June 18, 2026
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As we celebrate Juneteenth, African American Resource Librarian Kim Coleman presents a timeline to better understand the road to emancipation.
Crescent City Sounds Spotlight: sora
Taiwanese-American artist sora has been creating original pop music since 2011. Music and New Orleans culture are foundational to his identity. He first started singing in elementary school, participating in musicals and choirs, and going on to study classical vocal performance at Loyola University and performing with the New Orleans Opera Chorus. Since his pop debut, sora has released two EPs, two full-length albums, and several singles, with a diverse sonic and visual range.
His 2023 album VOL. 24 was selected for the third class of artists featured on Crescent City Sounds, a free music streaming platform created by the New Orleans Public Library.
We recently connected with sora to learn more about his music, his album, how he aims to be the queer Asian representation he didn’t have growing up, and what being featured on Crescent City Sounds means to him.
Check out our Q&A below.
Q: How would you describe your sound?
I always say that I do pop music, but that’s because pop is a wide umbrella. In reality, I’ve enjoyed listening to and experimenting with a wide range of sounds, from true pop music to more pop-rock vibes, a little R&B here, a little country-folk here, and even the very mainstream Asian ballad sound. I really just want to do it all.
Q:Where does your inspiration come from?
I grew up listening to Japanese pop, not for any real reason aside for just falling into it as a major interest. Naturally, more recently my tastes have leaned more into K-Pop, though I do still love my J-Pop every now and then, and a lot of what I hear in K-Pop shapes what I like to put out in terms of my own music.
When it comes to my own songwriting, most of the times I draw from my own experiences, as one does, but sometimes I hear a song in my head that genuinely is just something I want to have in my repertoire and I just say “yeah, I want to write something that sounds like this.”
Q: How long have you been making music?
I’ve always loved music. I’ve been singing since the 1st grade. I think I wrote my first ever song in 10th grade? Though that’s definitely lost to the sands of time now haha. The first complete song I ever wrote under the sora moniker was on November 1st, 2011, so I attribute that as my debut date, even though the song itself released in April the next year.
Q: Where does the name sora come from and how long have you been performing with it?
Unveiling a little lore from my past, but when I was creating my first ever email waaay back when, I was really into this new game called Kingdom Hearts. I hadn’t gotten a chance to play it at the time yet, I genuinely only connected with it because of the theme song being sung by Utada Hikaru, but once I got to know the protagonist too I felt a strong kinship with him, so my first main username involved his name. And at the time, I was frequenting forums to discuss my love for J-Pop with other likeminded fans, and when my online friends called me sora instead of the online name I had given myself (you know, so the strangers didn’t try to take me away), it just stuck, and it feels like it’s an inherent persona that’s been with me for quite some time now.
VOL.24 originally started off as a single-a-month release project. At the time, I was getting sick of not having new music out, which is really hard to keep up with especially as a self-managing indie artist, and some of my other friends in the industry kept telling me that I just needed to get stuff out there vs. fighting my perfectionism. I worked on most of the early singles in 2021, while visiting my grandma in Nantou, Taiwan, literally wailing into my mic which was set up in front of a closet as a makeshift recording booth. As the project came along, I’d record in my bedroom here and work with my producers, all of whom I made friends with via a K-Pop production Discord server.
Q: What do you hope people feel when they listen to it?
The name VOL.24 does not notate the album as the 24th volume in my discography (it’s actually only my second full album) but rather when I drive I usually blast my music on volume 24 in my car. So the entire concept of the VOL.24 project turned album is that it’s a collection of songs that I really believe in and put a lot of heart into, hoping that you will listen to it as well on volume 24.
Q: Any favorite tracks you want to highlight?
Ugh, making me choose my favorites from my children, how dare you!! Well, if I had to, I’d definitely say “Dance Single,” being the first release, is a really fun song and a fan favorite, as my friends love to tell me. “WORK IT” is also perfect for the Pride season, and I’ve had the pleasure to perform it as an opening number for Nymphia Wind and Plastique Tiara’s recent Serpents Tour earlier this year. Finally, something quite different from the usual Western music sound is 晚安 -good night- (pronounced “Wan An”), which leans more into what the modern Asian ballad sounds like. It’s also my first ever release with all-Chinese lyrics, written by myself (with some help from my mom).
Q: How did you hear about Crescent City Sounds and what made you want to submit your album?
My friends told me about the first round of submissions, and I decided to submit my first album, PARAMOUNT, to be featured. Actually, that was partially why VOL.24 became a full album versus staying as just a collection of singles, because my first album didn’t get chosen for Crescent City Sounds (and I get it, the production value at the time was way more amateur than now, though that is still my baby that I will forever cherish), and I wanted to showcase these songs on a platform like this.
I’m a New Orleans native. I moved to Kenner from Taiwan when I was 3 and have lived here since then. So, I wanted to not only have my music included in a collection of local music, but I wanted to also showcase that New Orleans can be more than just what you stereotypically think of. I’m a queer Asian American doing pop music. It’s not the usual New Orleans vibes but it is still NOLA-grown.
Q: What was your reaction when you found out you’d been picked to be featured on the platform?
Like I said earlier, I really love the idea of having a collection of New Orleans specific artists’ music all in one place, so to be chosen to have my music amongst some great local artists is truly an honor. I’m glad to be a part of the Crescent City Sounds collective, and I hope that my music will reach a wider audience through it. Don’t forget to stream VOL.24 and let me know what your favorite songs are!
Q: What do you this service says about the Library, and why do you think a product like Crescent City Sounds is important in New Orleans?
In times like these when late-stage capitalism has taken over our lives and streaming has gotten so convoluted lately, it’s really great to have an option that’s accessible to the general public. I grew up going to my local library as a kid, and between the summer reading programs to the teen section on the second floor where I made friends with a mutual love for anime and manga, the Library really became such a personal resource for me, so it’s no surprise and yet still so cool that this is the kind of programming that’s come from it.
I grew up in Jefferson Parish, so I’m not as familiar with the New Orleans Public Library system, but I do have to shout out my childhood library on West Napoleon. Still one of my favorites to this day, though admittedly I’m overdue for a visit.
Q: Is there anything else you want to add/promote?
I’m currently (very slowly) working on sora 3! It’s been an album I’ve sat on for quite some time now, but I’m getting that itch for new music again, so I’ve been chipping away at the songwriting trying to make sure it’s ready to be released. I do still want to close out the VOL.24 era properly though, so here’s hoping those dreams will come true before we move onto the next!
Other than my own music, I’ve been doing a lot of demo songwriting for other artists, so hopefully some of those will be released in the near future.
June 16, 2026
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Born in Taiwan and raised in New Orleans, sora is a singer and pop artist aiming to be the queer Asian representation he craved in his youth.
June 5, 2026
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Homer A. Plessy Day was established on June 7, 2005, to honor the trailblazing Civil Rights activist who stood up against segregation in 1892.