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| Released=September 24, 2024 | | Released=September 24, 2024 | ||
| Format=Digital | | Format=Digital | ||
| Length= | | Length=2:47 | ||
| Stems= | | Stems= | ||
| Time signature= | | Time signature= | ||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
| Live debut=[[Live:20240922|September 22, 2024]] | | Live debut=[[Live:20240922|September 22, 2024]] | ||
| Last played= | | Last played= | ||
| Writer=Linkin Park | | Writer=Linkin Park, Mike Elizondo | ||
| Producer= | | Producer=Mike Shinoda, Colin Brittain, Brad Delson, Mike Elizondo | ||
| Label=Warner Records | | Label=Warner Records | ||
| Chronology=[[Linkin Park]] singles | | Chronology=[[Linkin Park]] singles | ||
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==Background== | ==Background== | ||
"Heavy Is The Crown" harkens back to an early Linkin Park sound with rap verses and big, powerful choruses, featuring a synth-heavy intro. Emily has a 15 second scream on the bridge of the song, likening the track to having a bridge as big as "[[Given Up]]" in the band's catalog. | |||
On September 9, 2024, League Of Legends announced their schedule for their 2024 Worlds championship finals, revealing that the anthem for the event would be unveiled on September 24, with imagery of a crown on the banner.<ref name=":0">[https://x.com/LeagueOfLegends/status/1833158827149062581 League Of Legends on X: "Clear your schedule, this is your calendar now. Get ready for everything that #Worlds2024 has to offer! Things kick off this month leading us to the Finals and Opening Ceremony on November 2."], September 9, 2024</ref> Fresh off the reveal of Linkin Park's ''From Zero'' tracklist, many fans were quick to point out the link with a new song titled | On September 9, 2024, League Of Legends announced their schedule for their 2024 Worlds championship finals, revealing that the anthem for the event would be unveiled on September 24, with imagery of a crown on the banner.<ref name=":0">[https://x.com/LeagueOfLegends/status/1833158827149062581 League Of Legends on X: "Clear your schedule, this is your calendar now. Get ready for everything that #Worlds2024 has to offer! Things kick off this month leading us to the Finals and Opening Ceremony on November 2."], September 9, 2024</ref> Fresh off the reveal of Linkin Park's ''From Zero'' tracklist, many fans were quick to point out the link with a new song titled "Heavy Is The Crown." These rumors were further fueled by interactions between the League Of Legends accounts and Linkin Park's members on social media. The League Of Legends account replied with a crown emoji to a tweet containing a video of Linkin Park performing "[[The Emptiness Machine]]" live at their [[Live:20240905|September 5, 2024 livestream event]].<ref>[https://x.com/lolesports/status/1831832427779780699 League of Legends on X: "👑"], September 5, 2024</ref> Mike Shinoda, in turn, responded with a flame emoji under a trailer of the new season of League of Legends' Netflix series ''Arcane''.<ref>[https://x.com/mikeshinoda/status/1831700613392167118 Mike Shinoda on X: "🔥"], September 5, 2024</ref> When asked about anything pertaining to League Of Legends on the Linkin Park Discord in the following days, Shinoda danced around the questions, teasing ''"what's a leaf of legumes"'' in response.<ref>[https://x.com/BroodingAnanas/status/1833385550893453415 BroodingAnanas on X: "he’s so unserious istg"], September 10, 2024</ref> | ||
The song was registered under the GEMA repertoire, revealing the involvement of Mike Elizondo in the production of the track and Rich Costey on mixing (who in the past has mixed for the likes of Muse, Death Cab For Cutie, My Chemical Romance, and more).<ref>[https://lplive.net/forums/topic/17409-rumor-new-linkin-park-song-heavy-is-the-crown-to-drop-on-september-24/ RUMOR: New Linkin Park song "Heavy Is The Crown" to drop on September 24 - Newswire - Linkin Park Live], September 10, 2024</ref> | The song was registered under the GEMA repertoire, revealing the involvement of Mike Elizondo in the production of the track and Rich Costey on mixing (who in the past has mixed for the likes of Muse, Death Cab For Cutie, My Chemical Romance, and more).<ref>[https://lplive.net/forums/topic/17409-rumor-new-linkin-park-song-heavy-is-the-crown-to-drop-on-september-24/ RUMOR: New Linkin Park song "Heavy Is The Crown" to drop on September 24 - Newswire - Linkin Park Live], September 10, 2024</ref> Mike Elizondo has a writing credit on the song as well as on "[[Overflow]]." In 2016, Mike Shinoda mentioned that Mike Elizondo was an older bass player for the band, saying, ''"Mike Elizondo at one point for a very short period of time was the bass player for Linkin Park. Ask him about that story. Phoenix left us for a short time and Elizondo at that time was our top candidate for bass player. We asked him to be "on it"...we were doing it, and he said at a certain point... 