When we were looking at what KDA could be, it was a bit of a challenge because
we knew nothing about making K-pop music.
But at the same time, we thought this was a great opportunity to surprise players
as far as what we could make for people.
About two years ago, in China, we had a really cool performance at Worlds.
And that really struck a chord with a lot of people at Riot.
When a lot of our team came back, we found out that Worlds 2018 was in Korea.
A bunch of different Rioters were kind of these hidden K-pop fans.
So it was kind of cool to see everybody's eyes and ears perked up like
Why don't we make a music video?
And then put dance choreography in there?
And maybe lean into K-pop a bit.
But we knew nothing about it, in terms of how to make K-pop music.
We had experience recording people and making songs.
This was a whole new genre.
But we thought there's just this really cool opportunity for us to deliver
an impactful experience to players.
So for us, the research was living and breathing it.
Going hours down a YouTube portal and see what's going on in that industry.
K-pop is such a wide genre of music.
It goes from ballads to hip hop, regular pop.
It was like, "There's so many different flavors of K-pop, are we doing the right one?"
So we needed to figure out all of that together and it was...
difficult.
So there were multiple levels of people working on K/DA.
People on the skins, on the music side, on the campaign itself.
And we went through so many concept iterations to find the tone that we
wanted to hit for K/DA.
Early on in the process, a lot of people referenced the old Popstar thematic.
So the first iterations were too cute, too bubble gum.
It felt like a concept we would have released in 2013, but not 2018.
I think from this, the gears started turning in our heads as far as what could be.
We started asking ourselves, "What if this was a sequel to Popstar?"
Like what would Ahri be now?
What is that next level, being this solo star to wanting to start her own group?
What would that look like in a really cool modern twist?
If you're looking at pop artists, K-pop artists currently, you see a trend
in empowered women that all feel really strong.
So the music team did a pass at it, which was just instrumental.
We tried different kinds of vibes, different tempos, different types of energies
just to see where the overall feel of the track could go into.
We wanted something singable, hard hitting
something that makes you feel good when you listen to it
that kind of gets you pumped up.
So some of the sounds were partly influenced by hip hop.
So the different types of kick drums
the sound of the bass.
There was kind of a melodic line behind the beat
and then the pitched vocal that kind of says, "Hey."
I would say those were the core ideas melodically.
Hearing it for the first time, there was something special about that.
The team was very excited and people started to believe that we could actually
do K/DA like we had it in mind.
Even our art lead was humming the beat of the song itself and he was really into it.
From there, they're creating the skins, and the initial art, the music video itself.
The live performance element, as well as the choreography
and all the content that needs to be created.
So, the demo really helped identify what K/DA is.
So because everyone was caring so, so much for the project overall
everyone gave their extra 10% that we really needed for a project like that.
I think a lot of the stuff were things we had to learn because we haven't done it before.
And so what helps is having a passion for what we were trying to do
and hopefully it's also the same thing that players love.