Before HUNTR/X of K-Pop Demon Hunters fame, there was K/DA.
League of Legends’ first foray into the world of K-pop and music took over the airwaves and gaming community for the first time back in 2018 with its song “POP/STARS,” featuring characters from the game voiced by real-life musicians with legitimate songs as its own virtual K-pop group many years before Netflix’s trio become a phenomenon.
And now in 2026, the four member group is back once again with the same awesome and upbeat sound, but some fresh new voices on the tracks, including 22-year-old hyperpop singer Sophie Powers as Evelynn. She’s set to perform with Soyeon and Miyeon of i-dle, and fellow newcomer Mimi Webb at League’s Worlds tournament Grand Finals next month in Brooklyn, New York.
I spoke with Sophie on a video call recently and we chatted about the K/DA’s four track EP comeback including the viral “Firestarter” song that just debuted at the top of Spotify’s US and global charts, the upcoming live performance at Worlds, becoming Evelynn after other star singers like Madison Beer and Kim Petras portrayed her, and her own K-pop fandoms and background.
DESTRUCTOID: So, how’s this last week been for you? Not busy at all, huh?
SOPHIE POWERS: Really crazy. I am overwhelmed for sure, but definitely thankful. I’m really happy people are liking the songs. Even outside of Firestarter, like the B-sides, Watch Me, Girls, and Never Going Back. I’m only on Watch Me and Girls, but seeing the reception of those, it’s kind of like, you never know. And I got my nails done, K/DA themed, so that’s how good things are going.
(you can see her awesome nails below, she was very excited to show them off)
How long have you known about this project? How did it all come about? Did you audition or was there an offer?
So, actually last year, it’s funny, I’m such a fan of (Netflix series) Arcane, which is obviously a part of the League of Legends and Riot Games franchise. It’s such a massive show, I’ve cosplayed Jinx a few times. And they had an Arcane Grammys event. And my friend Ryan, Royal & the Serpent, was performing. And my manager was there as well, so I went with my friend. And I met someone, I think I met the head of music at Riot. And we started talking, and I was telling him about how viral my American Idol thing went in Asia. And my collaboration with this girl group there named ILLIT. And obviously Asia is a really big part of League of Legends, that’s one of their biggest markets.
So, he was like, “we should get you to do something for Riot.” So, I wrote a bunch of songs, and they took none of them. But instead they were like, “we actually think that you would fit K/DA.” And I was like, “me!?” And they were like, “yeah, we’ve heard your voice, but we’re still going to have you audition,” right? And then I had to sing the songs. There were 15 different versions of each song, because there would be lyric tweaks, or songs that they liked and then they didn’t end up using. So, overall, it was a long process, but that’s kind of how it came to be.
What was it like watching the leaks begin flying around? (The song was actually released earlier than scheduled because of it)
I just remember seeing one leak posted, I think it was by some prediction market, Polymarket or something. And they said, ‘just announced Megan Thee Stallion rumored to be the next Evelynn.’ And I was like, ‘damn, I’m so cooked. Megan Thee Stallion. The people are going to be so disappointed when they realize.’ But thankfully, it was well received. And I’m superstitious. So I don’t believe anything is actually happening until I’ve signed the contract. Even if I’ve done the songs, even if I’ve done the interviews, filmed the content, etc. I’m like, ‘I haven’t signed that piece of paper, so this could be pulled under the rugs.’ It’s happened so many times before, I’m sure you know, entertainment industry. But it ended up happening.
‘Firestarter’ is my first introduction to you, and this is likely to be the case for many mainstream fans. How would you describe yourself as a singer, songwriter, artist? What’s your elevator pitch to people discovering you for the first time?
My elevator pitch for me as an artist is “self-expression at its fullest.” My only goal is to encourage others to express themselves a little bit more, which is why I almost overexpress myself. Because if I can be up here, maybe that encourages someone else to just come up here a little bit, right? So, that’s kind of my goal with art. And I think, especially now, human art is more important than ever. Creativity is more important than ever. Mental health is more important than ever. That’s something else I’m super passionate about. And those are all topics and things that I keep in mind throughout all aspects of my art.
