Da-iCE

Overview

Da-iCE (ダイス, pronounced "dice") is a Japanese five-member dance and vocal group signed to Avex Trax and managed by Avex Management. The members are Yudai Ohno, Toru Iwaoka, Taiki Kudo, Sota Hanamura and Hayate Wada. The group is known for its twin vocals spanning four octaves. In December 2021 they won the Grand Prix at the 63rd Japan Record Awards with "CITRUS", and on 31 December 2024 they made their first appearance on the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen with "I wonder".

The Name

"Da-iCE" blends "dance" with "dice". Five sides of a die represent the members and the sixth represents the fans, who are known as "Rokumen" (six sides). The lowercase "a-i" is intentional, since "ai" means love in Japanese, reflecting the wish to be artists who perform with love.

Career

Formation and indie years (2011–2013)

The group was formed on 17 January 2011 when the five members were brought together by their manager. Originally named BLACK OUT, they changed the name after the Great East Japan Earthquake because "blackout" means a power outage. They played their first live show at Shibuya VUENOS on 11 April; at the time they had only two songs, "New day" and "To the last man". From May to September 2012 they opened for labelmates AAA on the "AAA Tour 2012 -777- Triple Seven", greatly expanding their exposure; their Twitter followers grew from about 2,000 to over 10,000. Their self-titled indie mini-album, released on 12 December 2012, reached No. 15 on the Oricon daily chart and No. 1 on the Recochoku ringtone daily chart. They launched their first tour, "PHASE 0", in January 2013. Their first indie single, "I'll Be Back" (5 June 2013), reached No. 14 on the Oricon weekly chart and No. 1 on Recochoku, giving them an unusual two consecutive Recochoku No. 1s for an indie act. In July they announced a 2014 major debut, and a fan vote, the "national debut-song vote", chose the debut single. At the end of 2013 they moved to Universal Sigma.

Major debut and rise (2014–2019)

Da-iCE debuted on 15 January 2014 with "Shout It Out", the fan-chosen song, which peaked at No. 4 on the Oricon weekly chart. They founded their official fan club "a-i" on 2 April, and released their first major album, Fight Back, on 15 October, topping the Oricon daily chart, together with a tour DVD. In March 2015 they received the Best 5 New Artist award at the 29th Japan Gold Disc Awards. Their second album, Every Season, was announced in November 2015 and released on 6 January 2016; it topped the Oricon daily ranking a day before release and sold over 30,000 copies. It includes the four 2015 singles and a collaboration with SKY-HI of AAA. In 2016 they announced their first hall tour, released the single "Watch Out" and a live DVD, and held their first Nippon Budokan show, "Da-iCE PHASE 5 FINAL in Nippon Budokan", on 17 January 2017. On 6 June 2019 they released their first best-of album, Da-iCE BEST, alongside the live release "Da-iCE 5th Anniversary Tour -BET-". Their 27th single, "BACK TO BACK" (18 December 2019), gave them their first No. 1 on the Oricon weekly chart.

Move to Avex Trax and "CITRUS" (2020–2022)

On 27 June 2020 the group announced its move from Universal Sigma to Avex Trax, along with six consecutive monthly releases under the concept "entertainment felt through the five senses". "CITRUS", the theme song of the drama Gokushufudo, was released digitally in October 2020 and as a 10,000-copy limited CD in November. It passed 100 million streams in September 2021 and won the Grand Prix at the 63rd Japan Record Awards on 30 December 2021. They also released "liveDevil", the Kamen Rider Revice opening theme featuring Subaru Kimura. In February 2022 they played the fictional boy band 4*Town in the Japanese dub of Pixar's Turning Red and performed the ending song "Donna Kimi mo" (released 25 February). On 22 August 2022 they released the digital single "Ima". Its title track "Starmine" won the MTV Breakthrough Song award at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2022 in November, received the Excellent Work Award at the 64th Japan Record Awards, and reached 500 million plays on TikTok. That year they also appeared in the TV series "Da-iCE music Lab" and "MTV Unplugged: Da-iCE" (25 August, Pia Arena MM, Yokohama).

Recent activity (2023–)

In 2023 they released "Starmine - From THE FIRST TAKE" (July) and "Naimono Nedari" (October). "I wonder", the theme of the drama Kururi, was released on 17 April 2024 and passed 300 million TikTok plays within about a month; it earned an Excellent Work Award at the 66th Japan Record Awards. The album MUSi-aM followed in October 2024, and on 31 December they performed "I wonder" on the 75th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen for the first time. In 2025 they released "FUNKEYS" (January), "Black and White" (April), "Sanctuary" (May), "Nonfictions" (July), "Grounds", a collaboration with GENERATIONS (8 September), "Tasty Beating Sound" (September) and "Monster" (October). They were featured on the documentary program Jonetsu Tairiku on 12 October, and on 21 November Taiki Kudo and Sota Hanamura won the Composition Award at the 67th Japan Record Awards for "Nonfictions". The album TERMiNaL arrived on 14 January 2026. On 26 April 2026 the group announced its first solo dome concerts, "DOME PHASE": Tokyo Dome on 4 February 2027 and Kyocera Dome on 13 and 14 February 2027.

Musical Style

Da-iCE combines dance performance with the four-octave twin vocals of Yudai Ohno and Sota Hanamura in a J-POP style. Kudo and Hanamura also compose, and the group has performed many theme songs for dramas, anime and tokusatsu series. They have collaborated with a range of artists including CHEMISTRY, AAA, TRF and GENERATIONS.