Just the other day my partner and I were sitting in the car listening to Ticking Away, the 2023 VCT Champions anthem. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite Valorant tracks, and perhaps one of my favorite Riot tracks hands down. Since then, I haven’t found a Valorant song that I’ve truly loved. I need to be in the mood for Toxic, and the heavy rap focus of recent years isn’t really my vibe. VCT Champions Shanghai, however, is bringing the metal back to Alpha and Omega Earth, and I can actively say I squealed a little.
Entitled ‘If The Sun Burns Out Tonight’ and produced by Grabbitz (of Ticking Away, Fire Again, and Die For You fame), the track features Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes and Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante (not to be mistaken for Poppy). My 13-year-old self is screaming, as is my 29-year-old self, but don’t tell anyone else that.
This is Sykes’ first foray into the world of Riot music, while LaPlante featured on Tie That Bind, the release anthem for fighting game, 2XKO. “Oli, Courtney, and I came together from different corners of the globe, and landed on a track that sits effortlessly between my electronic world and the heavy landscapes of Bring Me The Horizon and Spiritbox,” says Grabbitz. “The three of us just clicked – and the result is, what I believe, to be the best Valorant anthem to date.”
Putting my childhood nostalgia aside, the thing I’m most excited about is a return to the grit of heavy metal. Both Valorant and League of Legends’ recent VCT and Worlds anthems haven’t quite hit for me. I really struggled with G.E.M’s Sacrifice last year, and while Linkin Park’s return is a moment in time I’ll never forget, Heavy is the Crown didn’t gel with me as much as I wanted it to. Similarly, Superpower’s heavy rap feel doesn’t quite appeal to my tastes, but that’s personal preference.
What’s made older Valorant anthems so good is the balance between heavy electronics and strong vocals, which it sounds like we’ll be getting more of with If The Sun Burns Out Tonight. That sense of power – that ‘hell yes’ feeling – is what Riot does so well, and what’s made its music so special. Of all the people in the world, I’m pretty sure Oli Sykes, Grabbitz, and Courtney LaPlante can accomplish that.
Valorant Champions Shanghai runs from Thursday, September 24 through to Sunday, October 18. Fan favorites Paper Rex and EDward Gaming have already qualified, so we know it’ll be an absolute banger.
