NEO One or Eight Talks ‘Kawasaki,’ Says J.Cole Lyrics ‘Save’” Him

One or eight had a great year.

In August, the eight-member Japanese boy band group released their debut single, “Don’t Tell Anyone,” — along with a music video — written and produced by OneRepublic. Ryan Tedder. The group, however, debuted in June with a performance video for “Kawasaki.” The video has gained up to 6 million views in five days. And earlier this month, a remix of the song and its music video, included Great Seancome down. I Go back the singer got a One or an Eight by watching him perform. NEO opened up to us about what it was like to work with renowned artists, his biggest influences and the type of artist he strives to be.

We got a chance to sing in front of Big Sean … we gave it a chance,” said NEO Us Weekly in a special interview. “We offered him if he could get a verse on our revival version, and he gave us a kind ‘yes’ and how did that happen.”

While shooting a music video in Los Angeles and Japan, when Big Sean saw that the group was nervous, he told him, “‘Guys, we’re not having fun.’ And that energy really helped us enjoy filming, which turned out to be as good as the music video,” said NEO. “The biggest lesson he taught us in the way he did was to stay humble.”

NEO also shared a key memory from the set: “There was a scene where Big Sean was in the middle, and the other eight of us were hitting our heads with helmets, but the helmets were too heavy, our necks started to hurt. after three seconds, and we had to hit the whole song . So it’s two straight minutes of banging your head,” he said. “That was really hard for us, but it was fun.”

In addition to NEO, other members include MIZUKI, REIA, RYOTA, SOUMA, TAKERU, TSUBASA and YUGA.

NEO described the success of the song as “puzzling” and told Us how he and the members of One or Eight want to keep the momentum going.

“There is a lot of pressure on us because we are talking about the virality that ‘Kawasaki’ had, but we have to keep releasing good music,” he said. “So all the members were sitting in the studio. We are always practicing, and we are always ready to do better.”

Their sound is a mix of hip-hop and pop, and NEO told Us that the inspiration comes from those he looks up to in this field.

“I, personally, watch a lot J. Cole,” he said. “His soldiers literally saved my life and soldiers are thought provoking like that. It is not easy to write. And being able to be a great songwriter at the same time as a great performer is what I want to achieve… He is my role model.”

He went on to explain how he raps 2014 Forest Hills Drive “it was a lifesaver” for him: “I had some really tough times in my life and listening to that really lifted my head.”

NEO now wants to pay it forward with fans of One or Eight, noting that he hopes the band can be a “safe place for listeners.”