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

One or Eight have had a groundbreaking year.

In August, the eight-member Japanese boy band released their first track, “Don’t Tell Nobody,” — along with the music video — which was written and produced by OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder. The group, however, first launched in June with a performance video of “Kawasaki.” The video gained up to 6 million views in five days. And early this month, a remix for the song and its music video, featuring Big Sean, dropped. The Bounce Back singer discovered One or Eight by watching them perform. NEO opened up to Us about what it was like working with acclaimed musicians, his biggest influences and the kind of artist he strives to be.

We had the opportunity to perform in front of Big Sean … we gave it a shot,” NEO told Us Weekly in an exclusive interview. “We offered him if he could have a verse on our revamp version, and he gave us a generous ‘yes’ and that’s how it all happened.”

While shooting the music video in both Los Angeles and Japan, when Big Sean noticed the group was nervous, he would tell him, “‘Guys, let’s have fun.’ And that energy really helped us kind of enjoy the shoot, which turned out to become a great result as the music video was,” NEO said. “The huge lesson he taught us by how he carried himself out was staying humble.”

NEO also shared a core memory from the set: “There’s a scene where Big Sean’s right in the middle, and the rest of the eight of us were banging our heads with helmets on, but the helmets were so heavy, our necks started to hurt after three seconds, and we had to bang through the whole song. So it’s two straight minutes of banging with a huge bobble on your head,” he said. “That was pretty tough for us, but it was fun.”

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

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

“There’s a lot of pressure on us because we’re bandwagoning on the virality the ‘Kawasaki’ had, but we have to continuously put out good music,” he said. “So all the members were always in the studio. We’re always practicing, and we’re always prepared for a better performance.”

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 the industry.

“Me, personally, I really look up to J. Cole,” he said. “His lyrics quite literally saved my life and thought-provoking lyrics like that. It’s not easy to write. And being able to be a great songwriter at the same time as a great performer is what I really want to achieve … He’s my role model.”

He continued to explain how the rapper’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive was a “lifesaver” for him: “I had really dark times in my life and listening to that really lifted my head up.”

NEO now wants to pay it forward with One or Eight’s fanbase, noting that he hopes the band can be “a safe space for the listeners.”