Weezer (2016 album)

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Weezer
Cover of Weezer's White Album,2016.jpg
Studio album by Weezer
Released April 1, 2016
Recorded 2015
Genre
Length 34:05
Label Atlantic, Crush
Producer Jake Sinclair[1]
Weezer chronology
Everything Will Be Alright in the End
(2014)Everything Will Be Alright in the End2014		 Weezer
(2016)
Singles from Weezer
  1. "Thank God for Girls"
    Released: October 26, 2015
  2. "Do You Wanna Get High?"
    Released: November 3, 2015
  3. "King of the World"
    Released: January 14, 2016
  4. "L.A. Girlz"
    Released: February 18, 2016
  5. "California Kids"
    Released: March 10, 2016

Weezer, also known as The White Album,[2][3] is the tenth studio album by the American rock band Weezer, released on April 1, 2016.[4] The album continued the critical success of the band's previous release, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, while commercially improving on the previous release, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 49,000 copies sold in its first week. The album produced three singles: "Thank God for Girls", "Do You Wanna Get High?" and "King of the World".

Writing and composition

Weezer has been categorized as alternative rock,[5] power pop[6] and pop punk[7][8] by music journalists. Rivers Cuomo described Weezer as a "beach album", based on his experiences " hanging around the Westside of Los Angeles, [...] with people in Venice and Santa Monica, the beach, the Hare Krishnas, the Sikh on roller blades with the guitar, girls on Tinder within a 4 mile radius, seeing other bands, the kids from La Sera."[9] Cuomo specifically used Tinder to meet people for song ideas.[10] Sonically, Cuomo credited The Beach Boys as a major influence.[9] The album's producer, Jake Sinclair, was also "determined to return Weezer to their Nineties glory", combining the "brashness and unpredictability of Pinkerton with the summer Beach Boys grunge pop of the Blue Album".[10]

Appearing on the Song Exploder podcast, Cuomo explained his songwriting process for the album, particularly for the song "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori".[11] Cuomo maintained several Spotify playlists of music with "cool" chord progressions that he used to find musical inspiration. He used piano to write vocal melodies his vocal muscles would be "too lazy" to create themselves, while, conversely, improvising vocal melodies to write guitar solos, to avoid typical guitar habits and create solos with "space in [them] because I have to breathe" and "something you can sing along to".[11] Cuomo also wrote stream-of-consciousness thoughts in his journal, then highlighted interesting lines, adding them to a spreadsheet of potential lyrics organized by number of syllables and strong-weak emphasis.[11] When he came to write the songs on the album, he found lines that fit the melody and assembled them in a way that suggested a story.[11] This method was also explored in "California Kids" and "L.A. Girlz".[12]

Songs

The album's first song, "California Kids", was chosen from Cuomo's "backlog of 250 songs", based off the song "California" by Cuomo's Japanese band, Scott & Rivers.[10][13] Cuomo based the titular phrase on the contrast of his kids' West Coast background, in comparison to his East Coast background and ultimately served as the primary inspiration for the album's beach theme.[14] The album's debut single, "Thank God for Girls", plays "with some gender stereotypes", examining modern online dating experiences with apps like Tinder, as well as God's creation of Adam, [15] while the second single, "Do You Wanna Get High?", deals with Cuomo's prescription drug addiction in 2000-01, as well as his girlfriend at the time,[16] describing it as "a really yucky and intentionally uncomfortable portrayal of the addict’s life. There’s nothing sexy, fun or funny about it."[17] The unnamed female also served as inspiration for the Green Album's closer, "O Girlfriend".[16]

"King of the World", the album's third single, deals directly with Cuomo's marriage to Kyoko Cuomo and her issues with anxiety.[18] "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori", written solely by Cuomo, featured a key change into the chorus, as well as a "pretty extended satisfying guitar solo that I get to play [... as well as] this sublimated sexual longing in the lyrics. It's an energy I've long identified with going back to Weezer's first two albums. It's not sexual [...] it's more like, it gets repressed and has to come out in these gorgeous soaring melodies like Brian Wilson."[19] Cuomo listed the track as his favorite off the album.[19] "L.A. Girlz", written by Cuomo, rhythm guitarist Brian Bell and Luther Russell–featuring references to The Divine Comedy, the 2014 film Whiplash, and the Lewis Caroll poem "Jabberwocky"–serves as a "throwback to The Blue Album, with Wall of Sound-like production values, sweeping guitars" and deals with the lyrical theme of longing, with "Cuomo’s voice [quivering] right along the borderline between hope and fear even as he makes an undisguised declaration of love in the bridge."[20][21]