'Man I don't know what to do. On one hand, you guys are doing so well and I love the music and on the other hand, Dre wants me to work on this new album with him and he's offering me points on the new record. It's this white kid from Detroit....Eminem.'"'' Mike Shinoda told him to go work with Eminem and said Elizondo had "great options" in front of him....work with Dre and Eminem or be the bass player in Linkin Park. This is the first time Mike Elizondo had the opportunity to work with the band on an album after that time period.<ref>[https://lplive.net/forums/topic/12142-linkin-parks-unknown-bass-player-mike-elizondo/ Linkin Park's Unknown Bass Player: Mike Elizondo - Newswire - Linkin Park Live], February 17, 2016</ref> | ||
League Of Legends tweeted another teaser on September 17, 2024, with the caption ''"This is what you asked for..."'' and a silent video of a crown and a guitar, that fans were quick to notice looked quite similar to Mike's PRS Standard 22 Platinum guitar that he had been using on tour and in the studio in recent years.<ref>[https://x.com/LeagueOfLegends/status/1836057652645744788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1836057652645744788%7Ctwgr%5Eade582456ee015a7469f1a515a9d4feb41cacf79%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flplive.net%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcorem League of Legends on X: "This is what you asked for… #Worlds2024 Official Anthem & Music Video on 9/24"], September 17, 2024</ref> Linkin Park's website updated with a small banner saying "Make them believe," the slogan for the Worlds 2024 championship. | |||
Linkin Park premiered the song to the world live during their encore at their show on [[Live:20240922|September 22, 2024 in Hamburg, Germany]]. Replacing "[[Keys To The Kingdom]]" in the encore, the song was played second to last and was introduced as a brand new song that would be "out soon," according to Emily onstage. After a massive reaction to the song's live debut online, League of Legends and Linkin Park both posted a clip of the music video on their pages, showcasing a bit of the animated aspect of the production and announcing it formally as the anthem of the Worlds 2024 championship, posting a YouTube livestream counting down to 8:55am PST on September 24, 2024 for the premiere of the music video.<ref>[https://lplive.net/forums/topic/17501-heavy-is-the-crown-live-debut-in-hamburg-music-video-releasing-september-24/#comments 'Heavy Is The Crown' Live Debut in Hamburg, Music Video releasing September 24 - Newswire - Linkin Park Live], September 22, 2024</ref> | |||
A second, "cinematic" version of the song was released for the second season of ''Arcane'', an animated show based off of League Of Legends. The soundtrack with this version of the song released on November 25, 2024. Mike explained that "the opportunity came up... they were writing things for it, and I got in the room with some of the music team on that and wrote a lyric, wrote a part, and the words of it became turned into, or had a connection to, our song 'Heavy Is The Crown,' and Emily sang it both ways." Emily added, "It was actually harder to sing it the quieter way, believe it or not."<ref name=": | Discussing the band's involvement with League Of Legends, Mike Shinoda explained, ''"We had to let you in the door on our secret first. I had a relationship with different folks from Riot for awhile... Brandon Beck and I had talked once in awhile, and eventually I met Christian from Arcane and I met various people from the Worlds side and my favorite game Valorant as well. As we were putting together our new music and the band kind of started gelling, it was almost natural that the conversations began around Worlds, and I think there's a lot of synergy between the way they look at things creatively and the things we're doing creatively, and there's a lot of synergy in the fanbases''." | ||
Dave continued, ''"We want, first and foremost, to feel passionate about what we are doing, and we try to connect and write music that we really believe in and that we're excited about. And then when you hand that over and share it with the world, you hope that that gets returned back to you with the same feeling and sentiment. With this album in general and 'Heavy Is The Crown' in particular, I think it's already working. People can connect with it, they can know that they're not alone. One of the best parts about music in general, at least in my life, is that it gave me a connection to emotionally connect with the world around me in a safe, exciting, and fun way. To feel community and to feel apart of something that was bigger than myself."''<ref name=":1">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuqGtV_4oZQ Linkin Park Discuss Heavy is The Crown in Arcane 2 - YouTube], November 1, 2024</ref> "Heavy Is The Crown" became the biggest anthem in Worlds history, with 10 million music video views in the first 24 hours and nearly 360 million streams by the Worlds championship in November 2024. | |||
