Fornite has become nearly ubiquitous in the eight years since its launch, and is extending its growing domination of pop culture with yet another music collaboration. Tomorrow, Fortnite will debut its first-ever official anthem, crafted by one of the game’s biggest fans, d4vd. d4vd shared a snippet of the song, along with illustrated key art, on Instagram, writing: “i started making music for my Fortnite montages 3 years ago man this is crazzzzyyyyyy.”
d4vd is just one of a growing contingent of music’s hottest rising stars to dedicate a ton of their off time to Epic Games’ addictive multiplayer shooter. For instance, Doja Cat has poured hours into the game and even helped affect in-game weapon balancing after an online outburst about an overpowered item. Even Drake jumped on the bandwagon early, helping the game become the juggernaut it is today.
In return, Epic has helped highlight many of these stars, introducing them to a whole new fanbase via the Fortnite Festival, which has hosted a diverse roster including Bruno Mars, Sabrina Carpenter, and soon, Gorillaz. Artists like Carpenter and Ice Spice have been turned into in-game characters, and Don Toliver even got his own map and mini-game within its rapidly growing metaverse.
So, d4vd’s the latest in a long line of fans of the game to eventually get to do something within it, but it’s fitting that as such a hardcore fan, he’s the one who gets to launch the next big thing in the form of the official anthem. “Locked & Loaded” drops at 5 PM PT Wednesday, September 3.
