INI are occupying a very strange place in my own personal fandom. I love the members. I love watching their variety. But apart from this year’s fantastic We Are, their actual music has been pretty disposable so far. I’m not sure if this is a sustainable path, though judging by their out-of-the-gate success in Japan it may be a moot point. Regardless, I’ve approached each single with hopeful expectations only to be disappointed.

Password is definitely more tolerable than Rocketeer and (especially) Call 119, but it undoes its potential with an ugly, lazy chorus and an unending stream of bad K-pop tropes repurposed for the J-pop market. The song kicks off with a promising groove, pointing toward a funkier, less shouty version of INI’s sound. There’s not much of a melody and the group’s excellent vocalists continue to be underused, but the track seems to be building toward the style of explosive hooks that made JO1’s Born To Be Wild such an unadulterated triumph.

Sadly, this is not to be. Password’s chorus is dull and repetitive, hinging on a repeated line that’s delivered with no spark or melodic hook. First off, you don’t “press” a password. You enter, type, or maybe write a password. I guess you might “press” the keys to enter a password, but if you’re going to center your entire track around a heavily-repeated English-language phrase it would be nice if it made sense. From this point on, Password works in fits and starts. Moments of potential poke through, mainly when the vocals are given opportunities to shine. More than anything, Password is a clunky return. INI’s agency needs to connect them with a different set of producers, but as long as they continue to sell hundreds of thousands of singles I’m not sure that’ll happen anytime soon.