Riot Games have revealed the theme song for the upcoming 2019 League of Legends: World Championship, titled “Phoenix.”
Worlds 2019 kicked off on October 2, with the Play-In Stage. Twenty-four teams will be putting everything on-the-line to get their hands on the Summoner’s Cup and be crowned the World Champions of 2019.
Every year, Riot Games call-up some of the biggest artists from around the world to produce a theme song that compliments the ante behind one of the largest esports events on the calendar.
Imagine Dragons got the ball rolling with their “Warriors” theme song, and since their success, the song’s release has become a crucial part to the build-up before Worlds. Since then, Riot have recruited the talents of superstars like Zedd and (most recently) virtual K-pop group “K/DA”, voiced by Madison Beer and Jaira Burns.
Typically, the creative efforts would have been released long before now — in a bid to build hype towards the tournament. However, this year, Riot took a different approach by releasing the song merely a day before, following the release of the Worlds 2019 orchestral theme song.
After a highly-anticipated build-up, Riot have revealed this year’s Worlds’ anthem in conjunction with Cailin Russo and Chrissy Costanza, titled: “Phoenix.”
The song is a call to the fears and struggles tormenting competitors battling in the Worlds competition, starting out with something every League of Legends pro must have battled with in their path to glory: “What are you willing to lose?”
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The cover art for the single prominently features Irelia, Lyssandra, and a chilling take for Karma, champions closely tied to the three stars of the music video in Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther, Song ‘Rookie’ Eui-jin, and Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, respectively.
But the title of the song, its lyrics, and theme are all echoing the path of the three stars, as they look to embody the famous attribute of the mythical Phoenix to rise again from the ashes of previous failures leading up to Worlds 2019.
Faker and SKT are looking to cement their place as the best League of Legends team once again. Caps is looking for revenge on the international stage after G2 Esports was brutally denied a chance at a Worlds Final in 2018.
After lackluster results in the 2019 regular season for the defending World Champs, Rookie and Invictus are looking to make the climb back to the top for back-to-back titles.
Phoenix shows the three LoL stars battling against their “dark” forms who haunt them. In order to push past their failures, they have to overcome the darkness that came out of the moments of defeat to rise above them.
The official track release has been incredibly well-received by audiences, as they get hyped to see last 16 teams at Worlds face off in the Group Stages which begin on October 12.
