Linkin Park's "Heavy Is The Crown" was finally revealed to be the Worlds 2024 anthem just the other day, and both the full song and the official video dropped less than 12 hours ago to great fanfare. However, it seems Linkin Park and Riot Games have got more in store than just the song's splashy release. Riot has revealed more of the tracklist for the official soundtrack album accompanying Season 2 of Arcane (now in pre-release mode on various platforms like Spotify), and announced the title of the opening track: "Heavy Is The Crown (Original Score)". From that name, we will likely be hearing a new arrangement of "Heavy Is the Crown" made specifically for the show. The track's credited primary artists are Linkin Park members Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong, possibly suggesting that there will still be vocals in this version. The soundtrack album, titled Arcane League of Legends: Season 2 (Soundtrack from the Animated Series) and containing 22 songs, is set to be released on November 23, which is well after the actual show returns to screens on November 9. Whether or not the soundtrack version of "Heavy Is The Crown" will be officially released ahead of the album remains to be seen, but it is at least likely that it will be heard in the series. Most of the tracklist was actually made public earlier this month and reported by publications including Forbes and Billboard, but the first track and several others were initially kept under wraps and steadily revealed one by one, with only track 10 now still to be unveiled. We now know that Riot was keeping the major secret of a brand-new Linkin Park song being used as the Worlds 2024 anthem and appearing in some way in the next Arcane season, something widely speculated but only now officially confirmed. Of course, "Heavy Is The Crown" will also be on Linkin Park's November 15 studio album From Zero. From what we can see, this makes it the only song on this soundtrack album to have not been created exclusively for Arcane, not to mention the fact that it is also the new Worlds anthem. Linkin Park is joined on the Arcane soundtrack by other big names including Twenty One Pilots, Ashnikko, Stray Kids, and Imagine Dragons, whose long relationship with the League of Legends franchise began back in 2014. You can pre-save the album on platforms including Spotify and Apple Music. Arcane League of Legends: Season 2 tracklist: "Heavy Is The Crown (Original Score)" - Mike Shinoda, Emily Armstrong "I Can't Hear It Now" - Freya Ridings "Sucker" - Marcus King "Renegade (We Never Run)" - Stefflon Don, Raja Kumari ft. Jarina De Marco "Hellfire" - Fever 333 "To Ashes And Blood" - Woodkid "Paint The Town Blue" - Ashnikko "Remember Me (Intro)" - d4vd "Remember Me" - d4vd TRACK 10 "Cocktail Molotov" - ZAND "What Have They Done To Us" - Mako, Grey "Rebel Heart" - Djerv "The Beast - Misha Mansoor "Spin The Wheel" - Mick Wingert "Ma Meilleure Ennemie" - Stromae, Pomme "Fantastic" - King Princess "The Line" - Twenty One Pilots "Blood Sweat & Tears" - Sheryl Lee Ralph "Come Play" - Stray Kids, Young Miko, Tom Morello "Wasteland" - Royal & the Serpent "Enemy with JID (Opening Title version) from the series Arcane League of Legends)" - Imagine Dragons feat. JID Source: Spotify via @Zak
So this comment by Christian Linke, Creative Director at Riot + composer for League, from late last year, is now believed to have been referring to LP. There is a follow-up comment from a few months ago saying that this all worked out. It's a little strange because "Heavy Is The Crown" is not being released as a single to promote the Arcane S2 soundtrack. Relatively speaking, this was actually a fairly low-key announcement telling us that it will be incorporated into the show in a different form. This theory also suggests that the band (again, if the quoted comment indeed refers to LP) wrote "Heavy Is The Crown" for Arcane - for a specific scene, no less. If we take this further, it implies that the "marketing campaign" / "single release" solution that they eventually reached was ... literally making HITC the Worlds 2024 anthem.
Interesting. So this was a New Divide situation then? If that's the case, that's more indication that we shouldn't take this song as representative of the whole album just yet.
Okay, I just learned there is also some speculation among fans (but no evidence) that the 10th track in the list is also an LP song, so that could be something they wrote exclusively for Arcane, in which case this would all makes sense - that would be a "New Divide" situation It could also all just be talking about another artist, for all we know but it's logical nonetheless that the final track to be revealed is something really significant and is what this was all about
Now that I think about it, "Until It's Gone" was written for a Transformers soundtrack and, after that fell through, the band still put that on an album - the question is, would they have still done that if the deal had worked out? I guess the possibilities for the mysterious track 10 are, simply: this is an LP song exclusively for Arcane and not another song off From Zero, meaning the band wants a really big splash ... for a non-album single, right in the middle of the build-up to their album; this is a second currently-unreleased song off From Zero being used and potentially premiered as part of the Riot partnership and acting as a third pre-release single; we were completely off the mark, and LP was/is not the "very big artist" being spoken of at all and has nothing to do with track 10; the comment was actually about "Heavy Is The Crown", and the whole campaign for the song that was hinted at just changed a lot over time into what we saw unfold - meanwhile, track 10 is again entirely unrelated to LP. Looking at this, the first two possibilities seem a bit weirder, because "Heavy Is The Crown" being the Worlds 2024 anthem is already such a big moment that it would be strange for LP to try and leverage their Riot partnership to have a second big splash just weeks later (whether it's a song off From Zero or not)
Might just be better to assume track 10 is not a LP track. Outside of some fans speculating, there's no real evidence for it. I do think the version of HITC will be different in the show and might be more cinematic with more mellow vocals from Emily. Just a speculation from me. But it does say "Original Score" and honestly I'd love to see a soft version of the song.
Ever since the anthem video debuted and T1’s outfits kind of counterbalanced my initial impression of the tiny preview, I’ve been leaning more and more towards HITC and LP getting a smaller role on Arcane. The leak sounded like a brief garnish and I think that may be it now. Though, I’d love to be wrong. The models in the video definitely look like they could plug into Arcane as Noxians. But I feel like I need to humble my expectations.
At this point, there's no reason to believe at this point that LP is doing any more for the show than providing this one music piece (contrary to all my harebrained theories). There's definitely no reason to think the band members will be making an appearance in the show as characters
I mean, there's precedent. Imagine Dragons was in S1, I can see LP being in S2 considering they've got character designs, rigs, and performance capture already.
That's it exactly. Enemies got the Arcane intro, got an Arcane music video, and was in an actual episode scene. So yeah, LP will probably be in Arcane S2. EDIT: Also, because I haven't seen it mentioned, GO WATCH ARCANE IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD
I think the difference is Enemy was written for Arcane and was the lead single from that soundtrack. It wasn't part of Imagine Dragon's album. It was added as an "additional track" but not part of the album's main track list. HITC wasn't made for League of Legends, let alone Arcane. We don't know what the lead single for S2 of Arcane is. But its most likely the artist from that would make an appearance. Edit - Yes, watch Arcane. Its an incredible show with great animation and art direction.
Yeah and I'll be shocked if its not another Imagine Dragons track. Cause their last collab together was a massive hit. But could be something bigger.