So unless you have been living under a rock, and don’t have a JIO sim with you, chances are you have seen K/DA somewhere. Whether it’s on Youtube suggestions, FB ads, video ads on your favorite gaming website, or as the opening act of this year’s League Of Legends Annual World Championship in Seoul, Korea. This new “semi-fictional” K-pop band is slowly taking over the internet from Bowsette (Thank God!).
But what is K/DA exactly?
League Of Legends Lore
Well strictly speaking K/DA is a set of new skins available for Ahri (nine-tailed fox mage), Akali (the Rogue Assassin), Evelyn (Agony’s Embrace Shadow), and Kai’Sa (Daughter of the Void) all playable champions in League Of Legends. And it’s fairly common for such playable champions to have multiple skins.
For this particular slew of skins, however, the backstories for all 4 of them have been retconned into a group of female idol singers who have made a K-pop band called K/DA. In this version, Ahri is a popular idol and is the lead vocal in the band. Akali is the rapper. Evelyn is the diva, and Kai’Sa is the dancer. Together this band has produced a hit single, ‘Pop/Stars’, which is breaking all kind of records in their “fictional universe”. If you haven’t already you can check out the video below.
To compliment that lore, League Of Legends even set up a fictional in-universe interview giving us a glimpse into these new avatars, and the world in which they exist.
Real Life Lore
Now, this is where it gets interesting. Riot Games (the company behind League Of Legends), decided to create an actual music video to support the lore behind K/DA. The video (a completely animated affair) was released at the same time, as the opening ceremony of the League Of Legends Annual World Championship started. For the video, the vocals for Ahri, Akali, Evelyn and Kai’sa were provided by Miyeon, Soyeon, Madison Beer, and Jaira Burns respectively. While Madison Beer and Jaira Burns are individual American artists, Miyeon and Soyeon are members of the real-life K-pop band called (G)I-dle. Yeah!
But what really got the ball rolling though was that all 4 of these (real-life) girls performed the ‘Pop/Stars’ single as the (fictional) band K/DA on stage in an AR fueled orchestrations at the aforementioned ceremony. These 2 videos (the animated music video, and the AR complimented performance) is now raking in views by the millions in real life.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=p9oDlvOV3qs%3Frel%3D0
Internet Lore
Since then, the internet cannot seem to shut up about them. Fan-arts, fan-fiction, fan-everything has been pouring out from all corners of the internet. People can’t seem to get enough of the song, and the girls. Even those who have no idea about League Of Legends are joining in. Of course, the real-life personalities are being showered for their League Of Legends persona as well (Imagine how Sushant Singh Rajput is forever etched in your mind as Dhoni and then triple that effect).
https://twitter.com/Aethrel/status/1059236092598149120
KDA MV behind the scenes 💖💖💖 #KDA #KPOP #lol #LeagueofLegends #riot @riotgames @lol_es @LeagueOfLegends @LolFanArt @TheArtBond #KDAAkali #KDAKaiSa #KDAEvelynn #kdaahri #selfie #selca #selcaday pic.twitter.com/58ZTp2LR05
— María Dresden 💌 SHOP OPEN (@MiaDresden) November 4, 2018
♡♡ POP/STAR ♡♡ #LoLfanart #LeagueOfLegends pic.twitter.com/pSOYlkLHo3
— 堀あおこ (@a0k0) November 4, 2018
crazy cool vid pic.twitter.com/splfALJAAo
— suqling (@suqling) November 4, 2018
Who knew good music, and kick-ass designs knew no boundaries.
P.S. This article is as much a report as a log of the writer’s effort in search of the truth.
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