Ruka

Who is Ruka?

Ruka (루카) is a member of BABYMONSTER (베이비몬스터), the seven-member girl group under YG Entertainment. The agency’s official profile gives her birthday as 20 March 2002 and the group’s debut date as 1 April 2024. She is listed first in that profile’s member order.

The road to debut

‘BABYMONSTER - Introducing RUKA’, posted on YG Entertainment’s official blog on 9 February 2023, was the first of the seven members’ individual introduction films. Sports Kyunghyang, reporting on it the same day, described Ruka as being from Japan and wrote that she had told the trainee audition she had practised dance for more than ten years. Yang Hyun-suk, the executive producer, said: “Ruka was already a trainee who danced well, and her expressions are really good. I have never once pointed out a weakness in her dancing.”

In the same report Ruka said she would work harder to repay the family who had been waiting for her debut more than anyone, and that she wanted to debut as an impressive artist and show her own appeal.

The seven revealed in those films were not the seven who debuted. YG Entertainment ran the final selection as a video series called ‘Last Evaluation’ and posted the debut member announcement film on its official blog at midnight on 12 May 2023. According to The Fact, Yang Hyun-suk named the members himself and called Ruka second, and the film introduced her as a rapper carrying YG’s hip-hop identity.

Her place in the team

BABYMONSTER has no leader. Star News reported this from the round-table interview held on 1 April 2024 for the first mini album, quoting Ruka’s explanation: “We haven’t discussed a leader among ourselves yet. I don’t know how it will turn out, but when we practise rap and dance each of us has a part. I take dance. When we rehearse the group choreography I lead it, like a leader would. On vocals it is Ahyeon or Rami. That is how it works — we have no leader yet, but each of us has a role.”

The first full-length album DRIP carries ‘Woke Up In Tokyo (RUKA & ASA)’, sung by Ruka with Asa. YG Entertainment’s album notes on Bugs introduce it as the first unit track by the group’s two rappers, and describe lyrics that move freely between Japanese and English with wordplay built on onomatopoeia.

Solo stages

Ruka has taken a solo stage on both world tours. At the last of the three Seoul shows of the second world tour, ‘CHOOM’, at Jamsil Arena on 28 June 2026, she performed ‘Ratata’. SPOTV News reported that six members each took a solo stage that night, and quoted Ruka: “I prepared a solo stage this time too, after the Hello Monsters tour.” In the same report she said of the dates still ahead: “We’re going to so many countries. I really wonder what memories we’ll make.”

What to watch

Ruka appears on every record from the debut digital single ‘BATTER UP’ to the third mini album 춤 (CHOOM). ‘CLIK CLAK’, which the album notes call the first track on which every member raps, and the unit track ‘Woke Up In Tokyo’ are both on the first full-length album DRIP. The records and the official channel are gathered on the BABYMONSTER hub, and the two nights at Kyocera Dome Osaka in September 2026 close the Japanese leg of this tour.