It was just two days after my 17th birthday when Imagine Dragons performed “Warriors” at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. It took less than three minutes for me to completely fall in love with the song, less than four hours to become curious about the League of Legends esport, and less than a decade to cry in front of a live performance of a World Championship opening ceremony.
Just a few notes were all it took to change the trajectory of my life, showing the potential powerful side effects League’s Worlds anthems could have.
Now, almost 10 years after the release of “Warriors” and the 10th Worlds anthem “GODS,” I sat down with Riot Games’ principal composer, Sebastien Najand, and long-time music producer for Riot, Alex Seaver, also known as Mako.
They’re the minds behind the creation of many of Riot’s songs, including fan-favorite anthems like “Legends Never Die” and “RISE,” season nine’ cinematic theme “Awaken,” and even songs for League’s animated series Arcane. Their latest joint effort brought to the public “GODS,” the world-wide hit featuring K-pop sensation NewJeans that climbed the ranks of Spotify’s global hits up to 41st in less than a day.
This time the anthem was influenced by grand figures in the esports scene, like Deft and Faker, leading to the theme of deities ascending. From the story came the grandiose, but gritty track “GODS,” a song incorporating NewJeans’ pop nature with church choirs and organs, which evoke massive architectural structures that mirror the colossal scale of Worlds. And while many don’t associate NewJeans with an epic and imposing sound as their usual style tends to be more mellow, they were “the only ones on the board” for Riot. And their strong interest for the project spurred Riot to “see how it all works” with their voices in the song “GODS.”
Searching for a fresh, yet imposing and powerful sound is a year-long process that starts almost immediately after the end of the international competition of the year prior. While last year’s Worlds winners’ story provided clear inspiration for this year’s anthem and its music video, bringing the narrative to life through music is always a tough task, especially if we consider the expectations Najand and Seaver need to live up to.
The objective is always to encapsulate the spirit of Worlds, making it distinct from previous anthems while incorporating “today’s music diet” and the grandeur associated with the event. Najand underlined how this feeling is needed for the opening ceremony before finals, and in creating “GODS” they wanted it to feel like “ the grandest thing,” and how choirs are “a great way to do that.”
The remote collaboration Riot had with the K-pop group throughout the project made things a bit scarier than usual; recording an anthem is a moment “where you really like to all be together to do it,” as Seaver explained. But as the first recording came in Riot’s studio there was a “massive sigh of relief” because it sounded “great” with NewJeans voices in it, despite being a song written for male vocals.
“It’s a challenge that pops up every time” shared Seaver, who is usually the one writing and singing in the demo that is then sent to the chosen artist for the anthem. “It’s something that also happened with ‘Legends Never Die,’ which Seb and I worked on, and it was a male vocal when we first did the demo,” Seaver continued. “And then how do we get the sense of grandness and power when it translates over to a female singer? And then a lot of times I listen to ‘Legends Never Die’ and I’m like, this is so much better having Chrissy do this.”
Similarly, hearing NewJeans singing the “GODS” lyrics elevated the song to a new “badass” level that isn’t just about how “big can the chorus sound,” but also how the meaning of the words itselves changes. That’s one of the most exciting parts of the anthem’s process, according to Najand and Seaver. Unfortunately this collaboration missed an opportunity to showcase NewJeans language diversity, as the song was recorded only in English, without any sections in Korean. While Najand and Seaver can’t recall the reason behind this decision, it’s worth noting all the NewJeans members are remarkably fluent in English, which is uncommon in the K-pop industry, where typically only a couple of members of a group are proficient in the language.
Ultimately it is safe to say “GODS” was a success, having racked up over 25 millions listeners on both Spotify and YouTube. The 10th song for League‘s Worlds cemented the first decade of Riot anthems and opened the future of this yearly tradition that still holds endless possibilities. But despite the multitude of genres and artists featured in League’s songs, all anthems carry the Worlds’ essence: grandness. To capture the scale and solemnity of an event akin to the Super Bowls or the World Cups in one track is a challenge, though.
In 2014, with “Warriors,” it was Dan Reynolds’ “massive voice” that retained the “World’s sound,” and over the years Riot’s music team has refined and discovered what the essence of the competition is and what is most definitely not. But as League’s esport evolves, the music also changes in different ways, keeping it interesting for everyone every time.
“Every single year, when we’re at the end of the road, we’re like, ‘God, I hope we didn’t screw this up,’” Seaver said about fans’ expectations. While working on the Worlds’ anthem, fans are somehow always in the minds of the creators in a way that Najand and Seaver are reminded of what a Worlds song is about, but not so much that they aren’t able to chase inspired ideas.
That being said, the duo admitted there were instances where they tried something out but missed the mark. “I have songs that I released that I’d love to try again and take again,” Seaver said. “There’s some that I felt like didn’t really hit the mark, but then had long lifespans of their own afterwards.”
With experimentation at the forefront of Riot’s vision, fans can continue to hope to see their dream collaboration with their favorite artists and Riot—and the same goes for Seaver and Najand, who distinctively wish to one day work with their respective idols Thom Yorke and The Prodigy.
And while my dream collaboration between Riot and my favorite artist has yet to come, I can say I have accomplished my aspiration of talking to the minds behind some of my favorite music. Ten years ago I went from casual viewer to fan in less than four minutes, and it brought me here; in a decade Riot went from “Warriors” to “GODS,” and now they’re on the verge of a future where music continues to define Worlds and lives for years to come.
