Heavy Is The Crown

"Heavy Is The Crown"
Single by Linkin Park
from the album From Zero
Released:	September 24, 2024
Format:	Digital
Live debut:	September 22, 2024
Writer:	Linkin Park
Label:	Warner Records
Linkin Park singles chronology The Emptiness Machine (2024) Heavy Is The Crown (2024) Over Each Other (2024)
From Zero tracklist
From Zero (Intro) The Emptiness Machine Cut The Bridge Heavy Is The Crown Over Each Other Casualty Overflow Two Faced Stained IGYEIH Good Things Go

'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. 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. Mike Shinoda, in turn, responded with a flame emoji under a trailer of the new season of League of Legends' Netflix series Arcane. 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.

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). 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. 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.

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." '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.

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." 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. 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.

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) [from the series Arcane League Of Legends]	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 show

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!"

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

Album Version

It's pourin' in, it laid on the floor again
One knock at the door and then
We both know how the story ends, you can't win
Get your white flags out when the war begins
Aimin' so high but swingin' so low
Tryna catch fire, but feelin' so cold
Hold it inside and hope they won't show
Sayin' it's not, but inside I know

Today is gonna be the day you notice
'Cause I'm tired of explainin' what the joke is

This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin' down
Tryna hold it in but it keeps bleedin' 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 turnin' back this path once it's begun
You're already on that list
Say you don't want what you can't resist
Waving that sword when the pen won't miss
Watchin' it all fallin' apart like this

This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin' down
Tryna hold it in but it keeps bleedin' 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 explainin' 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 rainin' down
Tryna 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
Heavy is the
Heavy is the crown