Emily's scream captured on the album recording was the very first take of the scream that she did, despite having done multiple takes afterwards. The intro sample was originally timed differently (more basically, on the downbeats), but after suggestions from Joe and Mike Elizondo to make the sample more "groovy," the sample became something more ''"Bollywood, which I liked,"'' as Mike described it.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OxWsbAov-s Linkin Park | Mike Shinoda & Emily Armstrong, New Album "From Zero", Chester Bennington - YouTube], November 15, 2024</ref> | |||
===Arcane Original Score Version=== | |||
A second, "cinematic" version of the song was released for the second season of ''Arcane'', an animated show based off of League Of Legends. The soundtrack with this version of the song released on November 25, 2024. Mike explained that ''"the opportunity came up... they were writing things for it, and I got in the room with some of the music team on that and wrote a lyric, wrote a part, and the words of it became turned into, or had a connection to, our song 'Heavy Is The Crown,' and Emily sang it both ways."'' Emily added, ''"It was actually harder to sing it the quieter way, believe it or not."''<ref name=":1" /> This version of the song was released on November 9, 2024 in conjunction with the release of the first three episodes of ''Arcane'' season 2. It featured in the first episode (also titled "Heavy Is The Crown"), where it starts 33 minutes into the episode and rolls to the credits.<ref>[https://lplive.net/forums/topic/17846-heavy-is-the-crown-original-score-out-now/ 'Heavy Is The Crown' (Original Score) out now! - Newswire - Linkin Park Live], November 9, 2024</ref> The eerie guitar from this version of the song was used in the extended intro of "Heavy Is The Crown" for the band's performance at the [[Live:20241102|League Of Legends Worlds 2024 Finals Opening Ceremony]]. | |||
==Music Video== | ==Music Video== | ||
The official music video for "Heavy Is The Crown" was released on September 24, 2024 and features Linkin Park and well-known League Of Legends players animated in Arcane style by Paris-based Brunch Studio. A press release for the video reads: ''"The 2024 Worlds Music Video envisions renowned League of Legends pro player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok as a newly crowned king as he battles a legion of aspiring rulers who arrive on his doorstep. Through the story of a warrior fighting to protect a kingdom under siege, the video honors Faker and T1’s victory at Worlds 2023 while embodying the powerful spirit of League players. It also celebrates the rich history of kingdoms and dynasties in London, where the Worlds Finals will take place on November 2, 2024."'' The players featured in the video are Oner, GALA, Zika, Ruler, Faker, Xiaohu, Weiwei, TheShy, Crisp, Zeus, Bin, Massu, Brance, Caps, Chovy, Gumayusi, and Keria.<ref>[https://80.lv/articles/linkin-park-animated-arcane-style-in-league-of-legends-anthem-mv/ League of Legends Anthem MV Sees Linkin Park Animated Arcane-Like], September 25, 2024</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FrhtahQiRc Heavy Is The Crown ft. Linkin Park (Official Music Video) | League of Legends Worlds 2024 Anthem - YouTube], September 24, 2024</ref> | The official music video for "Heavy Is The Crown" was released on September 24, 2024 and features Linkin Park and well-known League Of Legends players animated in Arcane style by Paris-based Brunch Studio. A press release for the video reads: ''"The 2024 Worlds Music Video envisions renowned League of Legends pro player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok as a newly crowned king as he battles a legion of aspiring rulers who arrive on his doorstep. Through the story of a warrior fighting to protect a kingdom under siege, the video honors Faker and T1’s victory at Worlds 2023 while embodying the powerful spirit of League players. It also celebrates the rich history of kingdoms and dynasties in London, where the Worlds Finals will take place on November 2, 2024."'' The players featured in the video are Oner, GALA, Zika, Ruler, Faker, Xiaohu, Weiwei, TheShy, Crisp, Zeus, Bin, Massu, Brance, Caps, Chovy, Gumayusi, and Keria.<ref>[https://80.lv/articles/linkin-park-animated-arcane-style-in-league-of-legends-anthem-mv/ League of Legends Anthem MV Sees Linkin Park Animated Arcane-Like], September 25, 2024</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FrhtahQiRc Heavy Is The Crown ft. Linkin Park (Official Music Video) | League of Legends Worlds 2024 Anthem - YouTube], September 24, 2024</ref> | ||
| Line 76: | Line 82: | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
|Heavy Is The Crown (Original Score) | | Heavy Is The Crown (Original Score) | ||
