Kiana Kong refuses to remain bound to a singular role in music and the arts. She aims to define her life by her own terms: singer-songwriter, composer for both film and video games, indie game studio co-founder, and music educator.
As an indie pop artist, Kiana’s music is a celebration of her Asian-American heritage; she braids ribbons of traditional East Asian instrumentation with Western genres of music, marrying both coasts into a sound uniquely hers. She has worked on a multitude of collaborative projects with innovative music creators — she features on Joel Hoo’s albums Fireflies and Voices as a vocalist and contributing lyricist, and her original song, “it was a dream,” was produced by Eyan Kills and mastered by Liam Fisk. In 2025, Kiana Kong worked as librettist for Joel Hoo’s operetta, Efflorescence.
In addition to her original music, Kiana Kong has composed music and provided lyrics and vocals for films such as Wuxing Warriors: An Asian American Epic and Wind Walker, both of which are directed by Daniel Zhang. Her lyricism transcends language barriers, as seen in the musical short Taoyao, also directed by Daniel Zhang.
Kiana Kong is also co-founder and lead music composer for Cetus Studios, an independent game studio developing cozy games with personality. Cetus Studios is responsible for developing Ghoulong Tea and My Collaborators Can’t Be This Annoying?!: A Freaking Bad Time Marooned On An Island, the former of which was showcased at MDEV 2025, hosted by the Wisconsin Games Alliance.
While studying during university, Kiana played her original music at the Illini Union’s Courtyard Cafe, and her band, disc.over, performed for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Homecoming Celebration. Kiana’s first song, Stem Cell, was published in the Waubonsee Community College’s Horizon Magazine in 2024.
Kiana received the Midwest Film Festival Award for Best Original Music in 2025, marking a milestone achievement for her work in the music industry.
Kiana graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Music Technology and a minor in Game Studies & Design. She studied under the tutelage of Dr. Eli Fieldsteel.
