to dive into a world and grab onto something that feels real is something people crave.”
That belief is the driving force behind Costanza’s new solo project as well. After releasing a handful of gaming collabs under her own name, Costanza is gearing up to drop her debut solo EP ‘VII’ on October 9 with two tracks (‘7 Minutes In Hell’ and ‘If Looks Could Kill’) already out in the world.
“The whole project really came from the fact I just love fantasy worlds. I’m big on immersion, so I really wanted to make a record that was just steeped in fantasy,” says Costanza. “Against The Current’s aesthetic is leather and combat boots, rather than fairy wings and flow-y skirts, so this world didn’t make sense for the band.”
“It was fun getting to take my favourite parts of playing really immersive games, which is diving into those epic worlds, cosplaying and adventure storylines, and put that into a music project,” she explains. The music still leans into uplifting pop-rock bangers, but Costanza says future releases might pull influence from the looped soundtracks of fantasy games. That will have to wait for after her upcoming solo tour though.
Costanza may have ticked off collaborations with League Of Legends and Final Fantasy alongside her own solo record from the ol’ bucket list, but there are still plenty of things left to achieve. “I’d love to work with [dungeon crawler game] Diablo because that whole aesthetic is very much my thing. I love the world of The Elder Scrolls and Divinity is basically my favourite game ever. I think Baldur’s Gate 3 has overshadowed it recently and I have no idea if Larian Studios are going to make a third Divinity game but if they do, hit your girl up!”