Weezer’s been rocking for the past 17 years and never have they been in a more experimental mood. Rivers Cuomo has suddenly decided to start titling his albums again (and Raditude?), write like a teenager (‘If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To’ and work with rap stars like Jermaine Dupri and Lil Wayne.
Cuomo has been doing equally unexpected things when not on the Weezer clock, like writing a song with Aly & AJ. In this interview with Pitchfork, Rivers Cuomo spoke about working with Lil Wayne, revealed what made him think of collaborating, and what his 4-year-old daughter is listening to.
Critics have been skeptical about Weezer’s new record, in particular his collaboration with Lil Wayne. But ‘Can’t Stop Partying’ is his favourite track on the album. “It might be my favorite track on the album. It was an epic process coming up with it between me, (co-writer) Jermaine Dupri, and (producer) Polow Da Don -- and then Lil Wayne topped it off with this rap from the edge of the grave,” he says.
About Lil Wayne, he says, “He sounds like he’s totally insane -- and not just for the sake of sounding crazy. He’s not trying to sound ghetto or gangsta or intellectual —he’s just very natural and weird. The first time I really became aware of him was when he worked the Ninja Turtles into the song ‘Kush’.”
“Let me look up the lyrics online. ... Ok, he says, “I feel like I'm racing a bunch of little turtles/ Keep a bandana like the Ninja Turtles." First of all, he rhymes "turtles" with "turtles," which is crazy! Second, he pronounces "turtles" with this real hard "R" so he sounds super nerdy, which is something you don't often. Third, he references the Ninja Turtles! That's another thing you don't often hear.”
Cuomo says he had to rework Jermaine Dupri’s version as it wasn’t dark enough. He says, “He (Wayne) really tapped into the spirit of the song, which I really struggled with at first. There was no sense of irony or darkness or tension in the first draft I heard from Jermaine. It was purely ‘whoo-hoo, let's drink, get stoned, and get it on’, which is a fine sentiment, but I couldn't honestly put that out and let it be the end of the story. So I ended up turning the music into something dark and beautiful and haunting, which gave it a different meaning without changing the lyrics. Lil Wayne picked up on that and developed it with his rap.”
Weezer hasn’t collaborated with other musicians for any of their previous albums. This time, however, there are several. Cuomo tells us why he chose to work differently on this record. He says, “We did the Hootenanny tour last year, where we had between 100 to 300 Weezer fans come and reinterpret our songs in very surprising, bizarre, grotesque, and sometimes gorgeous ways. From there, I got super excited about working with different people and being in strange and exotic creative situations.”
“Another source of inspiration was (Garbage singer) Shirley Manson, who came over one day and said she was calling all her favourite artists and writing songs with them for her solo album. It just seemed like such an amazingly cool and scary and fun idea that I wanted to start trying it myself,” he admits.
Cuomo has even been making a list of artists he’d like to work with in the future. “I have no idea if any of these people would agree to write with me, but a few names on the list are Brian Wilson, Karen O, Pete Townshend, Jeff Lynne, Kara DioGuardi, Spike Jonze, Nate "Danja" Hills, and the guy from the Killers (Brandon Flowers). I don't have any idea where these songs could end up; they could be on another artist's record or they could be on a Weezer record.”
While the album’s been classified as teen-pop, Cuomo says even his daughter can’t get enough of it. He says, “She won’t listen to anything but Weezer. I swear I did not try to influence her in that direction. She doesn't even like the Beatles. It's the worst-case scenario for me because I might be in the studio all day working on Weezer songs and then I come home and my daughter just wants to listen to more Weezer. It's maddening. Maybe it's genetic.” |
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