Smile.dk are a Swedish Eurodance group with Veronica Almqvist as the only current member. The band is known for [|many songs] featured in music video games, such as Dance Dance Revolution. They have regularly appeared on Dancemania since its tenth issue. Smile.dk has been one of the most featured acts in the Dancemania series, along with the likes of Captain Jack and E-Rotic.
History
Veronica Almqvist and Nina Boquist first formed as Smile, and released their first album Smile in 1998. It received significant attention in Japan. The first single from the album, "Butterfly", was licensed by Konami and featured in the first release of Dance Dance Revolution, a popular dance video game. The second single from the album, "Boys", pays homage to Sabrina Salerno's hit "Boys ". The album was later re-released with new artwork and bonus tracks in Japan, where it was certified gold for 100,000 copies shipped to stores. After the release of Smile, Boquist left the band to start a solo career and was replaced by Malin Kernby. During this time, the band name was changed from Smile to Smile.dk, as they were being marketed in Denmark. They released two studio albums under this line-up, Future Girls in 2000 and Golden Sky in 2002. In 2005, according to their manager, Smile.dk had begun a hiatus due to both Almqvist and Kernby having become married; Kernby with a child on the way. However, he did not believe that Smile.dk would become defunct, which proved correct with their return, albeit without Kernby.
Return, line-up changes & new album
In early 2008, Smile.dk's producers Jamie Thompson & Dick Örnå announced at the BubblegumDancer.com Forums that Smile.dk would be returning in 2008 with a worldwide single, "Doki Doki", and a new album, Party Around The World. It was also announced that Kernby would be leaving the group, and Hanna Stockzell later joined. Then-new singer Stockzell performed in all of the songs on Party Around The World except for "Doki Doki" which featured only Almqvist and Kernby, despite Kernby no longer being an active member. Smile.dk performed live at San Japan, an anime convention located in San Antonio, Texas, USA, on August 9, 2008. This was the first time they have ever performed in North America. They also performed live at Sakura-Con 2009 in Seattle, Washington, USA, on April 10–12, 2009.
Line-up changes, new single & pregnancy
In April 2010, it was announced that Stockzell would be leaving Smile.dk for personal reasons and to start a solo career under her real name Hanna Stockzell. It was also announced that Cecilia Reiskog would be joining as the new member of Smile.dk. On December 20, 2011, they released their first single from the new line-up called "Moshi Moshi", which was delayed in some countries until May 2012 due to issues with its release. An animated music video for "Moshi Moshi" was uploaded to Smile.dk's official YouTube channel in early 2012. Later in 2012, they also confirmed that a new song was being recorded called "Baby Boom", due to both Veronica and Cecilia having become pregnant around the same time frame. While work for Smile.dk's new album continued, Smile.dk's progress slowed down so Veronica and Cecilia could focus on their personal lives.
Cecilia's departure & China tour
On October 6, 2013, Cecilia Reiskog announced on Smile.dk's official Facebook page that she would be leaving Smile.dk to focus on her personal life. Veronica later confirmed that she had decided to continue Smile.dk by herself and would not be adding a new member. In 2014, Veronica confirmed the new album is almost finished and will be prepared for release soon and that any songs featuring Cecilia will not be re-recorded and will be released as they are, making "The Make-Up Collection" Cecilia's first and only album with Smile.dk. She also confirmed on March 10 on the official Smile.dk fanpage that she is currently recording a new version of "Dragonfly" for the album. As of 2015, Veronica has confirmed that "The Make-Up Collection" is almost ready for release and that she will announce the release date when it is ready. On August 14, 2015, Veronica announced that Smile.dk will be going on tour from October 30-November 8 in China. Later on October 25, she announced on Smile.dk Facebook page that the upcoming album will be titled "Forever" and it will be released in early 2016. The China tour was also moved to early 2016 to coincide with the album release. On November 26, 2015, "Our Little Corner", the new single was released worldwide on major digital music stores. On May 9, 2016, J-Mi and former Smile.dk member Hannah Stockzell confirmed that their team has collaborated with Smile.dk for a remix EP release called "Koko Soko 2016", due for release on May 25. On September 28, Veronica posted 16 samples of tracks from the upcoming album "Forever" on Smile.dk's new soundcloud at smiledkmusic. The album will contain 8 new songs, 5 remakes and 3 remixes chosen as winners from the 2015 remix contest.
Smile.DK has a total of 9 songs which appear in the Dance Dance Revolution arcade series. "Butterfly" was featured in the first game and returned in numerous sequels, appearing in a total of 12 releases, the latest being a cover of the song in Dance Dance Revolution A20. Since Dance Dance Revolution X, "A Geisha's Dream" by Naoki featuring Smile.DK is a recurrent track in the DDR series. Of the 17 main arcade releases, only two omitted music from Smile.DK: DDRMAX and DDRMAX2.