Release and promotion

The band announced the album on January 14, 2016, along with the track "King of the World".[22] In promotion of the album, Weezer is scheduled to co-headline the Weezer & Panic! at the Disco Summer Tour 2016 with Panic! at the Disco in 2016.[23] On February 17, 2016, "LA Girlz" was premiered on through Apple Music, a song which was released on February 18, 2016.[24] A fifth song from the album, "California Kids", was released on March 10, 2016.[2][25]

On February 25, 2016, it was announced that Warner Music Group via Atlantic Records would release the album via their new joint venture with Crush Management, Crush Music.[26]

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 71/100[27]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars[28]
Consequence of Sound B[29]
Entertainment Weekly B[30]
The Guardian 3/5 stars[31]
NME 4/5[32]
Pitchfork Media 6.2/10[33]
Q 4/5 stars[34]
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars[35]
Spin 8/10[36]
Sputnikmusic 4.4/5[37]

According to Metacritic, Weezer has received an aggregated score of 71/100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[27] Evan Lucy of Alternative Press declares the album as Weezer's best material in 15 years, stating "So feel free to call it a resurgence, a comeback, a resurrection or whatever else you will. All that really matters is that the White Album's songs are great, and not just great for the 2016 version of Weezer."[38] Philip Cosores of Consequence of Sound criticized the singles "Thank God for Girls" and "King of the World", commenting "The great thing about their last two albums is that these moments are rarities and, considering the band's standing in the rock world, might be a necessary evil. If it takes a couple bullshit alt singles to anchor a collection of vintage Weezer melodies, then it's a worthy sacrifice."[29]

Staff reviewer SowingSeason at Sputnikmusic described the album as "long awaited and worthy successor to Pinkerton", stating "The White Album manages to deliver on the promise showed by The Blue Album and Pinkerton without spending the entire time treading on familiar ground."[37]

Commercial performance

Weezer debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 49,000 units sold, making it Weezer's sixth top five album, as well as the band's eighth top 10 album in a row.[39] The album debuted at number 10 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 3,600 copies.[40]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "California Kids"   Rivers Cuomo, Dan Wilson 3:25
2. "Wind in Our Sail"   Cuomo, Kenneth Scott Chesak, Ryan Spraker 2:53
3. "Thank God for Girls"   Cuomo, Alex Goose, Michael Balzer, Alex Balzer, Bill Petti 3:30
4. "(Girl We Got A) Good Thing"   Cuomo 3:25
5. "Do You Wanna Get High?"   Cuomo 3:27
6. "King of the World"   Cuomo, Jarrad Kritzstein 3:24
7. "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori"   Cuomo 3:25
8. "L.A. Girlz"   Cuomo, Brian Bell, Luther Russell 3:29
9. "Jacked Up"   Cuomo, Jonathan Coffer, Hugh Pescod 2:53
10. "Endless Bummer"   Cuomo, Bell, Russell 4:14
Total length:
 34:05

Personnel

  • Rivers Cuomo – guitar, vocals
  • Brian Bell – guitar, backing vocals
  • Scott Shriner – bass, backing vocals, piano on "Thank God for Girls" and "(Girl We Got a) Good Thing"
  • Patrick Wilson – drums, percussion
  • Christopher Wray — synthesizers
  • Ryan Spraker — additional production and piano on "Wind In Our Sail"
  • Scott Chesak — additional production and piano on "Wind In Our Sail"
  • Alex Goose — additional production and organ on "Thank God For Girls"
  • Jonny Coffer — additional production and piano on "Jacked Up"

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[42] 28
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[43]
[44]		 51
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[45] 65
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[46] 111
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[47] 10
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[48] 49
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[49] 51
Irish Albums (IRMA)[50] 27
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[51] 28
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[52] 39
UK Albums (OCC)[53] 24
US Billboard 200[54] 4

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named alllsongs
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Information from the album booklet.
  42. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  43. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  46. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  47. ↑ "Weezer – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Weezer. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  48. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  49. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  50. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 14, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  51. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  52. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
  53. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  54. ↑ "Weezer – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Weezer. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
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