Billboard Japan caught up with members of Juice=Juice for its Monthly Feature series spotlighting artists and releases currently making an impact on the scene.
Since forming in 2013, the Hello! Project idol group has seen members graduate and join over the years, and currently performs as an 11-member lineup. Their October 2025 release “More! Mi Amore” went viral across TikTok and other social platforms, with idols and influencers alike posting dance cover videos in droves. The group also delivered a one-take performance on THE FIRST TAKE channel on YouTube, drawing further attention as their popularity rapidly climbs. In this latest interview, leader Ruru Dambara and sub-leader Rei Inoue share their perspectives on where the group stands now and how they envision its future.
Starting Feb. 13, Hello! Project’s entire catalog became available on subscription-based music streaming services. For listeners discovering Juice=Juice for the first time through streaming, is there anything specific you’d want them to hear, or something particular you’d want them to notice?
Dambara: “More! Mi Amore” is obviously having a big moment right now, and I think passionate performances are kind of our thing — like using fire effects in our live shows. But we actually have a lot of songs that explore not just women’s strength, but also moments of vulnerability, more restrained emotional expressions. “Shinogono Iwazu Satto Wakarete Ageta” (roughly meaning, Said Goodbye Without Making a Scene), the double A-side on the same single as “More! Mi Amore,” is a great example. Being able to express that kind of nuance is one of our strengths. I’d really love for people to listen to those two songs together as a set.
Inoue: With the current lineup being so large, it’s fun if you can start to tell whose voice is whose. Having a big group means you get to hear all kinds of unison combinations, and even we discover things through the songs, like, “Oh, these two voices blend really well.”
You each have very distinct vocal tones.
Inoue: Also, for Juice=Juice recordings, the vocal parts aren’t assigned in advance. Everyone records their own takes and the best moments are selected from there, almost like an audition process. Because we don’t know what’s going to make the final cut, there’s a certain intensity that comes through in the recorded performances. But in live performances, if the person before you changes how she sings a line, that can influence your delivery too, so even the same song can sound completely different. That’s part of the fun.
It must feel great when a particular line gets chosen.
Dambara & Inoue: All the time!
Inoue: Like, “I really wanted to sing that part!”
Dambara: Or, “This part really suits her.” Waiting to find out the vocal assignments is always a little nerve-wracking.
“More! Mi Amore” also really gets the crowd going live, doesn’t it? Did you sense from the very first performance that it had something special?
Dambara: The debut performance was at a Hello! Project-wide concert, and the director was like, “Go all out!” “Show them what you’ve got!” So we went in full steam ahead, and then they told us we’d overdone it. [Laughs]
Inoue: [Laughs]
Dambara: They said the microphones were clipping and asked us to dial it back a little. But we were that fired up for the debut, and when you’re performing with that energy, you can feel yourself starting to smile. Around the first chorus, we could see the audience start to light up too, with these excited expressions. We could feel them getting into it and enjoying themselves.
About two weeks later, we had a show overseas (Juice=Juice Concert 2025 Crimson+Azure), and by then the audience was united in their chants. Even the local crowd got swept up in it. And then we came back to Japan, it felt like something huge had happened.
Your performance on THE FIRST TAKE really captured that live energy. What was the recording like?
Inoue: There were parts we put together for the first time on the day, so it was incredibly nerve-racking. It was a different kind of anxiety from a first performance, something I hadn’t felt in a while. In the interlude, Ichika (Arisawa) played violin while I did beatboxing, and we recorded it with almost no rehearsal. I didn’t even know what rhythm she was going to play. [Laughs] The original plan was just violin, but I’d been filming some beatboxing content for TikTok and the members and director said, “We want you to do that,” so it was added last minute. Eba’s (Kisaki Ebata) samba whistle was the same thing — as we were figuring everything out, someone said, “It’d be fun if she played it here,” and she brought it in for the first time on the actual day of filming. We had a chance to show people what Juice=Juice is right now, so the attitude was, let’s throw everything in.
Looking back, how do you analyze what made “More! Mi Amore” blow up the way it did?
