The massive success of Arcane's new version of "Ma meilleure ennemie" is a celebration of music, according to Riot's Head of Music. The video game company behind League of Legends, Riot has always had a good connection with the world of music. Over the years, various huge performers have taken part in the company's in-house initiatives. This has even extended to unique musical groups like the pop group K/DA, with their song "Pop/Stars" making them one of the first K-pop girl groups to ever be certified platinum.

That pedigree, coupled with the massive success of Arcane season 2's soundtrack, the staggering success of "Ma meillerure ennemie," and looked ahead to future regions of Runeterra.

Arcane Season 2 And Why "Ma meilleure ennemie" Was The Right Song To Remix

"When We Screened It For Fans, You Could Tell The Moment Was Important"

Even months after Arcane season 2, songs like "Ma meillerure ennemie" have proven to be enduring hits. The remix of the song with new additions from Coldplay has gone viral, with millions of streams across several platforms in a matter of weeks. Reflecting on the reach of the song, Egan noted it came down to an alchemy of three things. "First, it's the story. The Jinx, Powder, Ekko arc was so unexpected and so singular, which is otherwise sort of a trauma-fest. You get this moment of hope and love and sweetness and light. It sticks out."

"When we screened it for fans, you could tell the moment was important. It's such an important culmination of that story arc." This was only enhanced by the presence of Belgian artist Stromae and French singer Pomme. "You basically have a great 80s French disco song in the middle of this otherwise quite intense soundtrack landscape. It sticks out from that. Then, on top of that, you have Stromae, who had been away for a long time. We had the privilege of putting out the song while he was on hiatus. I think that sort of catapulted it."

The re-release "Ma meillerure ennemie" features a new verse by Coldplay. Egan explained that this collaboration came together because of the friendship between Martin and Stromae. "They had actually talked about doing something for Arcane, but they were in the middle of making an album, so the timing wasn't right. Stromae and Chris are good friends. They had worked together before... we knew we were thinking about doing a new version [of the song]. When you put all those things together, you get these really magical moments that you can try to engineer, but you can't really predict."

"'Ma meillerure ennemie' is already sort of perfect. How do you add something to that? We worked really closely with Stromae [and his team], and we asked them 'Who do you love? Who are the artists that you would organically want to work with anyway?' Chris was at the top of that list." The feeling was apparently mutual, with Martin happily ing the new version of the track. Egan clearly loves the entire soundtrack to the second season, offering similar compliments to other artists like King Princess and 21 Pilots.

"We just got this magic from the art that Fortiche brings and the storytelling League allows, what Christian and the whole team bring — the level of artistry in Arcane inspires the best out of great artists. When you put great songwriters and great storytellers in a room together, you get the best. They inspired each other, you get this kind of vibration... You want them at their best. You get to be proud to be part of something like that. It's sort of like being in the music Olympics," Egan itted with a laugh.

Looking Beyond Arcane To The Rest Of Runeterra

"We're Always In Deep Exploration"

As Riot looks to different regions beyond the twin cities of Piltover and Zaun, Egan embraces the challenge of taking on different regions of Runeterra from a musical perspective. "We just did a Noxus season for League of Legends that was very music-heavy. We released an album inspired by Noxus, there was "Bite Marks" as the season starts. We're constantly thinking about it. We consider faction guides for music, and there are the identities that have been established over time.

"League of Legends is this interesting patchwork quilt. People come in and, over time, over fifteen years of the game, different people leave their imprints. Different stories get told. Through these, we implicitly learn about the world... when you're stewarding this IP that is constantly evolving and growing, we're always in deep exploration." Looking at her favorite places ot build out the music of League of Legends and Arcane, Egan noted that Noxus was one of her favorites.

What would Noxus sound like? What is the instrumentation of that place?

"I love making pop songs. Riot has had a ton of success at leveraging pop music. But it's the world-building pieces [that get me excited]. What would Noxus sound like? What is the instrumentation of that place? What does it start to sound like? How do you construct it for the composers who are coming in? How do we give them the boundaries of these places? I love that." Egan teased that their attention is now shifting to the more mystical landscape of Ionia, as teased in the recent "A Dark Gambit" cinematic.

Bringing The Global Appeal Of League Of Legends To Arcane

"There Are No Rules, It's Just Pure Emotional Transportation"

One of the big elements of League of Legends is the global reach of the title. The global gaming phenomenon has been a mainstay on the e-sports stage for over a decade. That international appeal was very much on Egan's mind during the development of Arcane's second season soundtrack. "It was certainly very intentional to have non-English language on the soundtrack for that reason." Egan, who ed Riot after the release of season 1, its that the success of the initial batch of episodes simplified their process of approaching artists.

"I didn't work on season 1, I think it was a little bit harder. Because Season 1 was so great... art begets art. If you make amazing things, great artists want to be a part of it." According to Egan, it was Fortiche's idea to have a French song at the core of the moment between Ekko and Powder. "They had a vision for what this would feel like. It's very French, a love story. So then we went on the hunt for a French-speaking artist."

This same sentiment extended to the rest of the soundtrack, which boasts songs from Chinese artists like Eason Chan, South Korean groups like Stray Kids, and South American performers like Jarina De Marco. "Regions have a lot of pride in their local pop culture," Egan noted. "They don't all speak English, but they still receive a lot of content in English. It's good to celebrate their music."

This isn't to say Arcane stopped featuring English-language music, but rather speaks to the universal power of song to transcend language barriers. "They get a lot of English-language songs, and they love them," Egan explained. "They love it, even if they don't understand it. It's the same with the French, the Spanish, the Chinese, the Korean — that's the power of music. It's that language that everybody can connect through. That's what I love about music. There are no rules, it's just pure emotional transportation. If you do that bit right, it just travels."

All episodes of Arcane season 2 are available to stream on Netflix.