|''Arcane League | | ''Arcane League Of Legends: Season 2 (Soundtrack From The Animated Series)'' | ||
| 1:41 | |||
| | | | ||
| November 9, 2024 | |||
| | | | ||
*Cinematic version used in the ''Arcane League Of Legends: Season 2'' series. | |||
*Also listed as "Heavy Is The Crown (Original Score) [From The Series Arcane League Of Legends]". | |||
* Cinematic version used in the ''Arcane League Of Legends: Season 2'' | |} | ||
===Live=== | |||
{|class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
! Title | |||
! Album | |||
! Length | |||
! Recorded | |||
! Released | |||
! Notes | |||
|- | |||
| Heavy Is The Crown (Live) | |||
| ''[[From Zero]] (Expanded Edition)'' | |||
| 3:25 | |||
| [[Live:20240924|September 24, 2024]] | |||
| November 15, 2024 | |||
| | |||
*Recorded in London, UK, Sept. 24, 2024. | |||
|- | |||
|} | |} | ||
==Release== | ==Release== | ||
Linkin Park released | Linkin Park released "Heavy Is The Crown" on September 24, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. PT to be featured as the League Of Legends World Championship Anthem of 2024, following big teasers from League Of Legends about the song. | ||
Mike Shinoda said, "It's been an amazing experience partnering with Riot to bring this anthem to the global League of Legends community. The song is a real highlight of this new era for us, harnessing our signature sound and infusing it with fresh energy. We're so excited for players and fans to experience this!"<ref>[https://www.kerrang.com/linkin-parks-new-single-heavy-is-the-crown-is-the-league-of-legends-world-championship-anthem Kerrang: Linkin Park's New Single Heavy Is The Crown], September 23, 2024</ref> | Mike Shinoda said, ''"It's been an amazing experience partnering with Riot to bring this anthem to the global League of Legends community. The song is a real highlight of this new era for us, harnessing our signature sound and infusing it with fresh energy. We're so excited for players and fans to experience this!"''<ref>[https://www.kerrang.com/linkin-parks-new-single-heavy-is-the-crown-is-the-league-of-legends-world-championship-anthem Kerrang: Linkin Park's New Single Heavy Is The Crown], September 23, 2024</ref> | ||
Maria Egan, Global Head of Music at Riot Games said, "The Worlds anthem is the music moment that League players look forward to the most each year, and it has become a highly coveted fixture in music across the world. As the band embarks on this exciting new chapter, we're honoured to partner with them for the 2024 anthem. The lyrics for Heavy Is The Crown perfectly capture the narrative for this year's Worlds and they are a powerful companion to the themes of our music video." | Maria Egan, Global Head of Music at Riot Games said, ''"The Worlds anthem is the music moment that League players look forward to the most each year, and it has become a highly coveted fixture in music across the world. As the band embarks on this exciting new chapter, we're honoured to partner with them for the 2024 anthem. The lyrics for Heavy Is The Crown perfectly capture the narrative for this year's Worlds and they are a powerful companion to the themes of our music video."'' | ||
==Live== | ==Live== | ||
"Heavy Is The Crown" received its world premiere at the Linkin Park concert in Hamburg, Germany on September 22, 2024. This was the band's first show back in Europe since July 2017's last performance with Chester Bennington, which ended up being his last show and the premature end of the One More Light World Tour. | |||
In the encore of the show, Linkin Park had played fan-favorite | In the encore of the show, Linkin Park had played fan-favorite "[[Keys To The Kingdom]]" in the second encore spot, following "[[Papercut]]" but following rumors of a new song coming soon, they surprised fans in Germany with "Heavy Is The Crown" instead of "Keys To The Kingdom." As Mike and Emily were discussing the song off-mic, Joe Hahn walked up to Mike's microphone to ask fans if they wanted the band to play a new song. For the following shows of the tour, "Heavy Is The Crown" maintained its spot in the encore. The song was performed with an extended intro and extended bridge at their performance at the [[Live:20241102|League Of Legends Worlds 2024 Finals Opening Ceremony]]. The intro featured guitar from the Original Score version of the song, while the extended bridge was just an elongated instrumental as the players in the finals from BLG and T1 were introduced to the stage. | ||
===Variations=== | |||
{|class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
! Type | |||
! Description | |||
! First Played | |||
! Last Played | |||
|- | |||
| Intro | |||
| Cinematic intro with elements from the Original Score version | |||
| [[Live:20241102|November 2, 2024]] | |||
| [[Live:20241102|November 2, 2024]] | |||
|- | |||
| Bridge | |||
| Lengthened instrumental | |||
| [[Live:20241102|November 2, 2024]] | |||
| [[Live:20241102|November 2, 2024]] | |||
|- | |||
|} | |||
==Personnel== | ==Personnel== | ||
