The internet never fails to deliver amazing viral content. This time, a sweet and catchy song from Japan went viral not just at home but worldwide. If you love ice cream, you’ll adore AiScReam’s hit “Ai Scream!”—a tune that’s as catchy, fun, and delightful as Japanese ice cream itself.
The song “Ai Scream!” was released and performed by the J-Pop trio AiScReam. Specifically, AiScReam is a three-piece musical act composed of voice actresses from the mega-popular Love Live! cross-media series. The voice actresses are Ruby Kurosawa (voiced by Ai Furihata) from Aqours, Ayumu Uehara (voiced by Aguri Onishi from Nijigasaki High School Idol Club), and Shiki Wakan (voiced by Wakana Okuma from Liella! Together). They formed the musical group AiScReam, which released music for the Nippon Broadcasting System radio program Love Live! Series no All Night Nippon Gold.

The group released the song “Ai Scream!” on January 22nd in 2025, and first performed it live on February 1st and 2nd at a Love Live! concert in Yokohama. On March 6th, a clip of the song was released on the official Love Live! TikTok account. It didn’t take long after that for the song to blow up across Japanese social media, as countless people began sharing it and various clips.
The song received a live-action music video on August 31st and was posted directly to YouTube. To say that the song was immensely popular is a bit of an understatement. “Ai Scream!” peaked at #1 on the Billboard Japan Heatseekers Song chart during the week of May 14th and reclaimed its #1 slot during the week of May 28th, as well. Internationally, it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Japan Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan chart. That’s a whole lotta ice cream to go around the world.
Several factors explain how the song became a viral hit so quickly. First, its simple, catchy melody is easy to remember and sing along to. Second, it’s undeniably cute—a love song that compares affection for someone special to a love of Japanese ice cream. Finally, the song’s interactive call-and-response section makes it ideal for social media, helping it spread even faster.
Essentially, about halfway through the song, the singers are asked what they love (“Shiki-chan! What do you love?”). The individual singers reply (“More than cookies and cream, I love you!”) and then the song continues. This works so well for social media, especially on short-form video services like TikTok, because it allows users to lip-sync and seamlessly plug in their own content.
And that’s really how the song took off so well: its call and response section was not only super fun to sing along to, but it opened up the door for people around the world to stitch together their own replies as to what they love. Sharing it this way helped it reach the #1 position so quickly. That, and the fact that it is a catchy song in its own right.
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Like always, trends come and go, come and go. Silly pictures, meme formats, TikTok sounds, snippets from movies, and, as is the case here, pop songs all get the viral social media treatment every month online. There’s nothing wrong with it because, in some cases, it actually turns out to be super beneficial for musical artists who get a stint in the spotlight.
Because of this, people discover their music, buy their music and merch, and the band gets a surge in popularity. Which is awesome! In AiScReam’s case, they were already guaranteed a fair amount of success because they were based on Love Live!, but it is really cool to see them get the super special treatment, too. This song has inspired a lot more people to support their awesome music!

Using something as simple yet universally loved as ice cream was a cute premise for a song. The music video, while also incredibly simple, showcases everything that’s great about the song: it’s colorful, fun, and puts the girls (and ice cream) front and center.
And honestly, more music should celebrate the fun things in life. If ice cream makes you happy and you want to use it to tell someone how much you love them, well, then ice cream it up! Have you listened to the song yet? Also, what’s your favorite flavor of Japanese ice cream? Please let us know! We’d love to hear from you!
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