K/DA Returns With FIRESTARTER After Six Years as New EP Nears

Six Million Views in 14 Hours

K/DA has returned with "FIRESTARTER," its first new music in roughly six years, bringing back i-dle members Miyeon and Soyeon alongside two new singers. Released on October 19, the music video passed six million views on the official League of Legends YouTube channel within 14 hours and attracted more than 19,000 comments.

The single leads a new EP, also titled "FIRESTARTER," scheduled for October 21. It arrives during the 2026 League of Legends World Championship in the United States, placing the virtual group's comeback alongside the biggest competitive event associated with the game.

French animation studio Fortiche, which made K/DA's debut video "POP/STARS" and the Netflix series "Arcane," returned for the production. Sean Bankhead directed the choreography, while Kill Dave and Sebastien Najand produced the track.

The release reunites several people behind K/DA's earlier success while changing half of its principal vocal cast. Miyeon again sings as Ahri and Soyeon as Akali. Canadian singer Sophie Powers takes the role of Evelynn, and British singer Mimi Webb voices Kai'Sa.

A Comeback With an EP Close Behind

"FIRESTARTER" arrived one day before its originally scheduled October 20 release, reportedly following leaks about the comeback. The October 21 EP release leaves just two days between the first single and the larger project. Pre-saves were open through official channels ahead of the EP's arrival.

K/DA's previous EP, "ALL OUT," came out in November 2020 with five tracks: "THE BADDEST," "MORE," "VILLAIN," "DRUM GO DUM" and "I'LL SHOW YOU." The new release returns the group to an EP format after a long gap without new music.

The key dates trace a project that began as a championship performance and developed into a recording act with an audience extending beyond the game:

• 2018: K/DA debuted with "POP/STARS" at the World Championship Finals in Incheon, South Korea.
• 2020: "THE BADDEST" and "MORE" preceded the five song EP "ALL OUT," released in November.
• October 19, 2026: "FIRESTARTER" and its music video were released.
• October 21, 2026: The new "FIRESTARTER" EP is scheduled to arrive.

The Characters Stay, While Some Voices Change

K/DA consists of four League of Legends champions: Ahri, Akali, Evelynn and Kai'Sa. Champions are the playable characters people choose in the game. In K/DA, those characters take on a second identity as pop performers, with real singers supplying their voices.

Miyeon and Soyeon have voiced Ahri and Akali since the group's debut. Their return provides a direct connection between "POP/STARS" and "FIRESTARTER," even as Powers and Webb bring different voices to Evelynn and Kai'Sa.

Madison Beer and Jaira Burns, who performed alongside Miyeon and Soyeon on "POP/STARS," are absent from the new single. Powers and Webb take their respective places for this release. Some fans expressed disappointment that Beer, the original voice of Evelynn, had not returned.

Seraphine, the additional character featured on "MORE" in 2020 and voiced by Lexie Liu, is also absent. "FIRESTARTER" therefore puts the focus back on K/DA's central quartet. The new EP's complete track list and any further guest appearances had not been detailed ahead of its scheduled release.

Fortiche Gives the Return a Resurrection Scene

Fortiche makes the comeback literal in the video's opening: the members emerge from coffins and return to life. The scene turns the long silence between releases into part of the performance, introducing the group through a visual image of revival.

The French studio's connection with Riot reaches back to the 2018 "POP/STARS" video and extends to "Arcane," the animated series set in the League of Legends universe. Its involvement brings continuity behind the camera as well as in the recording booth.

The animation combines computer generated figures with painted textures and drawn elements. Red and black imagery appears alongside bright pink and orange passages, reflective surfaces and sequences resembling infrared images, in which bodies seem to give off heat.

References to the game also appear in the movement, including gestures linked to Ahri's abilities. For players, those details connect the performers to familiar champions. For viewers who do not play League of Legends, the same movements function as part of the music video's choreography.