| Line 115: | Line 162: | ||
* Colin Brittain - Drums, Co-Producer | * Colin Brittain - Drums, Co-Producer | ||
* Mike Elizondo - Additional Production, Writer | * Mike Elizondo - Additional Production, Writer | ||
* Ethan Mates - | * Ethan Mates - Recording Engineer | ||
* Rich Costey - Mixer | * Rich Costey - Mixer | ||
* Jeff Citron - Assistant Mixer | * Jeff Citron - Assistant Mixer | ||
| Line 122: | Line 169: | ||
==Lyrics== | ==Lyrics== | ||
{{hidden begin|title=Album Version}} | {{hidden begin|title=Album Version}} | ||
<poem>It's pourin' in, | <poem>It's pourin' in, you're laid on the floor again | ||
One knock at the door and then | One knock at the door and then | ||
We both know how the story ends | We both know how the story ends | ||
You cangt win if your white flag's out when the war begins | |||
Aiming so high, but swinging so low | |||
Tryna catch fire, but | Tryna catch fire, but feeling so cold | ||
Hold it inside and hope they | Hold it inside and hope they wongt show | ||
Saying it's not, but inside I know | |||
Today is gonna be the day you notice | Today is gonna be the day you notice | ||
'Cause I'm tired of | 'Cause I'm tired of explaining what the joke is | ||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown | This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown | ||
Fire in the sunrise, ashes | Fire in the sunrise, ashes raining down | ||
Tryna hold it in but it keeps | Tryna hold it in but it keeps bleeding out | ||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the | This is what you asked for, heavy is the | ||
Heavy is the crown | Heavy is the crown | ||
| Line 143: | Line 190: | ||
Outnumbered ten to onе | Outnumbered ten to onе | ||
Back then, should've bit your tongue | Back then, should've bit your tongue | ||
There's no | There's no turning back this path once it's begun | ||
You're already on that list | You're already on that list | ||
Say you | Say you dongt want what you cangt resist | ||
Waving that sword when the pen | Waving that sword when the pen wongt miss | ||
Watching it all falling apart like this | |||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown | This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown | ||
Fire in the sunrise, ashes | Fire in the sunrise, ashes raining down | ||
Tryna hold it in but it keeps | Tryna hold it in but it keeps bleeding out | ||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the | This is what you asked for, heavy is the | ||
Heavy is the crown | Heavy is the crown | ||
Today is gonna be the day you notice | Today is gonna be the day you notice | ||
'Cause I'm tired of | 'Cause I'm tired of explaining what the joke is | ||
This is what you asked for | This is what you asked for | ||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown | This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown | ||
Fire in the sunrise, ashes | Fire in the sunrise, ashes raining down | ||
Tryna hold it in but it keeps | Tryna hold it in but it keeps bleeding out | ||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the | This is what you asked for, heavy is the | ||
Heavy is the crown | Heavy is the crown | ||
| Line 167: | Line 214: | ||
Heavy is the crown | Heavy is the crown | ||
Heavy is the | Heavy is the | ||
Heavy is the crown</poem> | |||
{{hidden end}} | |||
{{hidden begin|title=Original Score}} | |||
<poem>This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown | |||
Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin' down | |||
Try to hold it in, but it keeps bleedin' out | |||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the | |||
Heavy is the crown, heavy is the crown | |||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown | |||
Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin' down | |||
Try to hold it in, but it keeps bleedin' out | |||
This is what you asked for, heavy is the | |||
Heavy is the crown</poem> | Heavy is the crown</poem> | ||
{{hidden end}} | {{hidden end}} | ||
==Gallery== | ==Gallery== | ||
<gallery> | |||
Compilation-Arcane League of Legends Season 2.jpg|Arcane League Of Legends: Season 2 (Soundtrack From The Animated Series) | |||
</gallery> | |||
==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
Latest revision as of 02:46, 27 November 2024
| "Heavy Is The Crown" | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Single by Linkin Park | |||||||
| from the album From Zero | |||||||
| Released: | September 24, 2024 | ||||||
| Format: | Digital | ||||||
| Length: | 2:47 | ||||||
| Live debut: | September 22, 2024 | ||||||
| Writer: | Linkin Park, Mike Elizondo | ||||||
| Producer: | Mike Shinoda, Colin Brittain, Brad Delson, Mike Elizondo | ||||||
| Label: | Warner Records | ||||||
| |||||||
| From Zero tracklist | |||||||
"Heavy Is The Crown" is the fourth track from Linkin Park's eighth studio album, From Zero. The song was debuted live on September 22, 2024 in Hamburg, Germany.
