Look, I know this isn’t about esports. But I’m an Evelynn main, damnit, and our malevolent queen deserves to be in the spotlight.
K/DA (short for Kill Death Assist), the virtual pop group featuring Ahri, Kai’Sa, Evelynn and Akali from League of Legends, have today made their comeback.
Two years after their official ‘Pop/Stars’ debut, K/DA have returned with a new single titled ‘The Baddest’.
This will be followed by an EP containing ‘a wide breadth of artists’ and tracks which will be revealed at a later date, with Riot promising ‘tons of surprises for League of Legends and K/DA fans to enjoy’.
The EP will be released from the Riot Games Music label which aims to ‘push the traditional boundaries of music’ with musically driven experiences including other League of Legends acts like DJ Sona, True Damage and heavy rock group Pentakill.
Riot recently partnered with Universal Music Publishing Group, and said that 14 famous Universal artists will take part in an esports-themed music camp to create 6 new songs for the LoL Worlds 2020 finals.
The talent line-up for the new K/DA song includes SOYEON and MIYEON of K-pop girl group (G)I-DLE who performed on Pop/Stars, alongside new collaborators, Bea Miller and Wolftyla.
Other singers that worked on the track two years ago, Madison Beer and Jaira Burns, are not a part of the new song.
Riot says K/DA was initially inspired by K-pop and ‘has since evolved to embrace a more global pop sound, and has formed its musical identity around the girls in the pop group, Ahri, Evelynn, Akali, and Kai/Sa, instead of the vocals of any one individual talent’.
Artists featured in The Baddest and the rest of the songs on the upcoming EP will be collaborators, allowing K/DA ‘to welcome a much larger roster of amazingly talented musicians’ to join them in their comeback.
“We can’t wait for everyone to hear the new track today, followed by the EP later in the year, which is packed with tons of surprises for League of Legends and K/DA fans to enjoy.”
Toa Dunn, Riot Games Music
“Ever since K/DA premiered their explosive track Pop/Stars at the 2018 League of Legends World Championships, fans always ask what’s next for the group,” said Toa Dunn, Head of Riot Games Music.
“We can’t wait for everyone to hear the new track today, followed by the EP later in the year, which is packed with tons of surprises for League of Legends and K/DA fans to enjoy.”
K/DA became a mainstream sensation in 2018, with their debut single Pop/Stars reaching the top of iTunes (#1 K-Pop Chart, #2 Pop Chart), Billboard (#1 World Digital), and 170M+ DSP streams. Its music video has reached 340m+ views to-date, making it the most successful debut for a K-Pop group in YouTube history.
More details on the upcoming Baddest K/DA EP, including other artists, will be released on the K/DA social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
