After releasing their 2014 back to the roots rock album “Everything Will Be Alright in the End,” Weezer returns to the pop genre in their latest release “Pacific Daydream.”

A Quick History

Since their formation in 1992 and release of their iconic self-titled debut album in 1994, dubbed “The Blue Album,” Weezer has been known to put out very popular rock songs filled with hook-heavy guitar riffs and catchy lyrics such as in songs like “Buddy Holly,” “Undone (The Sweater Song)” and “El Scorcho.” Despite worldwide success with previous rock albums, after the release of Weezer’s fourth and most commercially unsuccessful studio album at the time, “Maladroit,” the band began turning to a new pop style of music in their fifth album “Make Believe.” They continued producing these style of songs on albums “The Red Album,” “Raditude” and “Hurley,” giving the band more air time on radio stations, but disappointing many long time fans of Weezer who were around for the beginning albums like “The Blue Album” or “Pinkerton.”

Then in 2014, four years after their last album, “Hurley,” Weezer returned back to their rock roots in a stunning studio album titled “Everything Will Be Alright in the End.” The band continued with the rock-styled music in their 2016 release “The White Album” after “Everything Will Be Alright in the End” peaked in the U.S. charts at number five and sold a quarter-million copies worldwide. Now, on Oct. 27, 2017, Weezer has released their newest album “Pacific Daydream” as a pure pop album, including very limited amounts of guitar and drums and a heavy emphasis on a synthesised/Electronic Dance Music (EDM) sound.

“Pacific Daydream” Review

Weezer’s 11th studio album, “Pacific Daydream” was a gigantic step away from last year’s “White Album.” The sounds in each of these albums are complete polar opposites of each other; one sounds like a Beach-Boys-meets-Green-Day crossover while the other sounds like an almost pure disco/pop-sounding album with little-to-no electric guitars, drums or bass guitars prevalent in the songs. This change in the sound of their music from a rock sound back to a pop style was a completely unexpected move by Weezer for most of their fans who were just starting to get their hopes up for future Weezer rock albums.

The overwhelming sound I hear when listening to this album is just an over-produced, over-polished sound with underwhelming choruses and confusing lyrics. Other Weezer fans seem to agree with me, with low-scoring reviews and plenty of hate for the album on several social media platforms showing that the new pop sound is not a change fans want to see in Weezer’s music.

Although I’m not a huge fan of this new direction Weezer is taking with their music, there are a few positives to take out of this album. Most songs on this album, if not all of them, contain very catchy choruses that easily get stuck in your head although the lyrics are very abstract and confusing. My favorite tracks off this album are definitely “Mexican Fender” and “Weekend Woman.” These two songs are very catchy, have melodies that sound nice and remind me a little of the “White Album’s” beachy vibe and I especially enjoy the bridge in “Mexican Fender” due to the harmonizing vocals by guitarist Brian Bell and the ascending/descending progression of the bridge tone.

Because of the overall underwhelming and confusing nature of most of these songs on this album and because most of these songs sound like the same cut-and-pasted template they used on the entire album, the highest I can give Weezer’s “Pacific Daydream” is a measly four out of ten stars. I would definitely encourage fans of modern pop songs to give the album a look, but warn any fans of previous Weezer albums that this one is unlike anything they’ve done before and many other people, myself included, are not fans of it at all.