Background
"Heavy Is The Crown" harkens back to an early Linkin Park sound with rap verses and big, powerful choruses, featuring a synth-heavy intro. Emily has a 15 second scream on the bridge of the song, likening the track to having a bridge as big as "Given Up" in the band's catalog.
On September 9, 2024, League Of Legends announced their schedule for their 2024 Worlds championship finals, revealing that the anthem for the event would be unveiled on September 24, with imagery of a crown on the banner.[1] Fresh off the reveal of Linkin Park's From Zero tracklist, many fans were quick to point out the link with a new song titled "Heavy Is The Crown." These rumors were further fueled by interactions between the League Of Legends accounts and Linkin Park's members on social media. The League Of Legends account replied with a crown emoji to a tweet containing a video of Linkin Park performing "The Emptiness Machine" live at their September 5, 2024 livestream event.[2] Mike Shinoda, in turn, responded with a flame emoji under a trailer of the new season of League of Legends' Netflix series Arcane.[3] When asked about anything pertaining to League Of Legends on the Linkin Park Discord in the following days, Shinoda danced around the questions, teasing "what's a leaf of legumes" in response.[4]
The song was registered under the GEMA repertoire, revealing the involvement of Mike Elizondo in the production of the track and Rich Costey on mixing (who in the past has mixed for the likes of Muse, Death Cab For Cutie, My Chemical Romance, and more).[5] Mike Elizondo has a writing credit on the song as well as on "Overflow." In 2016, Mike Shinoda mentioned that Mike Elizondo was an older bass player for the band, saying, "Mike Elizondo at one point for a very short period of time was the bass player for Linkin Park. Ask him about that story. Phoenix left us for a short time and Elizondo at that time was our top candidate for bass player. We asked him to be "on it"...we were doing it, and he said at a certain point... 'Man I don't know what to do. On one hand, you guys are doing so well and I love the music and on the other hand, Dre wants me to work on this new album with him and he's offering me points on the new record. It's this white kid from Detroit....Eminem.'" Mike Shinoda told him to go work with Eminem and said Elizondo had "great options" in front of him....work with Dre and Eminem or be the bass player in Linkin Park. This is the first time Mike Elizondo had the opportunity to work with the band on an album after that time period.[6]
League Of Legends tweeted another teaser on September 17, 2024, with the caption "This is what you asked for..." and a silent video of a crown and a guitar, that fans were quick to notice looked quite similar to Mike's PRS Standard 22 Platinum guitar that he had been using on tour and in the studio in recent years.[7] Linkin Park's website updated with a small banner saying "Make them believe," the slogan for the Worlds 2024 championship.
Linkin Park premiered the song to the world live during their encore at their show on September 22, 2024 in Hamburg, Germany. Replacing "Keys To The Kingdom" in the encore, the song was played second to last and was introduced as a brand new song that would be "out soon," according to Emily onstage. After a massive reaction to the song's live debut online, League of Legends and Linkin Park both posted a clip of the music video on their pages, showcasing a bit of the animated aspect of the production and announcing it formally as the anthem of the Worlds 2024 championship, posting a YouTube livestream counting down to 8:55am PST on September 24, 2024 for the premiere of the music video.[8]
Discussing the band's involvement with League Of Legends, Mike Shinoda explained, "We had to let you in the door on our secret first. I had a relationship with different folks from Riot for awhile... Brandon Beck and I had talked once in awhile, and eventually I met Christian from Arcane and I met various people from the Worlds side and my favorite game Valorant as well. As we were putting together our new music and the band kind of started gelling, it was almost natural that the conversations began around Worlds, and I think there's a lot of synergy between the way they look at things creatively and the things we're doing creatively, and there's a lot of synergy in the fanbases."