And I’m definitely a visual artist. Like, all my visuals, I direct almost everything. I creative direct everything. I creative direct for other artists. I write all my songs. I am so hands-on… everything you see is really me. And if you’re consuming that music, then, this sounds very parasocial, but, you know me. And I want my music to be that shoulder for you to lean on. That’s kind of, on a personal level, how I relate to my art, and how I want others to consume it with that in mind.
As a fan of K-pop yourself, what does this collab mean to you to work with artists like Miyeon and Soyeon (of K-pop girl group i-dle, K/DA’s Ahri and Akali respectfully)? You brought receipts, posting footage of you at a concert of theirs a few years ago on social media, and now you’re working and performing with them.
It feels surreal. And it proves that, obviously overnight success is not a thing, but you never know what could happen. Like, truly. And I personally believe everything happens for a reason. I think there’s a reason I went to that concert and fell in love with i-dle and sort of attracted that energy. And that sounds very ‘woo-woo,’ but I just think that it was meant to be. I’ve been posting so much.
Because I’ve dreamt of this, you know? I’m actually such a League fan. All my friends are streamers and cosplayers. I grew up reading comic books and playing League with my brothers. It’s just kind of crazy to be a part of the community. And then all of a sudden you’re thrust into really a lot of eyes within the community, but also outside of it.
K/DA’s song ‘POP/STARS’ in 2018 was my first real intro to K-pop, along with many others in the West. How did you get into the genre, and who are some of your favorites and biases?
Blackpink was definitely my introduction to K-pop, and I kind of then, from there, got super into, funny enough, K/DA. And also Itzy and Red Velvet. And then I kind of transitioned into Stray Kids. And I would say that Stray Kids is my favorite K-pop group of all time now. And something crazy that happened for me with Stray Kids was they asked me to open their show with a DJ set in Toronto. Which is, they had me play a set outside of the venue right before their show in Toronto, which doesn’t happen. That just doesn’t happen in K-pop, right? They don’t do openers. So that was crazy.
And then, yeah, I got super into i-dle. And I would say that I don’t have, honestly, I don’t have biases in girl groups. Because I can never choose. Like, they’re all so beautiful and goddesses. But in boy groups, and Stray Kids, my bias would probably be Hyunjin or Bang Chan, I would say. But, yeah. They’re great. I got super into Blackpink in, like, 2019. And I feel like then K-pop started becoming super popular, and I would say, like, the pandemic. And then from then on, it’s just grown so much.
How did you prepare to become Evelynn for this latest iteration of K/DA? Did you do anything differently to step into the role?
A lot of it was stupid little things. I made sure to have super long nails whenever I was tracking for Evelynn. And I also made sure that I was rude to at least one man for an hour before. Like, very rude. Like, actually bullying them, low-key. And then after I kind of hit both of those markers, it was easy for me to embrace my femininity, you know? Kind of just doing my makeup, doing my hair, more like the physical aspects, I would say, helped me get into the mental. And then the vocals were just super easy from there.
‘Firestarter’ I loved right off the bat, but I also really enjoy ‘Watch Me’ and some of its fun lyrics, like “Hurricane when the forecast K/DA, there’s a hundred percent chance of slay.” What’s your favorite lyric out of the songs on the EP?
Definitely the opening verse of Watch Me, if I had to choose. ‘The Louvre gonna hang it.’ Like, body so tea that the Louvre is literally gonna hang that shit. Like, that is such a bar to me. And I just got to be in my Evelynn bag right off the bat, which was super cool.
How are preparations for the K/DA performance at Worlds going? Is there anything you can say about what to expect? No spoilers, but you recently posted a video of you dancing along to the song.
