When everything’s coming up roses … We’ve been waiting with all the patience of a sugar-addled kindergartner for the STRIVE album’s release (just a few more days!), and PassCode first chooses to whet our appetite by announcing that they’re striving for Budokan, which isn’t so much a strive as a done deal but you gotta do the Road To homework I guess, and now after plenty of teasing we finally get to experience the MV for “SPARK IGNITION”:
Don’t watch it here, though; click through so you can take part in the live chat with the members!
I’m choosing to view this all through a comprehensive lens, that this is PassCode’s going-for-it moment. The group was on a rapid rise until Yuna’s illness delayed things, and then it seemed to be a bit of a struggle to get back the momentum. For … wow, it really has been pretty much the entire past year at least, their legs are back under them and they’re charging with confidence toward a future entirely of their own making.
Which is … what? We’ve seen time and again that getting a gig at Japan’s most iconic venue can either be a pivot point for an idol career, and it can be a terminus. I’ll say this: We know that PassCode already has significant international support, and they’ve long done more than just recognize their fans in far-flung places. That’s plain ol’ good business, yes, but I’ve always been convinced that the plan was to dip a toe into European and/or Western Hemisphere touring, and this feels like a great moment to give it a shot. There’s a lot of space in the pre-Budokan shows to make short trips to, say, European capitals or major cities in the Americas. Frankly, you can read the album and song titles either way, like either YEAH WE DOIN’ IT or ACTUALLY A BIG-ASS YEAR OF PASSCODE WITH A BUDOKAN ENDING IS STILL A BIG DEAL, SHUT UP MANIAC.
Anyway, idol speculation is fun, but the only reality we have is that there’s an album about to hit us straight up in the face, with the first indicator of just how hard literally right here now today, so let’s bask in it. And no matter what happens, this quartet is going to crush it.
