Virtual K-pop Idol from Game

Rise of K/DA

As the S8 of League of Legends was held in South Korea, the K-pop themed skins for Ahri, Kai’Sa, Evelynn and Akali were born with the Korean Wave. Different from the other skins, the LOL officials made a full package for this group once released. Including the singles, social media, personal interview, official website, etc. Their first song “POP/STAR'' used the sound source from 조미연, Jaira Burns, Madison Beer and 전소연 for each group member respectively.

Ahri

조미연

Kai'Sa

Jaira Burns

Evelynn

Madison Beer

Akali

전소연

At the S8 final in Incheon, four group members broke the dimensional wall and presented their first performance in their new K/DA costumes with AR technique.

The MV of the “POP/STAR” has been viewed more than 530 million times on YouTube since November 3^rd, 2018. The song reached the NO.1 hit of the worldwide digital sales chart with its unique K-pop style in a week. Not only the game players have contributed to this achievement, but also the listeners attracted by this K-pop song worldwide.

The Return of K/DA

After that, K/DA went into a period with no new songs released. When everybody was assuming K/DA was going to be another K-pop group lost in history. A new member named Seraphine popped out as a new group member, as well as the first album ALL OUT. The new album included 5 brand-new singles “More”, “The Baddest”, “I’ll Show You”, “Drum Go Dum” and “Villain”. Each song could reveal a team member’s background and characteristics. The new MV “More” was viewed for more than 170 million times after 2 years of its release.

New Member ---Seraphine

The sound source of the new hero Seraphine is from a Chinese singer Lexie Liu, adding another cultural background to this K-pop full of varieties. The Riot Game also invited the K-pop group Twice to help with producing. In order to introduce Seraphine, the champion who was actually born under the influence of the Korean Wave. The LOL officials even created personal social media like Twitter and Instagram for her, where she shares the life pics, music demo, and the experience of how she joined the K/DA. She even interacted with other Twitter users. Seraphine indeed pulled this virtual K-pop group to our daily life closer with the help of social media, enhancing their sense of reality.

With the complex but complete background settings for all five members, K/DA made sure they were just like the other real K-pop groups to us. Instead of the K/DA-verse, the fact is the LOL used them as a way to break the wall between the game and real life through K-pop culture. Through K/DA, League of Legends did spread its influence to not only the gamers as usual, but also the people who loved K-pop music and culture.

Sources

Benjamin, Jeff. “‘League of Legends’ Girl Group Earns Madison Beer, (G)I-DLE & Jaira Burns No. 1 on World Digital Song Sales Chart”. Billboard Pro. 13 Nov. 2018. https://www.billboard.com/pro/kda-pop-stars-madison-beer-gidle-jaira-burns-no-1-world-digital-songs-league-of-legends/
Lee, Julia. “K/DA’s Pop/Stars tops the Billboard chart for World Digital Song Sales”. Rift Herald. 14 Nov. 2018. https://www.riftherald.com/culture/2018/11/14/18095468/k-da-pop-stars-billboard-chart

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