I will say the choreography for the show is going to be much more than just that. That TikTok doesn’t really accurately represent the show choreography, which makes sense. Like, you’re on a stage, it’s very different than what is needed for a music video for a TikTok. But I’ve really been rehearsing the live stage performance versus on camera dancing., because you kind of have to do both, right? The show is live streamed. So that’s been something really interesting that I’ve been playing with. And I think something that’s really cool is that I can say we are going to be a part of a bigger show experience. I don’t want to get in trouble, but that’s kind of all I can say on that. I feel like people can put the pieces together, though. One thing I can say, though, is I’m not performing ‘Watch Me’ live. And everyone keeps commenting ‘can’t wait to see this live.’ And I just want to make it clear, guys, this isn’t going to be played live [at Worlds].
K-pop fans may know you already from your feature on ILLIT’s 2025 song “Jellyous,” but you also have songwriting credits for groups like IVE and NMIXX. How did you get into K-pop songwriting?
Yeah, it’s so funny. I have been writing the past, like, two years. I actually went to song camps in Korea. I had a manager that was connected in K-pop. And, you know, it was kind of from there, once I got any sort of notoriety of my own artist project, I noticed they were more receptive to the songs I’d already written. And the songs didn’t change. It was just more of a, ‘oh, Sophie’s kind of known here, does she want to just feature on a song rather than just write for our group’ kind of thing?
And I have a lot of songs on hold right now and other collabs that I don’t want to get too much into. But, yeah, it’s been super amazing because I’, a K-pop consumer first before I was a K-pop writer. I’ve been a songwriter forever. But, yeah, that ILLIT collab was really fun. I will say that I think that a lot of the K-pop fans will be surprised at some of the other collabs that I have in store for my EP, so I’m super excited about that.
Do you you have any other dream collabs, K-pop or otherwise?
Dream collab right now, probably either Horse Girl, I don’t know if you know Horse Girl, I think she’s so cool. Yeah, either Horse Girl or Yves, who is from the K-pop space, which is so interesting because her team reached out to me asking me to do a feature on one of her songs so long ago. And it never lines up because I had the ILLIT collab actually release around that time. But I would say Yves, and I also love Bibi. I saw her show, we’re friends. I love her so much. But, yeah, and then Stray Kids. I’m such a Stray Kids lover. But that’s obvious. That would be insane.
Evelynn has been portrayed by multiple artists in the past, including Madison Beer, Kim Petras, Bea Miller, even voice actor Mara Junot in-game. How has it been stepping into that role after the others? Did you feel pressure sort of filling in those shoes?
I mean, I wanted to create new shoes. I don’t want to fill anyone’s shoes. And I wanted people to be open to the idea, obviously, and that in itself is pressure of, kind of winning people over, allowing the fans or consumers to see your vision of the character versus what they may have seen in the past. And I feel like that was truly my struggle. But I’m proud of myself. And I hope that I did right, you know, by Evelynn and by the other amazing singers who portrayed her in the past.
Gamers, like K-pop fans, can be notoriously loud and opinionated, and sometimes mean. How has the reception to your inclusion in this K/DA iteration been?
Well, at first, I was really letting the hate get to me because I’ve experienced a lot of hate before. I’ve gone viral on social media. Being an artist, not everyone’s going to love you. And you have to understand that. But obviously, you still want people to love your art or, you know, what you poured your heart and soul into. So, seeing some of that hate was obviously disheartening. But I’ve also received so much love. And I just feel like this sounds so cheesy, but love truly does always win. And once you just don’t look at the hate and you only look at the positives, I mean I haven’t really seen a lot of hate since I just started interacting with the love. I don’t know if my algorithm changed.
But, yeah, I’ve been super thankful and overwhelmed with it since I started opening my eyes. And I hope that, you know, any hate that I did receive or am still receiving, people are just coming at it from the place of, they are nostalgic and they see the character a different way than I do. But it’s not that they vehemently just hate me as a person. Like, that’d be unfortunate. But I feel like that’s why I’m okay with it. I understand. Obviously, those characters, like Evelynn, they knew her. They knew other singers who portrayed her before they knew me, so, it makes sense.
The interview has been edited for brevity and accuracy.
