On Tuesday night I discovered myself in London’s O2 Enviornment, surrounded by hundreds of followers eagerly awaiting the return of rock royalty and nu-metal pioneers, Linkin Park. Having final seen the band in the identical venue a decade prior, it was a bittersweet second for me to say the least – the late, nice Chester Bennington sorely missed by everybody I yapped away to as we waited for the re-formed group to make their grand reintroduction.
Simply hours earlier than Linkin Park graced the stage with a monstrous efficiency, the League of Legends Worlds 2024 anthem and accompanying music video have been lastly unveiled after weeks of teasing on social media. To the shock of few, it was Heavy is the Crown – the second single from LP’s upcoming ‘From Zero’ album. Having simply hopped off the prepare when it went dwell, I eagerly discovered a spot to perch and watch, my preliminary response being considered one of gentle bemusement – is that this a Linkin Park video or a LoL Worlds video?
Put collectively by the ridiculously gifted crew at Eddy Animation, the Heavy is the Crown video includes a beautiful hand-painted artwork type that pulls from Medieval artwork, with a bit little bit of William Turner thrown in for good measure. This isn’t the primary time I’ve seen the interval manifest this manner – Atlus’ upcoming JRPG Metaphor ReFantazio has gone for the same method – and I feel it’s a monarch-worthy match for a few causes.
The phrase ‘aura’ is slung round loads these days, and nobody in League embodies it just like the unkillable demon king, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok. For sure, I used to be gagged when the four-time Worlds winner and unparalleled GOAT made his regal look on the again finish of the observe. It’s solely proper that his Leagueness is portrayed with such gravitas.
Then there’s the setting of this 12 months’s event. Having lastly returned to Europe for the primary time since 2019, it’s a simple hyperlink to the continent’s heritage. The kingly discourse is already liberally utilized to the rivalry between the area’s two largest orgs – Fnatic and G2 Esports – so there’s a pure connection there, too.
As Heavy is the Crown recounts the story of Faker and T1’s profitable marketing campaign finally 12 months’s MOBA recreation world championship, we’re handled to cameos from League stars like G2’s Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther and Bilibili Gaming’s Chen ‘Bin’ Ze-Bin. We’re additionally graced by a beneficiant quantity of cutaways to Linkin Park themselves, with frontfolk Emily Armstrong and Mike Shinoda that includes prominently. This, nonetheless, is the place issues get a bit murky.
You see, the Worlds anthem is a celebration of all issues League – it’s a sacred media throughout the neighborhood. 2022’s anthem, Star Walkin’, was a stark reminder of that, as the shortage of alignment between the Lil Nas X observe – a lyrically dissonant, non-League-original piece – and its viewers was made abundantly clear by followers. Final 12 months, Riot seemed to have taken word of the suggestions, offering arguably the perfect anthem since 2018’s Rise with Gods – a observe produced by Riot itself and carried out by Ok-Pop superstars NewJeans.
Whereas Linkin Park wrote and produced Heavy is the Crown – a Meteora-esque banger that I really feel is the proper vibe match for a Worlds anthem – there’s seemingly been some gentle enter from the band’s administration relating to the MV throughout contract negotiations. Whereas Star Walkin’ confirmed Lil Nas X for a second, Heavy is the Crown steadily cuts between action-heavy photographs of the gamers duking it out and the band performing. Though I like each of this stuff in isolation, I can’t assist however really feel that it disrupts the circulation of the video to the purpose that it’s a detriment to each.
The response to Riot’s try to appease either side can also be very telling relying on the place you look. Linkin Park followers wish to see extra of the band, League gamers wish to see extra of the gamers. As somebody who sits in the midst of the Venn diagram, I’m trending in the direction of the latter. If the steadiness between the 2 needed to stay, although, I want a extra distinct construction had been deployed to separate the 2 – maybe one thing extra akin to 2003’s Breaking the Behavior animated MV the place the band characteristic most prominently within the latter half.
Qualms apart, I can respect why Riot’s gone down this path. In any case, it’s not each day that one of many century’s largest bands will get again collectively, and Shinoda’s love of Riot shooter Valorant is well-known. The chance for collaboration right here, at this crucial level, was just too good to show down, even when artistic compromises needed to be made to make it work. What’s already being referred to as Faint 2.0 can even be featured on the Arcane season two soundtrack, so anticipate to see extra animated Linkin Park down in Zaun.
No matter the place you sit on Heavy is the Crown, what I can say is that you simply’re in for a deal with when Linkin Park returns to the O2 on November 2 to carry out it as a part of the finals ceremony. Armstrong’s dwell chops are not any joke, and I might need felt myself start to ascend partway by way of her whopping 15-second scream on the observe – although which may have been the dehydration and one too many journeys to the pit kicking in.
