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.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Did you hear the snippet of Talk That Talk for Twice’s comeback this month? The instrumental and vocals sound so much more mature than their previous concepts I was shocked in a good way.
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Where is my scale of lyrics in English, ah here:
As a reminder, the scale is:
Intelligible English good lyrics that rhyme
Intelligible English good lyrics
Unintelligible English of any quality lyrics
A single lyric line that is so craptastic it is great
Mispronounced but decent lyrics
Cringey but campy lyrics
Oh so bland lyrics
Really, What does that mean lyrics
A single word said over over like that will make it mean something
Well-pronounced lousy lyrics
Well then, “Imma Press My Password” ranks at the bottom.
That’s all I got. Now I shall close my lips, shut my tongue.
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unrelated but i’ve noticed how sparse this month’s schedule is, lke there are huge gaps between days for comebacks and not many have been announced as of now
dia’s even supposed to release their final album this month, which is most likely not gonna happen given they’re in MBK
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A lot of great people are coming back, but the releases do seem to clustered around a few specific dates…
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im just hoping that dia’s comeback (if it happens) is leagues better than their previous ones, but i shouldn’t get my hopes up
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Hi there. I related so much to this I feel like I wrote it myself. I really enjoy their dynamic as a group a lot, but their music leaves much to be desired. Pretty much everything you said are my same issues with the song. It’s starts out well enough but once at the chorus they lose me. I will try to keep hope alive for a really good title track.
Btw, I’m curious to know what you’d think of the group BE:FIRST. They debuted the same day as INI and are produced by SKY-HI, so as a AAA fan maybe they’d be of interest to you. They have two singles which performed well, and their first album comes out 8/31. I’d love to know your thoughts on their music.
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Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way!
About Be:First… I’ve listened to most of their tracks but haven’t yet found one that I connected with. I want to like them as well, especially given their pedigree. But so far, I’ve found the music to be pretty forgettable. Maybe I need to invest more time.
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