YURiKA

Yurika Kobayashi, mononymously known by the stage name YURiKA, is a Japanese musician from Hasuda, Saitama who is signed to Toho Animation Records. From an early age, she had dreamed of becoming a musician. She started playing the piano at the age of 3, and she also listened to the music of Morning Musume and its subgroup Minimoni. While in elementary school, she heard the song "Genesis of Aquarion" by Akino in a commercial, which led her to become interested in anime music and a desire to perform songs for anime. Her desire to become an anime musician was also influenced by the popularity of the series Haruhi Suzumiya and K-On! at the time. In high school, she tried out for the Animax Anison Grand Prix and other anime-related singing competitions. In 2014, she placed 6th in a televised competition sponsored by Nippon TV and first in an anime music singing competition sponsored by NHK. In 2016, she won an audition sponsored by the media company Toho and signed a contract with label Toho Animation Records. She made her professional debut in 2017 with the release of her first single "Shiny Ray" on February 22, 2017; the title track is used as the first opening theme to the anime television series Little Witch Academia.