DNCE’s 2015 hit single “Cake by the Ocean” has reached two billion streams on Spotify. The 1970s disco funk track plays with teasing innuendo and has an especially memorable chorus: “I keep on hopin’ we’ll eat cake by the ocean.”
DNCE was a dance-rock band consisting of lead singer Joe Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless, and guitarist JinJoo Lee. Bassist and keyboardist Cole Whittle was a member from the group’s formation in 2015 until their hiatus in 2019. “Cake by the Ocean” appeared on the group’s 2015 debut EP, Swaay, and was produced by Mattman & Robin.
“Working on the record, these Swedish producers that we were working with, they kept confusing ’sex on the beach’ with ’cake by the ocean,’ so that’s how the song started,” Jonas told MTV. “Then, it became this kind of lyrically wacky song, and it kind of embodies the band. It’s funky, it’s fresh, I think it’s something that people can dance to.”
“Cake by the Ocean” then appeared on the group’s self-titled debut LP in 2016. That same year, “Cake by the Ocean” entered the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, marking Jonas’ fourth career top-10 entry. He thus became the sixth artist to reach the top 10 as a soloist and with two groups.
In 2019, DNCE went on a hiatus when the Jonas Brothers reunited (Lawless was a member of the group’s live band). The Jonas Brothers have performed DNCE songs like “Cake by the Ocean” and “Toothbrush” in their sets.
In 2022, the group released a single titled “Move,” their first new material in four years. They would release several more songs, including “Got Me Good” and “Flamingo.” The band again went on hiatus in 2024, but not before remixing Jonas’ song “Work It Out” off his 2025 album Music for People Who Believe in Love.
