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Review: Weezer’s New Song

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Weezer giveth and Weezer taketh away — then Weezer giveth again. A stream of the band’s new single, the cumbersomely-titled “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” was recently posted to YouTube, then hastily removed. But in lieu of the song, the band has offered up some fresh intel: Their new album is Raditude, it’s been produced by Jacknife Lee and Butch Walker, and it’s out October 27.

And we were hoping for The Fuchsia Album. Oh well.

But let’s get back to that song, which we managed to hear before it was taken down. Forget for a moment the awkwardness of a bunch of dudes in their 40s singing about high-school crushes. Okay, admittedly, that’s hard to forget. Still, no one quite embraces arrested development like Weezer.

On sale August 25, “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” is an eminently hummable chunk of acoustic strumming and handclaps and big choruses and lyrics about meeting the parents. It’s a lot of fun if you don’t overthink it and might even quiet the ever-growing legion of Weezer naysayers. But that’s what everyone thought after “Pork and Beans” and “Troublemaker” teased the last album just over a year ago, and that didn’t turn out to be quite the return to form people had hoped for.

But as long as Rivers Cuomo is still consumed with whatever the hell went wrong sophomore year, he has no shortage of material. And that’s gotta be more entertaining than an anthem about changing diapers, right?