Who is Weezer’s audience anymore? Back when they released Weezer (The Blue Album) and Pinkerton, they attracted a sort of indie power pop crowd which slowly changed to the 15-year-old suburban white kid crowd which slowly changed into the random assortment of people crowd and now here we are. The band’s seventh studio album in 15 years is spastic, immature and confusing. I once knew a jazz musician and self-proclaimed music snob who loved Make Believe, but surely even he can’t like the mess of Raditude, can he?
Don’t get me wrong, there are some good tracks on the album. Opener “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” is an enjoyable, radio-friendly pop song that is just fine. But almost every other song on the album is extraordinarily average given Cuomo’s resume. They sound like Green Album b-sides at best and Maladroit rejects at worst. While none of them completely flop, they’re remarkably bland and uninspired. It’s as if Cuomo wrote them as an afterthought to his larger, more ambitious projects on the album.
And do those projects, so highly publicized and slaved over, impress as Weezer so undoubtedly hoped they would? No. Absolutely not. Never. I appreciate that Cuomo reached out to an artist as artistically different as Lil’ Wayne, I really do! But the fact of the matter is that their song, “Can’t Stop Partying,” is just not good. Cuomo’s part is ok, but hearing him rap/sing is weird and the transition into Weezy’s rapping is choppy and awkward. The two never met during recording, and it’s evident. His pairing with the obnoxiously smooth Kenny G isn’t any better.
What this album looks like in the end is a really bland, spongy, tasteless cake. On top is an icing made up of cheesy ideas (like the ones your parents think are “hip”) and scumbag publicity. It’s a big arrow pointing at Rivers Cuomo, the band’s YouTube obsession, their out-of-date custom Snuggies and their bland, uninspired music. If anything Raditude is a huge slap in the face of Pinkerton and The Blue Album. “Fuck you,” it says. “I’m gonna watch the Disney Channel if I want to.”
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