Beat Games today announced that the hit viral song POP/STARS by K/DA is now available as a free track in Beat Saber. The song comes from Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends, who created the virtual K-pop group K/DA which consists of four characters from their massively popular game.
K/DA is a virtual K-pop group, created by Riot Games, which features four champions from League of Legends: Ahri, Akali, Evelynn and Kai’Sa. The group made their debut with the song POP/STARS at the 2018 League of Legends World Championship in early November and became a viral hit. Vocals for the virtual singers were performed by Madison Beer, Miyeon of (G)I-DLE, Soyeon of (G)I-DLE, and Jaira Burns.
Though calling the song merely “viral” is a disservice to how quickly it spread. Now, a little less than two months from its debut, the track’s music video has racked up more than 120 million views on YouTube alone and also reached #1 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.
And that makes it the biggest song, by far, to come to Beat Saber. Available today for free on all platforms (via game update), for the first time in Beat Saber POP/STARS includes unique visuals which transform the game’s usual red and blue stages to a fitting orange and purple with some new scenery to boot.
Riot Games says that the song’s inclusion in Beat Saber is the first time that a song from the League of Legends universe has been officially licensed for use in a rhythm game.
“We’ve been blown away by the reaction to ‘POP/STARS’ and the variety of amazing adaptations that content creators from both the League community and beyond have brought to life,” Tom Ebsworth, EU Marketing Director for Riot Games, said in the announcement. “As huge Beat Saber fans ourselves, both of the game and Beat Games who share our passion for gaming and music, it was a no-brainer that this crossover needed to exist. We’re excited to give fans of the song a new way to experience it and to hear what they think!”
“The moment we listened to ‘POP/STARS’ we knew for sure this is going to be a hit in Beat Saber,” said Jaroslav Beck, Beat Games CEO. “The track is so pulsing and the video is just epic—it matches our game perfectly. We are so excited that with Beat Saber, players finally get a chance to experience ‘POP/STARS’ on a whole new level and literally feel every beat.”
Alongside the release of POP/STARS in Beat Saber, the studio also released a mixed reality music video featuring Madison Beer, the real voice behind K/DA virtual band member Evelynn:
The new Beat Saber track comes on the heels of another new track, One Hope by KNOWER, released just a week ago. That brings the count of official songs in the game to 13 on PC and 18 on PSVR. Beat Games recently shared that they have plans to continue rolling out additional free songs as well as paid song packs.