Raditude Review

    I had this philosophy for the longest time that none of the music I listened to could be catchy since much of today's music is so commercialized and the fact that the music's chorus's are infectious, but has little to no positive qualities. Weezer however can totally get stuck in your head, but on the other hand it has other positive qualities like actually being focused on the band rather than the vocals, take that Fall Out Boy. The "Red Album" was great because it took what made Weezer good and arguably improved their style by truly showing their weirdness and creativity.  It was proof that such commercialization couldn't be all bad. Raditude furthers the mainstream push but considering there's such a mass wave of predictable punk-pop It's hard if I want to say that it conforms while still being better than the likes of the All American Rejects or if I wish to start blasting it.

  The albums starts off with the single (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To, which is not a terrible song yet it's not even funny how it unintentionally parodies punk pop, barre chord roars are put off to the side during the chorus, acoustic sensibilities, and awkward girl problem lyrics that many will be able to relate to, but as for me I couldn't care any less. The rest of the album (somewhat thankfully) is a little more thought out and slow(er) but like the single, it suffers from how the lyrics that started the emo scene are more so on display and "Put Me Back Together" exemplifying this. "Can't Stop Partying" is pointlessly power pop, the synth is just too much and while the segment featuring Lil Wayne did make me feel like he isn't as bad as I say he is and for that matter fits in with the song well, but it just doesn't sound Weezer. What's really embarrassing is that the bonus tracks are what the album should've been, it's classic Weezer with distortion that isn't the somewhat messy fuzz found in their early years. Why the hell should one have to buy the hard copy of the deluxe edition to truly get the best from Raditude? The album is not all bad, but it begs the question why? It does feel very direct, and during my second listen, it actually was listenable, and truly is better than most similar artists. It could've been that or as cool as the last release was but like the rest of their power pop brethren, the album's demise truly is that its just not incredibly interesting continuing to tire out the genre.

2/5