All Or Nothing: ONE OR EIGHT On Confronting Challenges And Creating Their First Mini Album ‘GATHER’

In less than two years since their debut, ONE OR EIGHT have proven time and time again that no challenge is too great for them,

Since breaking into the scene in 2024, the rising Japanese boy group — composed of MIZUKI, NEO, REIA, RYOTA, SOUMA, TAKERU, TSUBASA and YUGA – have not only overcome various hurdles on their mission to global music domination but have consistently showcased through their songs that they are not not artists you’ll ever be able to box in.

This very resilience and creative tenacity is encapsulated in their first ever mini album GATHER – a collection of eight standout tracks that not only showcase their eclectic sound but solidifies their status as one of the most artistically daring boy groups to emerge from Japan. From one electrifying song after another, this record lets it be known that ONE OR EIGHT have what it takes to make their mark as one of the most exciting artists of today — all for Japan and, ultimately, the rest of the world to witness.

With this, Billboard Philippines caught up with ONE OR EIGHT to discuss GATHER and its creation, as the members share their personal favorite tracks from the mini album, why their upcoming tour in support of it is one you definitely should not miss, and their one crucial goal they hope to achieve before 2026 ends.

Billboard Philippines: This 2026, ONE OR EIGHT will be celebrating your second anniversary since your debut. Looking back on your first two years together as a group, how would you describe your journey so far?

SOUMA: I would say that we took on many many challenges in the past almost-two years. 

From our debut, we have been releasing various styles of music, we were able to perform in various countries, and, I have to say, there were a lot of struggles, a lot of issues that we confronted. But we overcame those, obviously, with the mutual support of the members, but also with the staff. 

So, I’m assuming that we will continue with this perseverance. I really hope that how we are striving would inspire others and, hopefully, the audience will look at us and say, “Wow, this is a great group!”

The group will be starting off the new year by releasing your first mini album, entitled GATHER, this January 28. As a group, what did you enjoy most when working on the mini album? What makes you excited to be releasing it for the rest of the world to listen to?

RYOTA: All the members were involved in the production and there’s a very distinct “episode” for each of the songs. And, I have to say, honestly, not all that we prepared or produced during the production process for the songs was pure fun. That’s not the case. However, there were so many things to learn from and we were stimulated and inspired by every one of them. 

An important thing to note is that we approached each song very differently because their concepts are very different. So, if listeners can pick that up and enjoy that, I think that will be an exciting thing to look forward to. 

With the release of GATHER, a lot of new listeners will be discovering ONE OR EIGHT for the first time ever. For each member of the group, which song on the mini-album would you recommend the most to someone who has not listened to ONE OR EIGHT yet?

REIA: Obviously, I would like to recommend all the songs but for me, it would be “POWER” because it’s about challenges and that’s what we are really looking forward to this year. So, being able to kick off the new year with that song, I think it really matches the tone. Because, when we look back at 2025, we really enjoyed it but there were a lot of things that we think we could’ve done better. We think, with “POWER,” we could kind of showcase our will to give it everything we’ve got. So, that would be the song choice for me. 

TSUBASA: Personally, I like “Young & Reckless,” so that would be my choice.

MIZUKI: For me, I’d like to say “BET YOUR LIFE” but since you said specifically the new listeners, I would say, the first one would be “TOKYO DRIFT” and after that, the listeners could listen to “BET YOUR LIFE” and they would love us.

RYOTA: For me, it would also be “TOKYO DRIFT” because we would want them to see who we are – a new ONE OR EIGHT.

SOUMA: I would choose “TOKYO DRIFT” and I would also have to say “POWER” as well but there’s a lot of powerful songs in this mini album. So, I think I would choose “365” because listeners will be able to experience the difference and hopefully, after hearing that, the listeners would be addicted to ONE OR EIGHT.

NEO: I personally think that the beauty of an album is listening to it from top to bottom, so, instead of listening to a particular song, I want the listeners to experience the whole ONE OR EIGHT GATHER package from “TOKYO DRIFT.” I just want you to enjoy the GATHER album as a whole.

TAKERU: I wanted to say “TOKYO DRIFT” but there’s no way I can forget about “365,” so I’m gonna make the greedy choice of choosing both. 

YUGA: I want to say “365” but I’m gonna say “BET YOUR LIFE” because it really represents who we are, like how we take on new challenges.

With this being your first mini album, what kind of impact or effect do you hope the eight songs on GATHER leave behind on listeners?

NEO: As I mentioned, I really believe in the beauty of listening to an album from top to bottom. So, we carefully packaged how we line up the songs and how we want you to experience them throughout the album. So, I definitely want you to enjoy the album as a whole. But also, we’re going on tour for this album so, I hope you could go over the songs and if you like it, if you enjoy it, you could show up to our shows and enjoy with us in the same room.

Last year, ONE OR EIGHT held shows and performed a lot overseas, including countries like Thailand, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. From this experience, what is one thing that the whole group has learned that you believe has helped you become better artists and performers today?

TAKERU: We were lucky enough to experience many stages last year and since we experienced so many, there were a lot of happenings along the way, such as our costumes tore up, or there was a nosebleed, or the stage went up before the sound went on. Those kinds of things. It was hard for us to kind of keep it together in those moments, but I think, through those experiences, we were able to learn how to kind of keep ourselves together, how to stay calm, steady, and composed. All of that. 

Aside from your mini-album, you have a big year ahead of you, especially with a Japan tour this March. As we begin 2026, what message do you have for your fans, the 1DERZ, especially for those who will be seeing you for the first time ever this year?

MIZUKI: The first thing I want to say is, “Thanks for waiting, guys!” That would be the pure message coming from the heart. Because we’re really excited to have the opportunity to perform in front of the audience once again. 

More than that, we really want to meet the fans; not just the existing fans but the new audiences as well.

Also, for those who have seen us perform before, they’ll be able to pick up how we have evolved through our performances. So, hopefully, we can [also] deliver a great performance for those who will see us for the first time. The ultimate feeling that we want to create is [them saying,] “We want to see them perform once again” or “If they’re doing this in other cities, I wanna go visit that city.” That’s the kind of ultimate takeaway that we hope to create.

Finally, what is one goal that ONE OR EIGHT want to achieve together as a group before the end of 2026?

TSUBASA: We had the ‘SHŪKAI’ [fan meeting tour] last year and the very final performances, which we called the ‘SHŪKAI FINAL,’ were held in Zepp Haneda and Zepp Namba. It’s kind of regretful because we didn’t have a full house, we didn’t sell out the tickets at those venues. That actually led us to try harder, motivating us to push harder. 

So, I think that this is kind of a comeback for us. So, this year, I already declare that we are going to sell out the tickets at Zepp if we have the opportunity to perform there once again. I think we have it in us since we’ve experienced so much since those performances last year, so we really want to make that happen this year.

Listen to ONE OR EIGHT’s GATHER below: