It was written, composed, and self-produced by Hoshino, and includes features from talk show co-host Wakabayashi and American instrumentalists Louis Cole and Sam Gendel.

Conceived under the working title Gen Hoshino and Masayasu Wakabayashi's One Year and later finalized to Lighthouse, Sakuma believed the idea would be a new experiment in the talk show genre, focusing on displaying the current, everyday worries of the celebrity presenters, rather than their success.

Noting that his work process in recent years of 2023 had progressed leisurely, song-by-song, he believed the pressure and subsequent complete immersion in music would result in better sound, as he thought it had in the past.

[4][5] He compared creating the EP to messing around, but contended that this made for a more difficult production process than the standard because he needed dedicate himself more to maintain a good sound.

After adopting the production manner of "messing around", he began creating songs in styles that he felt was natural, resulting in varied genre throughout the track listing.

Due to the talk show covering heavier topics, Hoshino felt he was able to take use of more direct and sharp words in the lyrics, where it may have appeared narcissistic and subsequently uninteresting in other works.

This also applied to Lighthouse's composition: thanks to the pretense of the talk show, Hoshino felt able to "suddenly" turn his instrumentation in a harsher direction, with elements such as warped vocals and drums.

[5] Lighthouse includes features from Hoshino's talk show co-host Masayasu Wakabayashi on the rap song "Orange" and American multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole and saxophonist Sam Gendel on "Mad Hope".

[8][5][9] "Mad Hope" was recorded by Hoshino with Cole and Gendel at the 2023 Summer Sonic Festival, alongside other projects with different foreign artists.

[11][8] Fumiaki Amano for Rockin'On Japan magazine gave a positive review of Lighthouse, praising the "lonely, warm, and shining" album-oriented rock and blue-eyed soul sound on "Responder" and voicing excitement for a full-length version of "Mad Hope".