Dave continued, "We want, first and foremost, to feel passionate about what we are doing, and we try to connect and write music that we really believe in and that we're excited about. And then when you hand that over and share it with the world, you hope that that gets returned back to you with the same feeling and sentiment. With this album in general and 'Heavy Is The Crown' in particular, I think it's already working. People can connect with it, they can know that they're not alone. One of the best parts about music in general, at least in my life, is that it gave me a connection to emotionally connect with the world around me in a safe, exciting, and fun way. To feel community and to feel apart of something that was bigger than myself."[9] "Heavy Is The Crown" became the biggest anthem in Worlds history, with 10 million music video views in the first 24 hours and nearly 360 million streams by the Worlds championship in November 2024.
Emily's scream captured on the album recording was the very first take of the scream that she did, despite having done multiple takes afterwards. The intro sample was originally timed differently (more basically, on the downbeats), but after suggestions from Joe and Mike Elizondo to make the sample more "groovy," the sample became something more "Bollywood, which I liked," as Mike described it.[10]
Arcane Original Score Version
A second, "cinematic" version of the song was released for the second season of Arcane, an animated show based off of League Of Legends. The soundtrack with this version of the song released on November 25, 2024. Mike explained that "the opportunity came up... they were writing things for it, and I got in the room with some of the music team on that and wrote a lyric, wrote a part, and the words of it became turned into, or had a connection to, our song 'Heavy Is The Crown,' and Emily sang it both ways." Emily added, "It was actually harder to sing it the quieter way, believe it or not."[9] This version of the song was released on November 9, 2024 in conjunction with the release of the first three episodes of Arcane season 2. It featured in the first episode (also titled "Heavy Is The Crown"), where it starts 33 minutes into the episode and rolls to the credits.[11] The eerie guitar from this version of the song was used in the extended intro of "Heavy Is The Crown" for the band's performance at the League Of Legends Worlds 2024 Finals Opening Ceremony.
Music Video
The official music video for "Heavy Is The Crown" was released on September 24, 2024 and features Linkin Park and well-known League Of Legends players animated in Arcane style by Paris-based Brunch Studio. A press release for the video reads: "The 2024 Worlds Music Video envisions renowned League of Legends pro player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok as a newly crowned king as he battles a legion of aspiring rulers who arrive on his doorstep. Through the story of a warrior fighting to protect a kingdom under siege, the video honors Faker and T1’s victory at Worlds 2023 while embodying the powerful spirit of League players. It also celebrates the rich history of kingdoms and dynasties in London, where the Worlds Finals will take place on November 2, 2024." The players featured in the video are Oner, GALA, Zika, Ruler, Faker, Xiaohu, Weiwei, TheShy, Crisp, Zeus, Bin, Massu, Brance, Caps, Chovy, Gumayusi, and Keria.[12][13]
Versions
Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.
Studio
| Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Is The Crown | From Zero | 2:47 | September 22, 2024 | ||
| Heavy Is The Crown (Original Score) | Arcane League Of Legends: Season 2 (Soundtrack From The Animated Series) | 1:41 | November 9, 2024 |
|
Live
| Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Is The Crown (Live) | From Zero (Expanded Edition) | 3:25 | September 24, 2024 | November 15, 2024 |
|
Release
Linkin Park released "Heavy Is The Crown" on September 24, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. PT to be featured as the League Of Legends World Championship Anthem of 2024, following big teasers from League Of Legends about the song.
Mike Shinoda said, "It's been an amazing experience partnering with Riot to bring this anthem to the global League of Legends community. The song is a real highlight of this new era for us, harnessing our signature sound and infusing it with fresh energy. We're so excited for players and fans to experience this!"[14]
Maria Egan, Global Head of Music at Riot Games said, "The Worlds anthem is the music moment that League players look forward to the most each year, and it has become a highly coveted fixture in music across the world. As the band embarks on this exciting new chapter, we're honoured to partner with them for the 2024 anthem. The lyrics for Heavy Is The Crown perfectly capture the narrative for this year's Worlds and they are a powerful companion to the themes of our music video."
Live
"Heavy Is The Crown" received its world premiere at the Linkin Park concert in Hamburg, Germany on September 22, 2024. This was the band's first show back in Europe since July 2017's last performance with Chester Bennington, which ended up being his last show and the premature end of the One More Light World Tour.
In the encore of the show, Linkin Park had played fan-favorite "Keys To The Kingdom" in the second encore spot, following "Papercut" but following rumors of a new song coming soon, they surprised fans in Germany with "Heavy Is The Crown" instead of "Keys To The Kingdom." As Mike and Emily were discussing the song off-mic, Joe Hahn walked up to Mike's microphone to ask fans if they wanted the band to play a new song. For the following shows of the tour, "Heavy Is The Crown" maintained its spot in the encore. The song was performed with an extended intro and extended bridge at their performance at the League Of Legends Worlds 2024 Finals Opening Ceremony. The intro featured guitar from the Original Score version of the song, while the extended bridge was just an elongated instrumental as the players in the finals from BLG and T1 were introduced to the stage.
