The video builds on the Jinx and Ekko dance sequence from Episode 7, adding new animation and music by Stromae and Pomme from the series soundtrack that has amassed more than 1.3 billion streams since its release last November.
Between Riot Games’ League of Legends (2009) and Netflix’s animated adaptation Arcane: League of Legends (2021), characters Ekko and Jinx/Powder already had quite a loyal fan following.
But it was still a surprise, even to Riot, when the initial release of the song “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” from Arcane’s Season 2 posted the company’s biggest streaming debut ever, peaking at over 10 million streams per day, reaching the Top 3 globally on Spotify charts, and #1 on radio in France and Belgium. It is also certified Platinum in France and #1 on the U.S. World Music Chart.
“We knew, because of how big Stromae is, that the song would be impactful,” shares Riot's Global Head of Music, Maria Egan, referring to the Belgian singer, rapper, songwriter and music producer who produced the song alongside French singer, songwriter, and musician Pomme. “And we knew that it was going to work really, really well, particularly in French language territories. But we weren’t banking on it having the global spread that it had.”
The recently released music video for “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” shone a massive spotlight on the song and the Arcane characters it features. Animated and produced by Fortiche Production, the music video builds on the iconic dance sequence between two of Arcane’s main characters, Jinx/Powder and Ekko, as seen in Episode 7 of Season 2. The episode takes place in a parallel world, where Powder never became the vigilante Jinx and instead helps Ekko – who unexpectedly finds himself dropped into this world through a Hextech anomaly – experience true empathy and hope for the undercity and its citizens. During a party, Powder and Ekko dance together to the song “Ma Meilleure Ennemie.”
The music video revisits that dance sequence with additional animation meant to express the impact Ekko’s experience with Powder in the alternate timeline had on his relationship with Jinx. The video was co-produced by Alex Seaver, executive music producer for Arcane Season 2, and Luc Van Haver.
Enjoy:
“For me, what makes this scene between Ekko and Powder so special is that it's particularly touching, beautiful and poetic,” notes Fortiche Production animator Tom Gouill, who directed the music video and served as a lead animator on Arcane season 2. “The rest of the series is very complex and intense, whereas this sequence stands out for its simplicity. I've seen several fans refer to this part of the season as a ‘bubble of tranquility,’ and I agree with that.”
He adds, “In this music video, we succeeded in capturing the complexity of the relationship between Jinx and Ekko. Our aim was to go further than what was shown in the series, without betraying its narrative. We wanted to show how Ekko managed to calm Jinx down later in the season.”
The music video contains 20 seconds of new Ekko and Jinx animation and begins with Ekko and Jinx back-to-back in front of a large screen that’s flashing the French phrase “Je t'aime,” meaning “I love you” in English. As the camera rotates around Ekko and Jinx, the characters are shown in different dance poses. Stromae begins to sing, and Jinx is suddenly lying on the floor, surrounded by party confetti from the alternate timeline where she was Powder. As she rolls over, retro video footage of Ekko and Powder dancing replaces Jinx.
“One of the main challenges was to combine extracts from the series with new animations in a natural way, so that the whole was coherent, beautiful and poetic,” explains Gouill. “We wanted to go further than the show, without distorting the work that had been done on it. To give it a retro feel, we showed extracts from Arcane on a cathode-ray television, which we then filmed. We rarely work with live-action images, and this little effect required more experimentation than we had anticipated to produce the desired effect.”
As the video continues, Jinx reappears in front of a screen playing dance footage from Season 2. On each of her cheeks is a green, glowing bug.
“Fans saw it quickly, but we hid references to Pomme and Stromae albums inside the clip,” shares Gouill. “At the beginning, we see Jinx with two fireflies on her cheeks, reminiscent of the cover of Pomme's A peu près. Later, Ekko is surrounded by several appearances of Jinx, in reference to Stromae's Multitude.”
Following the Multitude reference scene, Ekko lays on the confetti-covered ground next to Jinx. As footage of their dance continues to play, they look at each other, mouthing the words of the song. Their lip synching continues through the chorus while they stand back-to-back as the camera pivots around them.
“Good lip synching is actually one of the hardest things to do in animation,” says Egan. “And it was a creative risk because it breaks the fourth wall a bit. We would have never done that with another animation studio. We wouldn’t have even tried. All credit goes to Stromae and Luc’s team and the team at Fortiche. They were the driving force behind this music video, and it was their idea to make this a very French moment. You have French-speaking artists on a French language song with a French animation company. They came together with a vision, and we were happy to facilitate.”
As the first chorus ends, Jinx, still sip synching, rises from the ground and begins to float upwards, limbs dangling. Ekko watches Jinx as the confetti rises with her. As the retro footage woven into the moment shows Powder pulled into Ekko’s chest, Jinx’s body begins to turn upright as she floats backward and into Ekko’s arms, who is waiting for her at the top of her ascent.
“I saw a comment this morning from an Arcane fan who said that, if you reverse the sequence, Ekko is breaking Jinx’s fall,” shared Egan.
Gouill notes, “I'm not sure about the need to watch the clip in reverse, but we did construct the video in reference to Jinx's downward spiral. It's a dreamlike vision of her literal fall that shows how the special relationship between these two characters can ultimately save Jinx. The video shows Jinx literally at the bottom of the abyss, until Ekko arrives.”
At the end of Season 2, Jinx experiences the loss of another family member and, too overwhelmed by the impact, resolves to end her own life. Ekko arrives from the alternate timeline just in time to save her and convince Jinx there is more fight left in her.
“We've made a point of ensuring that Ekko doesn't look at her with pity or sadness,” says Gouill. He's serene and comes to Jinx's aid after witnessing her suffering. As the video progresses, we become more and more entrenched in reality, as Jinx literally climbs her way back up to join Ekko before they hug.”
He adds, “The clip ends on a positive but ambiguous note: the hug between Ekko and Jinx shows the power of their feelings for each other, but is it love? Is it friendship? For us, this ambiguity accentuates the poetry of the video and the depth of the relationship between these two characters.”
The Fortiche director and animator notes that this music video became “a huge source of pride” for him as well as the rest of the animators who worked on it; they “took pleasure in working in secret” on songs by famous singers the public would only discover months later.
Egan has seen Arcane elevate the careers of the many musicians and singers who worked on Season 1 and 2, and when “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, it was a first for both Stromae and Pomme.
“‘Ma Meilleure Ennemie’ eclipsed even the Arcane theme song ‘Enemy,’ and kind of eclipsed anything else we released from the show,” says Egan. “And it’s still on its journey. It's definitely not over. I think it will become an iconic pop song beyond the Arcane fandom. Music is magic, and you never know where it's going to connect.”
True to Egan’s predictions, Riot Games and Virgin Music Group have just released a new version of Stromae and Pomme’s single featuring Grammy-winning superstars Coldplay. The track is available here.
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
