Monday Melodies: Weezer – “OK Human” (2021)

The band Weezer personally confuses me. I don’t mean that I’m not aware of what’s supposed to make them base-level good. It’s more that they have such a bipolarity when it comes to quality and content that it’s impossible to continually consider myself a fan. I mean, they should be one that I hold some fondness for because they are that nerdy rock band who did good. At his best, Rivers Cuomo transcends boundaries and makes some catchy melodies. He wants to write pop songs. You can tell in his heart that it’s where he wants to be. I would go so far as to argue that he was a significant voice in alternative rock for the first decade or so of their career.

And yet I continually find myself disinterested in what they’re doing. There are times where they feel like they dive into embarrassing novelty, and I just don’t care. Why do they need to release an album like “Hurley”? What was the deal with that unnecessary Toto cover? I get that there are people who dig that stuff, but the “Africa” thing really feels like we’re manipulating a man with too much of a need to please others. Given that “OK Human” is to be followed up with an album of Van Halen covers, I personally don’t get what I’m supposed to like about these guys anymore.

This is a shame because I want to like them, but the more that I thought about it, the more that I realized I haven’t liked them since before they collaborated with Lil Wayne. It’s been 16 years since they released an album that I “like.” I have kept giving them a try, but I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I saw them live once and really had a good time. Maybe it’s because I understand the appeal of Cuomo, who is never tired of trying anything to make his sound cool. It’s just that Weezer lacks so much of an appealing identity that it’s hard to care, especially since everything lately has felt either novelty or tongue-in-cheek. Where is the genuine effort that drew people to “The Blue Album” and “Pinkerton” in the 90s?

Maybe I’m just in a forgiving mood, but I think that Weezer has finally found a gimmick that actually kind of works. While “OK Human” sounds like a cringey Radiohead parody, it’s actually a story that feels indicative of a modern trend. Weezer has made a record that deserves to be placed alongside the likes of Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, or Laura Jane Grace as this self-reflective quarantine record that actually gets to the heart of what makes Cuomo an interesting lyricist. Gone are the gimmicks that made “The Black Album” a forgettable slog. All that’s left is self-reflection, finding a man taking stock of the simple pleasures in his life and writing goofy odes to things ranging from playing the piano to listening to books on Audible. The sincerity alone is a big relief, and that’s before you realize that this is all set to an orchestra.

Sure, one can argue that Cuomo is still packing in the humor, but it feels more observational this time around. It comes from someplace genuine, reflecting the struggles of an introvert who clearly has some anxiety issues. With the opening song “All My Favorite Songs,” he details how he loves contradictory things:

I love parties, but I don't go

Then I feel bad when I stay home

'Cause I need a friend when I take a walk

I like spacin' out when somebody talks

I wanna be rich, but I feel guilty

I fall in love with everyone who hates me

It’s only natural that Cuomo would feel this way during a modern pandemic. With beautiful strings backing him up, it finds the ache being emphasized with a sweet intimacy. Given how 2020 has gone, Weezer feels more vital than usual for their ability to tap into these feelings of isolation, allowing your own tendencies to shine through. Even if what follows doesn’t rank among their catchiest work, there is the sense of reinvention, where we’re allowed an intimacy that the band has rarely allowed during this time. Whereas most albums feel geared to sharing their special interests, this is one that’s pure emotion, showing how Cuomo deals with the anxiety of this strange and confusing world.

Maybe it’s because of how dorky it sounds, but “Grapes of Wrath” is one of the most enjoyable tracks Weezer has done in years. While dropping off a list of book titles that have silly rhyme structures, there’s this sense of joy in Cuomo listening to them on tape, bettering his literacy. Oh sure, it’s not saying that much about him, but between this and “Playing My Piano,” it feels like the most relatable that he’s been, finding pleasures that center him. Even as he suggests that it focuses him to the point that he wouldn’t notice Kim Jong-Un bombing his city, it all works at conveying the ways that we meditate in this world.

There’s also the side of him that is contemplating the future. As much as he finds self-help throughout this album, he also is concerned about mental health on a public stage. “Screens” is an analysis of how the internet connects and isolates everyone. He goes so far as to suggest that things may be worse in 21 years, finding humans tapping screens without a bigger purpose. 

As a whole, this is an album that feels like a confessional of Cuomo stuck in a house all day, trying to pass time. At just 30 minutes, it feels at times too slight and some songs pass without deeper resonance. However, it feels like the closest Cuomo has come to revealing something more intimate, allowing listeners to hear him discuss his life as a father, a concerned and anxious man who has grown into a responsible adult. He still has those concerns that made him appealing decades ago (“Bird with a Broken Wing”), but he’s also so much more. 

I think what makes it work is how much it lacks the trappings of every other Weezer album. Whereas the band goes for the theatrical, forcing you to focus on the various tassels that they hung over a track, there’s nothing like that here. Even if the orchestra is a unique concept, it has a muted resonance that serves as much like a quirky pop melody as it does meditation. This is what it sounds like when a quarantine keeps everyone separated, forcing them to look inward and think about something other than fun. By ending with “La Brea Tar Pits,” he looks for an optimistic future, believing that something good will come of all this.

As one can predict, I’m not exactly looking forward to that Van Halen cover album. At the same time, I’m worried that most of “OK Human” may wash away and become as forgettable as the rest of their recent discography. However, it’s the closest that I’ve come to being personally impressed by the band in some time. For better or worse, I find something utterly delightful about hearing more of Cuomo’s personal quarantine habits. Even if it’s just him recounting a great recipe for breakfast, I kind of want to know what his “Evermore” record would sound like to this “Folklore.”

Once again, Weezer feels like nerds with a purpose. It’s been so long since it felt like they had anything to prove. It’s refreshing to hear them convey something that sounds genuine. While this isn’t their biggest earworm of an album, it makes me hope that it convinces Cuomo to age gracefully, allow for his weird brand of music to become more introspective, allowed to be quieter and more challenging. That would be a great place for them to venture into, occasionally diverting from whatever crazy ideas make them happy. I’m not saying to give up on their style of rock, but I hope every now and then they’ll continue to release records like “OK Human,” if just to let us know that they are, in fact, humans.