K-pop group NewJeans will perform this year’s League of Legends Worlds anthem
By Andrew Webster, an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.
The 2023 League of Legends World Championship is taking place in Korea this year, and to celebrate, Riot has tapped one of the country’s hottest bands to perform the annual anthem. Girl group NewJeans — best known for earworms like “Super Shy” — will be behind the new song. It’s called “Gods” and is set to be released on the evening of October 3rd.
Riot is no stranger to working with big artists for musical collaborations, having partnered with the likes of Imagine Dragons and Porter Robinson in the past; last year’s Worlds anthem was courtesy of Lil Nas X, who also performed at the event’s opening ceremony in San Francisco. The songs typically have an epic feel meant to hype up the event, making NewJeans — with their purposefully laid-back vibe — an interesting choice.
“Between Worlds taking place in Korea and NewJeans’ meteoric rise, this partnership felt fated as a true cultural celebration,” Carrie Dunn, Riot’s global head of creative for esports, said in a statement. “‘Gods’ juxtaposes epic and intense production elements with NewJeans’ beautiful and powerful vocals — conveying both the grind and the glory that awaits our players at Worlds.”
The news is part of an ongoing influx of K-pop in gaming, which has included a BTS collaboration with Fortnite, Blackpink performing inside PUBG Mobile (and releasing an associated music video), and Riot’s own virtual group K/DA.
As for Worlds, the lengthy tournament will kick off with matches on October 10th, culminating with the final on November 19th at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
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