Variations
| Type | Description | First Played | Last Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intro | Cinematic intro with elements from the Original Score version | November 2, 2024 | November 2, 2024 |
| Bridge | Lengthened instrumental | November 2, 2024 | November 2, 2024 |
Personnel
Linkin Park is
- Mike Shinoda
- Brad Delson
- Dave "Phoenix" Farrell
- Joseph Hahn
- Emily Armstrong
- Colin Brittain
Production
- Brad Delson - Guitar, Co-Producer
- Mike Shinoda - Producer, Vocals, Recording Engineer
- Phoenix - Bass
- Joe Hahn - Programming
- Emily Armstrong - Vocals
- Colin Brittain - Drums, Co-Producer
- Mike Elizondo - Additional Production, Writer
- Ethan Mates - Recording Engineer
- Rich Costey - Mixer
- Jeff Citron - Assistant Mixer
- Emerson Mancini - Masterer
Lyrics
It's pourin' in, you're laid on the floor again
One knock at the door and then
We both know how the story ends
You cangt win if your white flag's out when the war begins
Aiming so high, but swinging so low
Tryna catch fire, but feeling so cold
Hold it inside and hope they wongt show
Saying it's not, but inside I know
Today is gonna be the day you notice
'Cause I'm tired of explaining what the joke is
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise, ashes raining down
Tryna hold it in but it keeps bleeding out
This is what you asked for, heavy is the
Heavy is the crown
Turned to run, now look what it's becomе
Outnumbered ten to onе
Back then, should've bit your tongue
There's no turning back this path once it's begun
You're already on that list
Say you dongt want what you cangt resist
Waving that sword when the pen wongt miss
Watching it all falling apart like this
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise, ashes raining down
Tryna hold it in but it keeps bleeding out
This is what you asked for, heavy is the
Heavy is the crown
Today is gonna be the day you notice
'Cause I'm tired of explaining what the joke is
This is what you asked for
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise, ashes raining down
Tryna hold it in but it keeps bleeding out
This is what you asked for, heavy is the
Heavy is the crown
Heavy is the crown
Heavy is the
Heavy is the crown
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin' down
Try to hold it in, but it keeps bleedin' out
This is what you asked for, heavy is the
Heavy is the crown, heavy is the crown
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin' down
Try to hold it in, but it keeps bleedin' out
This is what you asked for, heavy is the
Heavy is the crown
Gallery
-
Arcane League Of Legends: Season 2 (Soundtrack From The Animated Series)
External Links
References
- ↑ League Of Legends on X: "Clear your schedule, this is your calendar now. Get ready for everything that #Worlds2024 has to offer! Things kick off this month leading us to the Finals and Opening Ceremony on November 2.", September 9, 2024
- ↑ League of Legends on X: "👑", September 5, 2024
- ↑ Mike Shinoda on X: "🔥", September 5, 2024
- ↑ BroodingAnanas on X: "he’s so unserious istg", September 10, 2024
- ↑ RUMOR: New Linkin Park song "Heavy Is The Crown" to drop on September 24 - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, September 10, 2024
- ↑ Linkin Park's Unknown Bass Player: Mike Elizondo - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, February 17, 2016
- ↑ League of Legends on X: "This is what you asked for… #Worlds2024 Official Anthem & Music Video on 9/24", September 17, 2024
- ↑ 'Heavy Is The Crown' Live Debut in Hamburg, Music Video releasing September 24 - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, September 22, 2024
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Linkin Park Discuss Heavy is The Crown in Arcane 2 - YouTube, November 1, 2024
- ↑ Linkin Park | Mike Shinoda & Emily Armstrong, New Album "From Zero", Chester Bennington - YouTube, November 15, 2024
- ↑ 'Heavy Is The Crown' (Original Score) out now! - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, November 9, 2024
- ↑ League of Legends Anthem MV Sees Linkin Park Animated Arcane-Like, September 25, 2024
- ↑ Heavy Is The Crown ft. Linkin Park (Official Music Video) | League of Legends Worlds 2024 Anthem - YouTube, September 24, 2024
- ↑ Kerrang: Linkin Park's New Single Heavy Is The Crown, September 23, 2024