ONE OR EIGHT is an eight-member global boy group from Japan that has taken the world by storm. They debuted in August 2024, and their name comes from the Japanese expression ‘ichi ka bachi ka’, which means ‘all or nothing’, and their motto is ‘BET ON YOURSELF’.
Their song ‘TOKYO DRIFT’ has generated more than 200,000 user-generated posts and over 300 million views on TikTok. In September, they released their first EP, ‘EN-GÏNE’, and this week, they brought their showcase ‘ONE OR EIGHT Special SHOW CASE 2026 in Asia -V8- to Manila, marking their first time performing in the Philippines.
The following is the transcript of their interview about their First Manila Concert and “EN-GÏNE” Album.
Host: Thank you everyone for coming! So, since we’re already at this point, then we can begin. We can move into our pre-submitted Media Q&A segment. Let’s start with a question about your very first time here in the Philippines.
Host: 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 was your first thought when hearing [you’d be coming]? And what do you hope to share with them tonight?
Neo: It’s… it’s really our first time in Manila, and we’re so excited. We actually had a song with SB19 Felip, [referring to] KAWASAKI. Great rapper, great artist. We’re so honored to have him on our track. So yeah, we’re so excited to perform in Manila, where he’s from. And yeah, we’re so excited to see our Manila fans, our Filipino fans. So, yeah, and we’ve heard a lot of good things about the fans in the Philippines. They’re really enthusiastic, they really had good energy, and they love to sing. This [is] what I personally think of Filipino fans. We’re so excited to sing our songs with our fans and, also, you know, exchange their energy with each other.
Host: Thank you very much! Yes, even me personally, when I heard the song, it was a very great song, very… Ah, what can I say? I’m a fan.
Neo: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Host: With the local energy tonight, I hope you guys enjoy the show. Not as a… you know, [you’re also] performer, but enjoying the fans’ singing together with you tonight. So moving on with the question regarding your core identity. If each ONE OR EIGHT member were to describe the group’s identity in one word, what would it be?
Tsubasa: In Japanese, the word that we’ve selected is ”to challenge”. To challenge is 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, to achieve different [or] greater heights. So by experiencing different challenges, it’s not something to be shy or embarrassed about. But accepting these challenges, accepting new experiences, having fun, or getting new experiences, being able to share this challenging experience to the fans as well, but being able to experience this kind of having fun in doing this challenge, we want to share this feeling with the fans.
Host: Okay, so moving on, since we have shared the word regarding their ONE OR EIGHT group, so behind that, behind the scenes, how do you keep harmony in a group of 8 different personalities, and what makes your bond special?
Souma: Even before we [started] living with each other, we were inside the same house; we even had to go to the same lesson altogether. So, we were with each other from the beginning. So, even though we had different personalities, we had this energy in which we enjoyed… to challenge concept [in which] we shared 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 and want the fans to experience and enjoy our enjoyment with challenging greater heights as well.
Host: So the deep bond definitely shines through your music. Let’s pivot to the creative process behind your highly anticipated new releases.
Host: What were the most important points you considered when making EN-GÏNE, where did the idea for ‘TRANSLATE come from, and did any song reveal a side of yourselves you hadn’t recognized?
Ryota: So as you know, 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] to the very limits. In our album, there are different kinds of songs as well. We try pushing different kinds of possibilities. In the album, there are ballad, there are songs where you have fun, but there are songs which we put out a lot of most of our performances. So that’s where [in one point] where TRANSLATE come from. Aside from that, each one of us has their own concept. Each one has their own… performances per se. So instead of directly translating, if we want to push into their own possibilities and perform and show this to the match.
Host: So did any of the songs being outside themselves that they had it recognized? (If any song showed a side of themselves that they hadn’t recognized)
Ryota: In making different types of songs, as you may know there are vocal members and rapper members. So what we experienced is vocal members try rapper roles, and rapper members try vocal roles. So in this [theme], we were able to experience different kinds of… different faces of ourselves.
Host: Moving on to our next question, 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, in which it has that acceleration, that speed, that velocity in their performances. And, if listeners had one song to start with, what we’d recommend, of course, firstly it’s Tokyo Drift, and personally 365.
Host: Thank you very much. So moving on, 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 was experience, and mental capability, as well as mental strength. Since we debuted, it’s already been three years. We had different kind of challenges [we’ve faced]. For example, during performances, there may be a sound error, if its a… if the mic does not pick up the sounds, or the sounds [are not] playing. Through these kind of experiences, we were able to grow as well.
And then, aside from that, the support from the fans. With the support, it’s very connecting. It connects to our mental strength, and we’re able to put out the maximum performances, the maximum capability to make sure the fans enjoys the performance.
Host: Are there other Filipino or Asian artists you like to work with, and what direction do you want to explore next?
Mizuki: There will be a lot of collaborations moving forward. But aside from that, SB19 and VXON, an artist that 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 with a Japanese song, or the other way around, which ONE OR EIGHT can perform the English song and perform that with VXON, that would be a good possibility moving forward.
Mizuki: [referring to the question, “What direction do they want to explore next in their songs?”]
We feel [that] there a lot of possibilities and there are a lot of challenges moving forward, and this is something that we want to do. For example, what kind of challenges or what kind of opportunities that we can reflect on, [that] only we can do which we want to introduce in our song. Since the way we introduce ourselves is by doing these challenges and putting it in our songs, introduce what ONE OR EIGHT is. By fans listening to our songs, this is the best type of self-introduction that we can do for ourselves as ONE OR EIGHT.
Host: Yes, thank you very much. What message do you have for your Filipino fans, and what would you like to promise them as ONE OR EIGHT moves forward?
Reia: Message to Filipino fans… as everyone might know, this is our first time in Manila. It’s supposed to be the first performance we’ll be having, which we are really excited about as well since this is our first time to meet with our Filipino fans. As for our performance moving forward and what we can promise to the fans… we want to be able to make sure [to] make the fans feel that they won’t regret, that they’ll be happy that they chose to come with ONE OR EIGHT. So, we’re really very thankful for the fans coming to us. We really want everyone to enjoy [coming and watching the show].
Their concert has been a huge success, with fans raving out their electrifying experience, and we hope the band comes back again and will continue to have many supporters and fans.
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