Dance and Rap Drive the Performance

Sean Bankhead, whose credits include work with Beyoncé and BLACKPINK, directed the video's choreography. The performance draws on drag ballroom culture, using sharp poses, theatrical gestures and voguing, a dance style associated with that scene.

Kai'Sa's voguing sequence, timed to Soyeon's rap, became a particular focus of fan discussion. The moment brings together two parts of the production: Soyeon's vocal performance as Akali and the animated dance performed by another member of the group.

Soyeon's return drew especially strong praise, with viewers describing her voice as inseparable from Akali's musical identity. Fans also celebrated Miyeon's performance and the pair's continued involvement alongside their work with i-dle. A comment praising the quality they brought to the project received more than 3,000 likes.

Kill Dave and Sebastien Najand's production pairs forceful rap passages with more melodic sections before the chorus. Najand has worked on K/DA's music since its beginnings, adding another connection to the group's earlier sound. The resulting comeback changes some voices and visual styling while retaining people central to the original project.

How Quickly the Audience Arrived

The video's early viewing milestones show how quickly fans gathered: more than three million views in six hours, 4.3 million in nine hours and more than six million in 14 hours. Those figures describe successive stages of the same release rather than competing totals.

The comment section offered another measure of attention. A leading comment describing K/DA as Riot's favorite project collected 43,000 likes. Another comparing the release favorably with current K-pop comebacks received more than 12,000.

Humor spread alongside praise for the animation and singing. A joke about Akali spending more time making music than working as an assassin attracted more than 21,000 likes. Another portraying Riot as a record label that makes games on the side received more than 16,000.

"POP/STARS," meanwhile, has surpassed 668 million YouTube views since 2018. That gives K/DA a substantial existing audience for its return. The debut's total reflects years of viewing, while the "FIRESTARTER" figures capture the initial rush during its first day.

A Bigger Music Push Around Worlds

Riot released new music from three of its virtual acts in less than a month around Worlds: K/DA's "FIRESTARTER," Heartsteel's "Live My Life" and True Damage's "Know My Name." The concentration of releases places K/DA's return within a wider burst of activity rather than leaving it as a single comeback.

"Know My Name" serves as the first League of Legends Worlds anthem performed by one of Riot's virtual bands. Pentakill also participated in the orchestral Worlds theme, giving another of the company's established music projects a role around the tournament.

Riot's roster spans different styles and character combinations. Its metal project Pentakill began in 2014, K/DA followed in 2018, and the hip-hop group True Damage arrived in 2019. Heartsteel later joined as a pop boy band. Akali belongs to both K/DA and True Damage, showing how one game character can appear in different musical settings.

The championship provides a shared occasion for those releases. League of Legends fans following the competition encounter familiar characters outside matches, while listeners can follow the songs and performers without needing to understand the game's rules.

From Incheon Debut to a New Recording Era

K/DA's first performance took place at the opening ceremony of the 2018 World Championship Finals in Incheon. Augmented reality placed the animated champions into the televised stage performance alongside their real singers, blending a concert with the game's fictional world.

The 2026 return draws on that same combination of character design, recorded music and performance. Fortiche reconnects the video to "POP/STARS," Miyeon and Soyeon reconnect the vocals to the debut, and the new singers give two established characters a different sound.

The immediate next step is the October 21 EP. After six years between major releases, listeners have only a short wait between the comeback single and the next collection of songs. For K/DA, the opening response has already brought millions of viewers back to a project built around four familiar champions.

Key Points

• K/DA released "FIRESTARTER" on October 19, ending roughly six years without new music.
• The video exceeded six million YouTube views and 19,000 comments within 14 hours.
• Miyeon and Soyeon return as Ahri and Akali, joined by Sophie Powers as Evelynn and Mimi Webb as Kai'Sa.
• Fortiche produced the animation, Sean Bankhead directed the choreography, and Kill Dave and Sebastien Najand produced the song.
• The "FIRESTARTER" EP is scheduled for October 21, during the 2026 World Championship period in the United States.