The NEO of one or eight talks about “Kawasaki”, says J.Cole Lyrics “Save””

One or Eight had a breakthrough 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. 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 at the beginning of the month, a remix for the song and its music video, with Big Seanfell down U Get back The singer discovered one or eight by watching them do it. NEO opened up to Us about what it was like to work with acclaimed musicians, his major influences and the type of artist he strives to be.

We had a chance to perform in front of Big Sean…we gave it a shot,” NEO said We weekly in an exclusive interview. “We asked 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 Los Angeles and Japan, when Big Sean noticed that the group was nervous, he told them, “‘Guys, let’s have fun.’ And this energy really helped us enjoy the performance, which turned out to be a great result as well as the music video,” said NEO. “The huge lesson he taught us from the way he carried himself was to stay humble.”

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

Besides NEO, the other members include MIZUKI, REIA, RYOTA, SOUMA, TAKERU, TSUBASA and YUGA.

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

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

Their sound is a mix of hip-hop and pop, and NEO said We that inspiration comes from those you see in the industry.

“Me personally, I really look at myself J. Cole“, he said. “His lyrics literally saved my life and the words that make me think 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 really want to achieve… He’s my role model.”

He went on to explain how the rapper 2014 Forest Hills Drive it was a “life saver” for him: “I’ve had really dark times in my life and listening to it really lifted my head.”

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