Sony Music Labels has announced the formation of kiOra, a new girl group developed through the TORA PROJECT, a global artist development initiative designed to cultivate world-class talent. The group made its debut performance on March 28 at “HEAD IN THE CLOUDS in TOKYO 2026,” the Japan edition of 88rising’s flagship international music festival, held at Makuhari Messe.
kiOra is composed of four members: OTO, KYLA, RUKA, and YU. Their debut performance marks the first time the group appeared before a live audience. kiOra is scheduled to officially debut later in 2026 under the concept of “Japanese Heritage,” signaling the next step in the global expansion of Japanese music talent.
Check out their first video
Hello, we are kiOra.
OTO,KYLA,RUKA,YU#HITC #HITCinTOKYO #kiOra pic.twitter.com/P1oR7t83FO
— kiOra (@kiOra_offcl) March 28, 2026
The members shared their thoughts after the debut performance:
OTO:
It felt surreal to stand on the HITC stage. I had dreamed about it since I saw the Festival in LA last year. Thank you for watching our first performance as kiOra and I really hope we get to see you all again!
KYLA:
Thank you so much to everyone who came today! I was super nervous performing as kiOra for the first time, but your applause kept me going. We’re going to keep doing our best, can’t wait to see you all again!
RUKA:
I’m so happy we got to have our first kiOra performance in front of so many people today. Thank you so much! See you again soon!!
YU:
Thank you for watching our performance today. This is just the start for us, so I hope you’ll keep following our journey. Looking forward to the day we can perform for everyone again!
For more information, follow kiOra on all Social Media: https://kiora.lnk.to/profile