Inoue: The relay dance was huge, wasn’t it?
Dambara: Definitely.
Inoue: We always film a relay dance for new releases, and after we posted this one, it was already racking up views the very next day.
Dambara: I remember it so clearly. We had shows that weekend, and we posted it Saturday night. By Sunday morning it was at, like, a million plays. We were all counting the zeros going, “Is there an extra zero? That’s a million, right?”
So you were experiencing the live momentum and the social media buzz at the same time.
Dambara: Since the release was in October, we were right in the middle of our fall tour (Juice=Juice LIVE TOUR 2025 Queen of Hearts). We had release events going on too, so we were meeting fans basically every day. We were so busy just giving everything we had to each show that it almost felt like all the buzz over “More! Mi Amore” was happening somewhere far away from us.
Inoue: But there were a few things we could point to and say, “That’s probably why it took off.” The choreography, for one. And the audience chants — it wouldn’t have gotten this big without the fans. There’s also just this feeling in the song, this “push, push, push” energy, like you’re trying to reach someone far away with your voice. So that probably played a big role.
Dambara: We practiced the dance so much.
Inoue: The choreography was unlike anything we’d done before, and we really struggled and spent a lot of time learning it. So when we see people casually nailing it on TikTok, we’re really impressed. We’re like, “That took us forever to learn…”
Dambara: After everything we went through with it! [Laughs]
“Fiesta! Fiesta!” has been a fan-favorite live staple for years, and like “More! Mi Amore,” it has that same passionate, Latin-infused energy. Disco and funk influences show up throughout your catalog too. You’re a group known for your genuine skill as performers, and it feels like this viral moment is a direct result of all that sustained effort. Does it feel that way to you?
Dambara: Absolutely. We were never chasing a viral moment and were just pursuing what we genuinely loved, what sets our hearts on fire. We’ve stayed true to what we love. So to have that recognized means a lot. We want to keep moving forward without wavering from that stance.
Inoue: The songs we sing now came out of struggle and working through things together. So this feels like an affirmation of everything we’ve put in, like we’ve been rewarded for it. I think it comes down to the fact that we’re a group where no one’s mentality is, “Let’s work hard because we went viral.” It’s more that we’ve always been working hard, and now we’re expanding what we can do from that foundation. I think that mindset is something we all share.
As leader and sub-leader, how do you see the group right now?
Dambara: I think we have a lot of members who are hungry for quality. If someone has a question in rehearsal, someone else will jump in to help. I try not to push everyone toward the same expression, so I’ll say things like, “This is how I do it, but here’s another way,” and give them a few options to consider. That process makes me think more deeply as well. Our rehearsals are a really good environment.
Inoue: Yeah. They’re fun.
Dambara: I also make a point of praising people. If someone does something well, I’ll go tell them directly. Sometimes younger members say that to me too. It’s something we all do naturally, and I think that creates a really healthy dynamic.
And how about you as sub-leader?
Inoue: Honestly, I feel like I don’t do anything. [Laughs]
Dambara: You do so much!
Inoue: I don’t! People talk about the “Rei-Ruru leader generation,” but I’m really not doing anything. That said, when I’m working outside the group and someone tells me they love Juice=Juice, I feel this surge of confidence and I just want to say, “Right? I get it. I love Juice=Juice too.” That means a lot to me. I’m proud of this group.
It really feels like Juice=Juice is in a wonderful place right now. To close, can you talk about where you want to take things from here?
Dambara: Since releasing the “More! Mi Amore” single last October, things have moved so quickly, with goals and dreams coming true one after another. There were so many moments we couldn’t quite believe, and it almost feels like we’ve come this far in that emotional whirlwind. But sharing those joyful moments together never gets old. I hope we can keep doing that. We talk things through as a group, and I want us to always hold onto a clear shared goal.
If you had to name a specific goal right now, what would it be?
Inoue: We want to stand on bigger stages. And I love that we’re not satisfied — not in a bad way, but there’s no sense of “well, we made it” and stopping there. The members and even our managers genuinely love Juice=Juice. I want to cherish that environment as we keep moving forward.
—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan
