Dai Hirai (平井大) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, ukulele player, guitarist, lyricist, composer, and arranger born on May 3, 1991. Active since 2008 and emerging more widely in the 2010s, he works between acoustic pop, folk, and mellow J-pop. His songs are built around melody, soft guitar textures, and a relaxed atmosphere rather than heavy production. They often carry a sunlit, beach-inspired feel, and his smooth, understated vocals leave much of the emotional weight to the songwriting and arrangements.
He drew early attention in 2011, when "ONE LOVE 〜Pacific Harmony〜" was selected as the official image song for the Honolulu Festival. That same year, he released the mini album "OHANA". In 2012, he followed it with the full album "ALOHA", and in 2013 he made his major debut with the mini album "Dream".
Later releases include "The Light", "ALOOOOHANA!!", "Slow & Easy", "Life is Beautiful", "ON THE ROAD", "WAVE on WAVES", and "THE GIFT". As his career developed, he refined a style between mainstream J-pop and intimate acoustic music, keeping his releases accessible while retaining a personal identity. He also performed "Shiawase no Recipe (幸せのレシピ)", the ending theme for "Kusuriya no Hitorigoto". His official website is hiraidai.com.
