Ado and Sanrio’s KUROMI are joining forces for the first time on ‘DND feat. KUROMI’, a new song out digitally on September 25th.
Short for “Do Not Disturb”, ‘DND’ is described by Ado’s management company Cloud Nine as “a confident, empowering anthem of self-affirmation about tuning out background noise and other people’s expectations to chase your own dreams”, carried by a back-and-forth between the two vocalists. Lines highlighted in Sanrio’s announcement question what “normal” is even supposed to mean and encourage peeling off labels that don’t fit.
According to Sanrio, the collaboration began with an impassioned offer from KUROMI herself, and the company has published the letter she sent to Ado alongside the news.
“I really do wanna make everyone happy with my songs!!
KuRoMi
…So, while I was looking for cool ways to get even BIGGER,
I found you, with your super-cool heart and your amazing singing voice,
and on top of that, you’re aiming for the world!!
Somehow I feel like if we teamed up, we’d be super cool!!
So, Ado!! Wanna do something super BIG with me?
I’ll be waiting for your reply☆”
Asteroid Music Team wrote the song specifically for the pair, with Kanata Okajima joining monii on lyrics. Much of Asteroid’s catalogue comes from the VTuber world, particularly hololive English, though the team has also written for &TEAM and Project SEKAI.
In her comment, Ado said she “actually got to sing a song with KUROMI-chan”, adding, “‘Mute the noise’, we’re taking on the world with a fierce beat”.
KUROMI, meanwhile, said she practised singing and dancing every day this summer to prepare, before asking, “Am I getting closer to being a big star like Ado…?”. She also summed up the song’s message, saying, “This track is all about saying, ‘Hey, don’t get in our way!’ No one can stop the path I’m taking, and nobody can stop yours either!”.
Although this is their first song together, KUROMI has been releasing music since 2021 and has previously worked with imase and British singer-songwriter Mae Stephens. Since ‘KUROMI IN MY HEAD’ arrived through TOY’S FACTORY last October, she has followed up with a second EP, ‘HYPER KUROMISM’, and made her overseas live debut across all three days of KCON LA in August.
‘DND’ also reunites Ado with Sanrio. In 2022, the company introduced Adorozatorumary, a new character developed with Ado’s involvement, later revealing that the mysterious ‘Collaborator A’ in its SANRIOLABO storyline was Ado. At her own request, the character’s first official live merchandise went on sale at her second solo concert, Kamupanerura, at Saitama Super Arena that August.
‘DND feat. KUROMI’ will be released at midnight Japan time on September 25th as an Ado single through Universal Music.
Ado
DND feat. KUROMI
Release Date: 25/09/2026
Label: Universal Music
Stream: Links
About Ado
Ado is a Tokyo-born singer and utaite who emerged from Japan’s online cover-song scene to become one of the country’s biggest international artists. She began uploading covers in 2017 and made her major debut at 17 with 'Usseewa' in 2020. The song became a huge hit in Japan and introduced the vocal style that has become central to her music, shifting from whispers and deep growls to screams and rapid-fire delivery. Ado has remained visually anonymous throughout her career, usually performing in silhouette and using illustrated characters in place of a public-facing image. Her debut album, 'Kyougen', arrived in 2022, the same year she reached a wider audience as the singing voice of Uta in One Piece Film: Red. Songs including 'New Genesis', 'Backlight', and 'Fleeting Lullaby' joined a catalogue that already included 'Gira Gira' and 'Odo'. Her music has moved freely through Vocaloid-influenced pop, electronic music, rock, rap, and heavier experimental territory, with collaborators including Giga, TeddyLoid, Yasutaka Nakata, Vaundy, natori, MARETU, and Kikuo. Her second original album, 'Zanmu', followed in 2024, with the 40-track 'Ado's Best Adobum' marking five years since her major debut in 2025. Ado's live career has grown just as quickly. Her first world tour, 'Wish', travelled across Asia, Europe, and the United States in 2024, including a sold-out UK debut at London's Troxy. Weeks later, she became the first female solo artist to headline Japan's National Stadium, performing to more than 140,000 people across two nights. She returned overseas in 2025 with 'Hibana', a 33-city world tour across five continents that drew more than 500,000 fans and included a sold-out show at The O2 in London. Ado has also moved into artist production with the horror-inspired idol group Phantom Siita. In 2026, she signed with WME for representation outside Japan, performed at Lollapalooza in Chicago, and headlined SUMMER SONIC in Japan. Despite the increasingly large stages, her roots in utaite and Vocaloid culture are still easy to trace. Her career has been built around the strength and versatility of her voice, with her identity kept deliberately out of view.
About KUROMI
KUROMI is Sanrio’s black-hooded character and self-styled rival to My Melody, introduced in 2005, who has developed into a recording and live artist in her own right. Her music activity began on her birthday, October 31st, 2021, with the launch of Sanrio’s #KUROMIFYTHEWORLD project, which centres on encouraging people to become the best version of themselves. The project opened with the music video for 'Greedy Greedy', KUROMI’s first original song as an artist, with lyrics by Ameko Kodama and music and arrangement by Takafumi "CO-K" Kokei. The song subsequently arrived on streaming services that December. In 2023, KUROMI featured on British singer-songwriter Mae Stephens’ 'Cheeky But Charming', bringing the project into an international artist collaboration. KUROMI began full-scale music activity in 2025 with a major-label debut through TOY’S FACTORY. Her first EP, 'KUROMI IN MY HEAD', arrived on October 22nd, 2025 and paired KUROMI with a varied group of Japanese creators, with Satomi Shigemori and MAPLE HONEY on 'KUROMI♡Profile', Shuichi Mabe on 'Happy Halloween!!', Kairiki Bear on 'Tuning Dancer', Daoko and Hidefumi Kenmochi on 'Dolce Vita', and lilbesh ramko on 'OHIRUNE DAY DREAM'. TOY’S FACTORY described the EP as genreless, with each of its five tracks approaching KUROMI from a different musical direction. She celebrated its release the same day with her first live performance as the artist KUROMI, a free show for around 700 people at KABUKICHO TOWER STAGE in Kabukicho Cinecity Plaza, Shinjuku, where she performed using her 3D-look artist design. On December 28th, 2025, she made her music-festival debut at COUNTDOWN JAPAN 25/26. In January 2026, KUROMI took the project on the road for her first tour, the three-date KUROMI Tomeihan Zepp TOUR 2026 'KUROMI IN MY HEAD', playing Zepp Namba, Zepp Nagoya, and Zepp DiverCity Tokyo with guests PEOPLE 1, NOMELON NOLEMON, Daoko, Todoroki Hajime, WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA, and PeanutsKun. Her second EP, 'HYPER KUROMISM', followed on June 24th, 2026, with contributions from Takuya Koyama, Rockwell, Yuho Kitazawa, TAKU INOUE, Tamaya2060%, Takuya Nakayama, Hayato Komiya, and Daiki Okuno. It also gave KUROMI her first lyric-writing credit, on 'DETARAME'. KUROMI’s live activity moved overseas in August 2026, when she performed on all three days of KCON LA for her first overseas live performance. Her next collaboration, 'DND feat. KUROMI' with Ado, is due for release on September 25th, 2026 after KUROMI approached Ado with an offer to work together. The song continues the self-affirming thread that has run through KUROMI’s music since #KUROMIFYTHEWORLD, tuning out outside noise and other people’s expectations while encouraging listeners to follow their own path.
