U_Chae and Rolling Quartz’s Jayoung Team Up for the EVO 2024 Track “Let’s Roll (Intro To “The King of Fighters XV”)”

The world’s largest fighting game tournament, the Evolution Championship Series (most commonly known as EVO), rolled out their latest collection of songs—and this year, they added K-Pop to the mix. Jayoung of K-Rock band Rolling Quartz and soloist U_Chae (formerly Dajeong of PIXY) collaborated on “Let’s Roll” for the tournament. “Let’s Roll” played as a theme song to introduce THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV finals bracket. The song premiered as the first of eight intro songs on July 20, day two of the three-day event. The full version was released on July 22 as a track on RUSH: The Music Of EVO 2024.

How the Track Came to Be

“Let’s Roll” introduces K-Pop to EVO’s multi-genre music catalogue. Though originally an American tournament, EVO sees competitors and commentators from all over the world. This annual tournament started releasing songs produced and played for the event two years ago, with Believe: The Music of EVO 2022. 

According to hip-hop artist and EVO music director Zaid Tabani, the team wanted to include K-Pop for “such a long time.” They acknowledged the overlap of K-Pop fans within the fighting game community. However, getting the project off the ground felt like a “daunting” task. 

“I was like, ‘how do we do this?’ I don’t speak Korean, we have to get experts,” Tabani said in a promotional video. 

The team contacted Jay Choe and Youngbae Jo, who K-Pop fans might recognize from their ties to PIXY. Choe, a songwriter and K-Pop consultant, helped organize past American activities for both PIXY and Rolling Quartz. Jo, on the other hand, worked as an in-house producer for ALLART Entertainment, PIXY’s company.  

The Song’s Production

U_Chae and Jayoung’s previous experiences singing on powerful tracks shine through in “Let’s Roll.” “Let’s Roll” features a composition by Austin Armstrong, Youngbae Jo, and Jay Choe. Jayoung and U_Chae contribute both singing and rap verses to this track that contains elements of genres such as rock and trap. The song was mixed by mixing engineer Jorel Corpus, who is also a K-Pop fan. He posts production covers of K-Pop songs on his social media channels.   

All songs made for EVO include some nods to the franchises they represent. The song’s lyrics, also written by Jo and Choe, integrate English and Korean to form a message still true to THE KING OF FIGHTERS franchise. 

“That’s a big thing on every one of these songs as well,” said Tabani. “I don’t care if it’s in another language, it has to work as a song and have a little [THE KING OF FIGHTERS] DNA in there.” 

While I’m no expert on THE KING OF FIGHTERS, people can interpret the phrase “let’s roll” in at least two ways. To get something rolling means to start something, which fits the song’s role as an introduction for the game’s Top 6 finals. The game also utilizes rolling as a movement mechanic. Players of many fighting games often execute roles to distance themselves from their opponents. This ties in with the lyric, “Let’s roll / let’s get away.” 

For those looking to check out more of Jayoung and U_Chae’s work, you’re in luck. Rolling Quartz, where Jayoung sings as the main vocalist, released their latest EP Victory on June 19. U_Chae will make her official solo debut on July 31 with the EP Awake. The EP’s pre-release single, “One sweet day,” came out on July 17.