Interview: ONE OR EIGHT on All-Or-Nothing Musical Identity, Creative Ambitions, and First Manila Concert

On October 23, ONE OR EIGHT brought their high-energy music to Samsung Hall, Manila, Philippines, with the “ONE OR EIGHT Special SHOW CASE 2026 in ASIA -V8–” concert, presented by SOZO. Made up of MIZUKI, NEO, REIA, RYOTA, SOUMA, TAKERU, TSUBASA, and YUGA, the Japanese global group is inspired by “ichi ka bachi ka“, which means “all or nothing.” Their hit song “TOKYO DRIFT” has garnered over 200,000 user-generated posts and over 300 million views on TikTok. They released their first EP titled”EN-GÏNE” in September and performed the ending theme for the second season of Black Clover.

Ahead of their first Manila concert, ONE OR EIGHT took part in a question-and-answer segment with the media and talked about their group’s musical identity, tour experiences, and their first time in the Philippines. They also shared the inspiration and challenges behind the group’s motto “BET ON YOURSELF.”

Note: This interview was translated with an interpreter. Parts of it have been edited for clarity

Host: Thank you, everyone, for coming! Let’s start with a question about your very first time here in the Philippines. This is your first time performing in Manila, where fans are known for singing every lyric and creating a very unforgettable concert experience. What have you heard about Filipino fans, and what do you hope to share with them tonight?

Neo: It’s our first time in Manila, and we’re so excited. We actually had a song with SB19’s Felip, called KAWASAKI. He’s a great rapper, great artist, and we’re so honored to have him on our track. So yeah, we’re so excited to perform in Manila, where he’s from.

We’re so excited to see our Manila fans, our Filipino fans. We’ve heard a lot of good things about the fans in the Philippines. They’re really enthusiastic, have good energy, and they love to sing. This is what I personally think of Filipinos. We’re so excited to sing our songs with our fans and, also, you know, exchange energy with each other.

Host: With the local energy tonight, I hope you guys enjoy the show, not [just] as a performer, but to see the fans singing together with you tonight. So, moving on with the question regarding your core identity: how would you describe the group’s identity in one word, and what would it be?

Tsubasa: In Japanese, the word that we’ve selected is ”to challenge”. It’s something we really liked since the very beginning when we started as a group.

We had to challenge a lot of things to achieve different things and reach greater heights. Experiencing different challenges is not something to be shy or embarrassed about. Accepting these challenges and new experiences while having fun… we want to share this feeling with the fans. 

Host: Behind the scenes, how do you keep harmony in a group of eight different personalities? What makes your bond special?

Souma: Even before we [started] living together, we were in the same house and even had to go to the same lessons. So, we were together from the beginning. Even though we have different personalities, we had this energy in which we enjoyed… challenging concepts, which we mentioned a while ago.

So before even matching with each other, what we see more is making sure that the fans experience the two-challenge concept we want to share. All of us enjoy this two-challenge concept, so we want the fans to enjoy [our experiences] of challenging greater heights.

Host: So the deep bond definitely shines through your music. Let’s pivot to the creative process behind your highly anticipated new releases. What were the most important points you considered when making “EN-GÏNE?” Where did the idea for “TRANSLATE” come from?

Ryota: So as you know, an engine is something that you know you push forward; you put the gas pedal in. So we want to push and push until [it reaches] the very limits.

In our album, there are different kinds of songs as well. We try pushing different kinds of possibilities. There are ballads, there are songs where you have fun, but there are [also] songs that we put out a lot in our performances. So that’s where “TRANSLATE” comes from. Moreover, each one of us has our own concept. Each one has their own “performances,” per se. So instead of directly translating, we want to push into our own possibilities, perform and show [that we match].

In making different types of songs, as you may know, there are vocal members and rapper members. So what we experienced was vocal members trying rapper roles, and rapper members trying vocal roles. So in this [theme], we were able to experience different kinds of… different faces of ourselves.

Host: Which song best represents ONE OR EIGHT right now, and if a new listener only had one song to start with, what would you recommend?

Yuga: That would be “TOKYO DRIFT,” because it has that acceleration, that speed, that velocity in our performances. And if listeners had one song to start with, what we’d recommend, of course, is “TOKYO DRIFT” and, personally, “365.”

Host: How have you grown and changed since the group began, and what has been your biggest challenge? How has touring changed you?

Takeru: The biggest thing that we’ve grown in is our experience and capability, as well as mental strength. It’s already been three years since we debuted. We have faced different kinds of challenges. For example, during performances, there may be a sound error, the mic does not pick up, or the sounds are not playing. Through these kinds of experiences, we were able to grow. And then, aside from that, the support from the fans. It connects to our mental strength, and we’re able to put out the maximum performance, the maximum capability, to make sure the fans enjoy the show.

Host: Are there other Filipino or Asian artists you like to work with? What direction do you want to explore next?

Mizuki: There will be a lot of collaborations moving forward. But aside from SB19 and VXON, an artist who created a Japanese song. We actually had a TikTok a while ago where we collaborated. Personally, [we hope] we will be able to collaborate in a performance with VXON on a Japanese song, or the other way around, where ONE OR EIGHT can perform the English song and perform that with VXON; that would be a good possibility moving forward.

We feel [that] there are a lot of possibilities and challenges moving forward, but this is something that we want to do. For example, the kind of challenges or opportunities we can reflect on, we want to introduce in our [next] songs. Since the way we introduce ourselves is by doing these challenges and putting them in our songs, we introduce what ONE OR EIGHT is. For fans listening to our songs, this is the best type of self-introduction that we can do for ourselves as ONE OR EIGHT.

Host: What message do you have for your Filipino fans, and what would you like to promise them as ONE OR EIGHT moves forward?

Reia: As everyone might know, this is our first time in Manila. It’s our first performance, and we are really excited about it since this is our first time meeting our Filipino fans. Moving forward, what we can promise to the fans [is that] we want to be able to make sure the fans won’t feel regret. That they’ll be happy that they chose to come [see] ONE OR EIGHT. We’re really very thankful for the fans coming, and we really want everyone to enjoy watching the show.

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Visit the ONE OR EIGHT official website for more information and updates. Special thanks as well to Cosplay.ph for arranging this interview.

Assistance and Photography: Krystien Veloso
Cover Photo via ONE OR EIGHT Website
©ONE OR EIGHT