NewJeans to perform at the League of Legends World Championship finals

Girl group NewJeans will be performing at the 2023 League of Legends (LOL) World Championship final games on Nov. 19, its agency ADOR said Saturday. Heartsteel, a virtual pop band, will also be giving a performance on the same day.

Girl group NewJeans [ADOR]

Girl group NewJeans will be performing at the 2023 League of Legends (LOL) World Championship final games on Nov. 19, its agency ADOR said Saturday.

The five-member girl group will perform "Gods," the anthem for the 2023 LOL Championship games released on Oct. 4, for the first time in real life. "Gods" is the 10th theme track of the LOL Championships and became the most-streamed track among the 10 theme songs on global streaming platform Spotify.

Other artists that took part in the LOL anthems include pop bands Imagine Dragons and Lil Nas X. K-pop stars Soyeon and Miyeon of girl group (G)I-DLE participated in as members of a virtual girl group named K/DA in 2018, but NewJeans is the first K-pop girl group to take part as a whole group.

Heartsteel, a virtual pop band created by LOL developer Riot Games, will also be giving a performance on the same day. Heartsteel dropped its first single "Paranoia" on Oct. 24.

An image of virtual pop band Heartsteel created by Riot Games [RIOT GAMES]

Heartsteel's six members are reimagined versions of six LoL champions — Ezreal, Kayn, Aphelios, Yone, K’Sante and Sett. Baekhyun, a member of K-pop boy band EXO, lent his voice as character and singer Ezreal of Heartsteel.

The 2023 LOL World Championship finals will be held on Nov. 19 at the Gocheok Sky Dome stadium in western Seoul at 5 p.m. The opening ceremony will be the largest ever, according to Riot Games.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]