By CHIARA IANTORNO ’28
Updated 11:50 a.m. EDT, 13 Nov 2026
Over the past summer, the alternative rock band Weezer released their twentieth studio album, “Weezer (the Gold Album).” This album was marketed as a return to the band’s style that helped them rise to fame in the mid 90’s. As a fan of the band, I was excited to hear what this return to form would sound like, especially since my favorite Weezer albums are their 1994 self-titled debut and their 1996 sophomore album, “Pinkerton.” However, while I have found the album to be reminiscent of the band’s early material, most of the tracks lack the memorability of older releases.
When Weezer released their debut album, listeners fell in love with their crunchy guitars, poppy hooks and unapologetically dorky lyrics and image. In contrast to the often dark, self-serious subject matter of their grunge and post-grunge contemporaries, Weezer wrote songs about playing Dungeons and Dragons in the garage and working up the courage to ask a girl to dance.
In the decades since, Weezer has continued to release albums and experiment with their sound, moving toward a pop style in the late aughts and early 2010s, which audiences did not receive warmly. The band has since dropped several albums trying to recapture their original 90’s sound, which brings us to “the Gold Album,” released on Aug. 21 of this year.
The opening track, “Say Yes,” is an energetic, strong start to the album. The guitar work on the solo is punchy and the chorus is catchy. Lyrically, the song has silly, bordering on cringe-worthy lines like, “They’ll frighten you / Gaslightin’ you,” and “I put in my silicone earplugs / Sweep that riff-raff underneath the rug.” While Weezer is known for silly lyrics, these almost felt too out of touch.
The second track is “Shine Again,” which has forgettable verses and a chorus that repeats often. I found the song uninteresting, especially since there was no bridge to break up the repetitive choruses. Still, I thought lead singer Rivers Cuomo’s vocals were powerful and well-done.
The next track, “Don’t Make It Weird,” is also musically unremarkable. The most notable element is its dorky lyrics that are charming, but read as bad dad jokes, like “Some people call me ‘River’ / And then they tell me that I don’t got any flow.”
Following these largely average songs is possibly the most memorable track, “We Might as Well Be Strangers.” This song features the indie band, Wednesday, and centers on a conversation between two exes. This framework gives the song an emotional core that the others tend to lack.
Unlike the previous songs, this track also includes a bridge, which adds variety and momentum before reaching the final chorus. I love the loud, fuzzy chorus and quiet verses, and Hartzman’s twangy, sometimes scream-y vocals complement the song nicely. In my opinion, this track is the best example of the album’s intended return to “classic Weezer.”
The rest of the track list is generally made up of unmemorable songs with a few redeeming elements. None of them are outright bad, but I do not plan on returning to them often. “C.E.O.” is a reference to the band’s 1994 hit, “Undone (the Sweater Song),” with its spoken word verses, sung choruses and grand guitar solo. The song has a fun chorus, but the lyrics rely entirely on being meta and referencing the aforementioned early hit. This comes off as cheap and like they are forcing nostalgia on the listener.
“Hoops,” “Nowhere,” “The Show Must Go On” and “Up in the Clouds” are all okay, but aside from “Nowhere”’s interesting time signature changes from 4/4 to 6/8, they do not have many noteworthy aspects to discuss. The final track, “The LA Sound,” is loud and anthemic, with confident yet dorky lyrics like, “We came to melt your face / We’re gonna torch this place.”
While “Weezer (the Gold Album)” certainly has the crunchy guitar tone, melodic riffs and solos, playful lyrics and strong vocals reminiscent of “the Blue Album,” it feels hollower and formulaic. Most songs are catchy in the moment, but immediately forgettable once they end. Some of the lyrics are groan-inducing, and some songs seem like they were added as filler material.
Although there are standout tracks like “We Might as Well Be Strangers,” “Say Yes,” and “The LA Sound,” I found much of “Weezer (the Gold Album)” uninteresting, repetitive and overly derivative of their past releases. ★
