K/DA might be the biggest band you’ve never heard of. What’s that? You have heard of them? Well, fuck. Okay, maybe they’re not the biggest band you’ve never heard of, but they’re definitely one of the biggest bands in the world that an average person on the street would have no idea about. You need to be into games to know who K/DA are, and even then, it’s not just people who play games, but people who either play more hardcore games like League of Legends or are deep enough into gaming culture that they’re aware of the virtual pop stars (or POP/STARS) by osmosis. Recently though, K/DA had a record go Gold in the US, and that’s a big deal.
If you, in fact, have not heard of K/DA, or don’t know much about them, here’s a quick rundown. K/DA is a virtual band in the world of League of Legends, made up of Kai’Sa, Ahri, Akali, and Evelynn. Kai’Sa and Evelynn are both voiced by American solo artists Madison Beer and Jaira Burns, respectively, while Ahri and Akali are voiced by Miyeon and Soyeon from the K-Pop band (G)I-dle. Burns’ top played song on Spotify has 16 million spins, while (G)I-dle’s has 59 million. Pop/Stars, K/DA’s biggest hit, has 214 million. Beer can rival that, with 222 million on her biggest single, Selfish, but this came out after K/DA had significantly elevated her platform. K/DA is not a supergroup, and it is far more than the sum of its parts.
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It’s also worth noting that all of this success comes off the back of a grand total of zero albums. The band has put out three singles and a five-track EP that contains two of those three previously released tracks. This EP also features guest appearances from some of pop’s most exciting up-and-comers like Kim Petras – regardless of K/DA’s attachment to gaming as a whole (and League of Legends in particular), the group has a sleek and edgy coolness to them. They are not some novelty band getting joke listens from their adjacency to League of Legends – they’re not MOBA Cheeky Girls. K/DA rips. While the group began as a promotional tool for League of Legends, it arrived with high production values, four talented artists, and a killer hit that quickly established the band as a force to be reckoned with. League of Legends provided the group with a huge platform, but very quickly, that platform has turned into a glass ceiling.
League of Legends is a phenomenally successful game, and therefore has a huge audience. K/DA became very popular very quickly after an AR performance at the LoL World Championships in 2018 – a performance better than it had any right to be. If you were picking an ideal launching point for a cartoon K-Pop group, you probably wouldn't choose an intensely pressurised esports championship for one of the most famously toxic games around, but the fact K/DA could do it there proved they could do it anywhere. However, they are so indelibly tied to their origins that they never get the chance to make it anywhere else. When you're 'that League of Legends girl group,' your options are limited.
It’s not like a virtual band cannot have this level of success. There’s not a lot of difference between the basic premises of K/DA and Gorillaz – the major distinction is that K/DA makes the sort of music that is at the forefront of popular culture now. Beer is an emerging artist in her own right, and K/DA’s music is in the same category as Halsey, Slayyter, Rina Sawayama, Poppy, Grimes, and the aforementioned Kim Petras. Gorillaz have a very ‘men in pubs’ vibe to them. They’re good at what they do, no doubt, but they aren’t producing the sounds that shape the industry anymore. K/DA is. But needing to be aware of League of Legends or gamer culture is a big buy-in for a band whose core demographic doesn’t have much crossover with your average MOBA fan.
Going Gold could be that extra bit of momentum K/DA needs. Every piece of promotion for the band has been tied to video games; that's natural, with Riot pulling the strings and with the girls being a huge part of the swirling culture around League of Legends. But when we talk about games being art, we need to allow our medium to expand more. It's not unheard of for songs featured in movies or TV shows to break into the charts and the modern zeitgeist, or for singers in those mediums to break into the music industry at large. Billy Porter, whose initial '90s album flopped, enjoyed much greater success a couple of years ago after Pose showcased his singing voice – fellow Pose star MJ Rodriquez also had a single out this year following her popularity in the Harlem Ball drama.
K/DA is still putting in the work. All Out Attack had impressive collaborations, Beer's stock is on the rise, and Michele Panu joined the group as new Champion Seraphine, instantly seeing her own status in the LoL canon jump up because of K/DA's enduring popularity. K/DA has what it takes to take the music world by storm – but the gaming world needs to let it off its leash first.
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