Before ONE OR EIGHT’s SOUMA and STARGLOW’s TAIKI had groups, debut dates or fans, they had each other to outwork in the practice room. That rivalry is now a three-song rap medley, ONE WHO GLOWS, which has been on YouTube since Saturday, 26 September 2026. Singapore fans can hear SOUMA’s side of the story live. ONE OR EIGHT plays Victoria Theatre on Wednesday, 21 October.
If neither name rings a bell yet, here’s a quick introduction. SOUMA raps in ONE OR EIGHT, an eight-member global boy group from Japan that debuted in August 2024. The group is built on the Japanese idea of ichi ka bachi ka, roughly “all or nothing”, and on the motto “BET ON YOURSELF”. TAIKI is one of five members in STARGLOW. The group formed through the audition series THE LAST PIECE, run by Japanese company BMSG, and also includes RUI, KANON, GOICHI and ADAM.
Friends Long Before Debut
The two met as trainees. That’s the unpaid, unseen stretch where aspiring idols practise for years with no promise that a debut will ever come. When debut finally arrived, it split them into different groups on completely separate paths.
That’s often where these stories fade out, with the old practice-room friendship shrinking to the occasional like on Instagram. Instead, SOUMA and TAIKI chose to spend a new project digging through the years before anyone knew their names.
In comments released alongside the session, SOUMA said the pair talked again and again about how they feel right now while making it. TAIKI described their studio time as gathering up everything from their trainee days. That sounds less like a label-arranged feature and more like two old friends deciding their history was worth putting into verses.
Inside the Three-Song Medley
ONE WHO GLOWS is a beat-jack session. Across the three songs, the lyrics move from their trainee period to the long chase for debut. The last stretch looks ahead to where they’re going next.
The stripped-back format plays to both rappers’ strengths. In a group of eight, a rapper’s verse always shares space with seven other people. Here SOUMA gets room to stretch out, and TAIKI can step away from the five-part STARGLOW formation and sound like himself.
Japanese fans posting on X responded fast. Some called it a kami-kyoku (神曲, a “god-tier song”) and labelled SOUMA a tensai rappā (天才ラッパー, “genius rapper”). Many posts pointed to how TAIKI’s vocals sit against SOUMA’s rap, and plenty of quote-posts called their voices the perfect match. Those are general fan reactions on X rather than a chart or a review, but they show that the chemistry keeps people hitting replay!
Both Groups Are Running Hot
The timing is good for both sides. ONE OR EIGHT released their first EP, EN-GÏNE, on 16 September. Its six tracks are V8, YANKEE SQUAT, TRANSLATE, I<3 IT, MONSTER and INVINCIBLE. Start with V8. It gives the Asia tour its name, so it’s the track most likely to anchor the setlist at Victoria Theatre.
The group already has serious momentum. According to the group’s own profile, the single TOKYO DRIFT generated over 200,000 user-made TikTok posts and more than 300 million views. The group says the single then reached the US Mediabase Top 40, which it calls a record for a Japanese boy group. At MTV VMAJ 2025, MTV Japan’s video music awards, ONE OR EIGHT won Upcoming Dance & Vocal Group. A 47-prefecture fan-meeting tour across Japan is part of the same run as the Asia dates.
STARGLOW’s first year has moved even faster. The group debuted in January 2026, and music publication NME put them on its “100 Artists to Watch in 2026” list. Their second single, USOTSUKI, reached No.1 on Oricon’s Weekly Digital Singles ranking and No.2 on Billboard Japan’s Hot 100 chart. In August, roughly six months after debut, they played their first arena shows.
Next up is their first album, Aurora, due on 18 November, with 14 tracks. TAIKI fans should head straight to track eight, 1 of 1, a unit song credited to TAIKI and GOICHI. The group has announced its first arena tour for 2027, planned across seven cities and 14 shows.
Singapore Gets the ONE OR EIGHT Half
This is where Singapore readers can act. The ONE OR EIGHT Special SHOW CASE 2026 in ASIA -V8- stops at Victoria Theatre on 21 October, two days ahead of Manila and four ahead of Bangkok. It’s a ONE OR EIGHT show, so it covers SOUMA’s side of this friendship story. It also brings the EN-GÏNE songs, which are barely a month old.
If you want to hear the EP live and catch SOUMA in his day job, GA is the easy pick at S$88. Go VVIP only if he’s the main reason you’re booking, because you pay S$50 more for proximity. All three tiers are booked through the ONE OR EIGHT Asia tour page.
🗓️ Date: Wednesday, 21 October 2026
📍 Location: Victoria Theatre, Singapore
🎤 Show: ONE OR EIGHT Special SHOW CASE 2026 in ASIA -V8-
🎟️ Tickets: VVIP S$138, VIP S$108, GA S$88, via the ONE OR EIGHT Asia tour page
🌏 Other stops: Manila on 23 October, Bangkok on 25 October
A practice-room friendship that made it through two separate debuts is worth your ears. Watch ONE WHO GLOWS on YouTube, queue up EN-GÏNE before the show, and grab your seat for 21 October through the ONE OR EIGHT Asia tour page. Then mark 18 November for Aurora, since the other half of this duo has a big album coming too!
Photos and Visuals courtesy of ONE OR EIGHT and STARGLOW.
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