Weezer- OK Human
Label: Atlantic
Producer: Jake Sinclair
The fourteenth studio album from rock mainstays Weezer is a project that had been gestating in the mind of leader Rivers Cuomo for several years now, though its release seems to have suddenly come out of thin air, keeping in fashion with the nature of album releases during the COVID-19 era. Staying further on point with the trends of present-day music, OK Human once again proves that the most sudden album drops continue to lead to some of the most vibrantly rewarding records. In one of the more spell-binding detours in a storied catalog filled with generous stylistic diversity and experimentation, the album finds Cuomo leading his bandmates–and a thirty eight piece orchestra to boot–through a rich journey that combines lush strings, eccentric lyrics and baroque pop overtures that recall late 60s art-rock classics from the likes of The Beach Boys and The Beatles.
Conceptual and unified in nature, the entire record flows seamlessly from song to song and plays like an epic, singular performance with a magnetically dramatic and emotional arc. Yet as sophisticated and orchestral as the arrangements may be throughout, the band still manages to retain a pop-rock accessibility that is utterly addictive and wondrously mesmerizing all the same. Lead single and opening track, “All My Favorite Songs” sets the stage out of the gate in tremendous fashion. Bolstered by relentless strings, perfectly timed horns and Cuomo’s signature unique vocal stylings, it’s the most captivatingly contagious chamber pop outing I can ever recall hearing. It’s a joyously sardonic balance of sadness and sarcasm, and makes for an absolute jam.
Those complexities of both emotional and sonic trappings continue throughout the entire record. “Aloo Gobi” is a culturally timely and self-deprecating assessment of one’s growing lack of inspiration, and it is buoyed by a sense of poignant comfort that one’s never alone in their feelings of confusion and despair. “Playing My Piano” likewise perfectly captures the numb isolation and disconnect of quarantine life with a zig-zagging performance that is both bizarre and utterly haunting. In “Screens”, the band offers an arraignment of cell-phone culture, and our obsession with technology in general, for creating a zombie-like culture that has allowed our digital omnipresence to prevent us from ever being present in our actual physical lives. The deepest and most profound moment of the record arguably arrives however with “Numbers”, a gorgeously sad and moving commentary on our society’s egregious tendencies to constantly pit us against each other, rather than celebrating our flaws, differences and unique qualities: “There’s always a number that will make you feel bad about yourself./You try to measure up to somebody else.”
OK Human never definitively resolves the lingering sense of darkness residing underneath the big sound of the album, but it does continuously balance it with a budding sense of hope and optimism. “Bird with a Broken Wing” serves as a cinematic centerpiece to the album; it beams with a deep sense of longing but a graceful sense of beauty as well. “Here Comes the Rain” makes for a fitting penultimate song, offering bright flourishes of hope and optimism. The exuberant joy emanating from both Cuomo’s vocal and the musicianship perfectly frames a great and often overlooked message: the universe will give you more of what you pay attention to. As the spirit of the song fades into album closer “La Brea Tar Pits”, the tone becomes decidedly more downbeat and less definitive, but the lack of finality in the record’s swan song in turn suggests that the narrator may just be on the verge of overcoming a dark period. After all, it’s the very best music that recognizes that you can’t have the beauty of the light without any darkness, which is of course equally beautiful in its own way.
This record is truly a sterling listening experience. It’s yet another intriguing glimpse into the obtuse creative mind of Rivers Cuomo, and another brilliant expansion of artistic identity from a band that has never failed to reinvent and challenge itself. OK Human is a remarkable musical achievement and deserves to emerge as a landmark moment in Weezer’s diverse catalog.
Track Listing
- “All My Favorite Songs” (Rivers Cuomo, Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson, Ilsey Juber)
- “Aloo Gobi” (Cuomo)
- “Grapes of Wrath” (Cuomo)
- “Numbers” (Cuomo)
- “Playing My Piano” (Cuomo)
- “Mirror Image” (Cuomo)
- “Screens” (Cuomo)
- “Bird with a Broken Wing” (Cuomo)
- “Dead Roses” (Cuomo)
- “Everything Happens For a Reason” (Cuomo)
- “Here Comes the Rain” (Cuomo)
- “La Brea Tar Pits” (Cuomo)
The 706 
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