KPop Demon Hunters’ fictional bands have change into among the hottest musical acts on the planet because the Netflix animated movie launched in June–but earlier than Huntrix and Saja Boys had been tearing up the charts, a quartet of League of Legends characters had been making waves in digital Ok-pop.
Even earlier than KPop Demon Hunters was launched, the movie’s fictional Ok-pop band was seeing comparisons to Riot Video games’ digital lady group, K/DA. It isn’t a stretch to identify the similarities–two animated lady teams releasing catchy Ok-pop anthems in between combating enemies with signature weapons and battle costumes. Even among the costumes and coloration schemes really feel acquainted, and each teams have collaborated with real-world Ok-pop lady group Twice.
Although it feels probably that the group behind KPop Demon Hunters was impressed by K/DA, it hasn’t commented a lot on the comparability. One of many solely official references to K/DA comes from KPop Demon Hunters’ music supervisor Ian Eisendrath, who confirms that Riot’s digital band was “considered one of our many influences” for Huntrix’s musical sound. Eisendrath provides that K/DA was simply considered one of “8-12 references” that was primarily used to “envision what these songs may sound like.”
It doesn’t matter what stage of inspiration K/DA had on KPop Demon Hunters, the Riot Ok-pop undertaking proved virtually seven years in the past that followers would get behind a digital lady group.
Made up of League champions Ahri, Akali, Evelynn, and Kai’sa, every member of K/DA is voiced and carried out by a real-world pop artist. American artists Madison Beer and Jaira Burns present the singing voices for Evelynn and Kai’sa, respectively, whereas members of Ok-pop group I-dle (previously (G)I-dle) Miyeon and Soyeon voice Ahri and Akali, respectively. The group is structured like a traditional Ok-pop lady group, with every member having a performing power, and so they mirror sure Ok-pop archetypes in persona and elegance.
K/DA was shaped again in 2018 as a gap act for the League of Legends World Championship–and as a car to promote their shiny popstar outfits as skins. The only and music video launched the identical day as K/DA’s debut augmented-reality efficiency in Incheon, South Korea, and shortly took off.
The debut single, Pop/Stars, charted at primary on the Ok-pop music charts and quantity 5 on the general pop charts for Apple Music within the US, in addition to topping Billboard’s World Digital Music Gross sales chart. The music video went viral on YouTube, reaching over 100 million views in its first month. Regardless of being a faux band, K/DA made historical past by changing into the primary Ok-pop lady group to have a single licensed platinum with Pop/Stars.
Viranda Tantula, the artistic lead on the opening ceremony efficiency, defined in an interview that Pop/Stars’ success was all about dedication to the “fantasy of the champs being in the true world.” With the intention to promote this fantasy, Tantula defined, they needed to create a pop track that stands up towards real-world pop music and a efficiency that competes with real-world stadium-level pop.
Regardless of how a lot went into K/DA’s debut, it initially wasn’t supposed to be any greater than the one single. “We actually went into it eager to make the singular second as dope as doable and deliberately weren’t considering a lot additional into the longer term than that,” Tantula stated in the identical interview. When Pop/Stars began taking off, far eclipsing something the Riot music group had launched beforehand, Tantula says the group began “chatting about the place this might go.”
K/DA was quiet for some time after their debut, although they remained well-liked with followers who created artwork, cosplay, and dance covers for Pop/Stars–and spent loads of money on K/DA skins. After two years of hypothesis, the group lastly returned with a bang in 2020, releasing the five-song EP All Out and as soon as once more gracing the Worlds opening ceremony with an augmented-reality efficiency of lead single Extra.
Whereas not one of the All Out tracks reached the viral peak that Pop/Stars noticed, the EP carried out properly as a musical launch in its personal right–with play counts on Spotify corresponding to Huntrix’s discography on the time of writing.
Riot hasn’t revisited K/DA because the All Out release–though it did experiment with a boy band, Heartsteel, and an Akali-led aspect undertaking, True Injury, all of which exist in the identical alternate universe of League of Legends lore. The rise of KPop Demon Hunters appears to have introduced followers again to K/DA, nevertheless: The Pop/Stars YouTube feedback are full of people that say they’re watching due to KPop Demon Hunters, whereas the K/DA subreddit is filled with Huntrix/K/DA mashups and fan art.
Some followers who had been launched to Ok-pop by the Netflix movie even look like leaping to K/DA for his or her subsequent fictional Ok-pop repair. Although this might simply be as a result of each bands have an identical sound, there’s an argument to be made that digital acts could also be much less intimidating for first-time followers who aren’t prepared for the complexity of real-world Ok-pop fan tradition. Regardless of the explanation, each K/DA and Huntrix have confirmed themselves profitable gateway artists for followers who’ve by no means engaged with Ok-pop earlier than.
The similarities between K/DA and Huntrix could also be simple, however there’s one main factor that units the 2 teams aside: K/DA is a digital Ok-pop group, whereas Huntrix would not exist exterior of the narrative of KPop Demon Hunters–for now. The distinction is the vanity that K/DA is a band that actually exists in our world–they’ve carried out stadium exhibits, filmed music movies, and even held interviews and addressed followers straight through social media.
Riot’s dealing with of K/DA as a digital band gives a template that Netflix may very properly observe with KPop Demon Hunters. In a Reddit AMA with members of the KPop Demon Hunters group, a fan requested if Huntrix and Saja Boys may change into bona fide digital bands, and music supervisor Ian Eisendrath replied, “I’d love that.”
Identical to K/DA earlier than them, each Huntrix and Saja Boys are blowing up the charts proper now–going face to face with among the hottest actual Ok-pop teams. Huntrix surpassed Blackpink because the highest-charting Ok-pop lady group when it hit quantity two on the US Spotify charts, whereas Saja Boys surpassed the likes of BTS and Stray Children to change into the highest-charting Ok-pop boy group. There’s no phrase but on Netflix’s plans for both fictional group, nevertheless it’s not exhausting to image them promoting out stadiums.