RIYADH: Walking onto a stage to thousands of people cheering and screaming is something most of us can only dream of. But for musicians, athletes, and esports players, it is part of the job.
British singer-songwriter Tom Grennan, visiting Riyadh for the first time for Esports World Cup 2025, said he was blown away by the support of the fans cheering on their favorite players.
“I watched people playing Call of Duty today. My experience of Call of Duty is sitting on an Xbox in my bedroom — their experience is sitting in front of 2,000 people,” he said. “They’re singing like football fans. There are flags everywhere. It’s crazy. It’s beautiful, it’s wicked to see a new thing bubbling and I can already tell it’s going to be massive.”
The scale of the Esports World Cup can be overwhelming for first-time visitors, with state-of-the-art arenas, numerous activities and entertainments, and thousands of fans from all over the world buzzing with excitement.
“I’ve walked into a playground full of exciting, amazing new technology. To be honest I am gobsmacked by the scale of it,” said Grennan. “Seeing fans walking around with different teams’ shirts on, there are conversations going on between fans about who’s the star player.
“I think it’s amazing to see the people playing, who love it, who probably started in their bedroom and didn’t think this was going to happen, now they’ve got thousands of other kids who aspire to be them. It’s cool.”
Esports has caught the world’s imagination partly because of the players’ authenticity and accessibility of the platform. While elite athletes now compete in packed arenas, their journeys began at home, driven by a love of the game.
Grennan experienced a similar journey, progressing from humble beginnings to the top of the charts.
“I started when I was playing pubs in front of nobody and I was doing open mic nights,” he recalled. “I was doing it because I loved it. I wasn’t thinking about a record deal, I wasn’t thinking about selling records, I was doing it because that was my release, that was how I could communicate with people.
“These players … probably didn’t think all this was possible five years ago, and now obviously it is, they must just be like ‘wow’. All the hard work, the arguments with parents, telling them ‘this is what I want to do, this is what I love to do’ — it’s all paying off for them. It’s amazing.”
Music has become a huge part of the Esports World Cup, uniting communities from around the world and providing a soundtrack to the summer as the tournaments unfold.
The Esports World Cup 2025 Song of the Year brought together artists from diverse genres to create “Til My Fingers Bleed,” a collaboration between Dino from SEVENTEEN, Duckwrth, and Telle from The Word Alive.
Grennan said he was impressed by the ambition of the artists and said the track perfectly suited the event, getting fans and players amped up and ready to compete.
“Bringing three genres in and mixing them up is very creative,” he said. “K-Pop is one of the biggest, if not the biggest genre of music, and I think that when you’re listening to the song, you feel like you’re going to war. You feel like you’re about to go into battle, and that’s the aim of the game isn’t it? You’re battling and you want to feel that pump and that hype. I’m really into it and I think bringing those genres together and that mixture is really cool and hits three different fanbases, so it’s smart.”
Many video game franchises integrate music into the playing experience, offering players immersive soundtracks. In a full circle moment, Grennan’s song “Found What I’ve Been Looking For” was included on the FIFA 18 soundtrack, a franchise he remembers playing from an early age.
When pressed to pick five of his songs he would like included on an EA Sports FC soundtrack, Grennan is reluctant to sing his own praises.
“I’d put a different range of music, I’d put some hip hop on there, some indie classics, some heavy metal to get people in the mood. I listen to so much different music,” he said.
“If I had to put five of my own songs on the soundtrack I’d take it back to 2018 with ‘Found What I’ve Been Looking For’. For the rest, I’d choose ‘Sober,’ ‘Little Bit Of Love,’ ‘Lonely Dancer’ and ‘Shadows on the Ceiling’.”
The Esports World Cup 2025 continues until Aug. 24, with upcoming tournaments including Call of Duty: Warzone, Rocket League, Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and EA Sports FC 25.
