No one understands what it means to be a nerdy teen more than Rivers Cuomo. Even at the age of 47 and after eleven albums with Weezer, Cuomo continues to explore the feelings of a sexually-frustrated geek looking for love.
At this point, this is exactly what you would expect from a Weezer album, and Pacific Daydream is no different. The album doubles down on the poppy sound of 2016’s White Album, and it feels excessive on many of the tracks. There are some moments where Cuomo shows the brilliance that fans know he is capable o, however, these moments are far outnumbered by the uninspired and lazy sounding tracks.
One of the worst songs on the album is the lead single. When “Feels Like Summer” dropped, it felt like the band that recently released a strong, fun pop album left far too soon. Unfortunately, much of the album leaves the listener with that feeling, but thankfully it doesn’t get worse than this track. It sounds like a combination of any pop-rock band on top 40 radio.
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Not that top 40 music is inherently bad, the song just embodies all of the bad elements of bands like Maroon 5 and Twenty One Pilots. It even includes an EDM inspired drop into the chorus that is nearly identical each time it happens, and it gets worse each time you hear it while Cuomo screeches out “it feels like summer!”
It’s not even overtly poppy tracks like “Feels Like Summer” that bring the album down. Even the ballad “QB Blitz” feels like a miss in an area where Cuomo often strives. It even has one of my favorite lines from Cuomo on the album where he describes his search for someone to do algebra with. This is the exact kind of line I expect from a sexually repressed teenager that I come to Weezer for. Where this track falls, and falls hard, is its chorus. Cuomo sings “I’ll be missing you like oxygen (xygen).” That is not an echo effect on Cuomo’s voice, but rather Cuomo repeating the word oxygen without the o. The chorus’ laziness brings down a track that could otherwise be a standout on the album at a pivotal point coming between the two best tracks on the record, “Weekend Woman” and “Sweet Mary”.
Cuomo does not strike out on this record. Even among some terrible tracks, he wrote some great Weezer songs. “Weekend Woman” gave me hope for the record when it was released as the final single and shows Cuomo’s prowess with pop music. The chorus is easy and sticks with you, the harmonies on the track are great, and it has enough moving parts to encourage revisiting the track.
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“Sweet Mary” shows the opposite end of the spectrum. It’s a slower track that shows Cuomo wanting to love someone he can’t as so many of his songs lay out. “But I will never ever touch her / Cause if I did she might die,” sums up the sexual tension of so many classic Weezer songs.
What’s most frustrating about Pacific Daydream and Weezer as a band is that fans know that Cuomo is capable of more. I’m not even looking back to Blue Album or Pinkerton. White Album proved that Cuomo can still make great music. “Mexican Fender”, “Weekend Woman” and “Sweet Mary” show that he can still do it on Pacific Daydream. My expectations are high for Weezer records, and deservedly so, but there needs to be more quality control when releasing music. With Black Album likely coming out next year, I can only hope that it is more like White Album and moves away from the faults of Pacific Daydream.
