On July 17, Kep1er’s Xiaoting announced the release of her first solo single, “LEGEND,” via a cryptic Instagram post.

The post, captioned “7·30·0·0,” is of a single gray image reminiscent of film static. Her name, the news of her “1ST DIGITAL SINGLE,” and the date and time of its release “2026.07.30 00:00 AM” are listed as an overlay. Individually spaced letters along the top of the image spell out the title of the single, “LEGEND.”

This will be Xiaoting’s first solo project, following group activities as a member of Kep1er. Kep1er were formed as the resulting group of Mnet’s survival show Girls Planet 999 and debuted with First Impact in 2022. Since then, the group have released eight Korean mini albums, the latest being CRACK CODE on March 31, 2026, and amassed over two million in physical sales between their Korean releases and a handful of Japanese projects.

Though a language has not been explicitly confirmed, “LEGEND” is also expected to be her first release in Chinese. All text within the teaser has been written in Chinese and English, with an absence of Korean, which indicates that she is likely taking this solo opportunity to step away from K-pop and expand into her native C-pop.

Kep1er, largely due to Xiaoting’s presence as their only Chinese member, have a dedicated Chinese fanbase who contribute to physical album sales. However, the group primarily promotes in Korea and Japan, as is typical of K-pop artists, and therefore are not widely popular in the country. A solo Chinese release, despite Xiaoting’s pre-established fanbase, will be a new venture that may also benefit Kep1er as a whole.

More teasers, indicating the tone and sub-genre of the release, are expected to follow before the digital single is officially unveiled later this month.