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Released | January 24, 2019 [1] | |||
Recorded | 2018 | |||
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Length | 36:18 | |||
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Weezer (also known as the Teal Album) is the twelfth studio album by the American rock band Weezer. It was released digitally on January 24,2019,through Crush Music and Atlantic Records,with a retail release on March 8. The album is composed of cover songs,mostly from the 1980s,making it the band's first covers album. It was announced and released on the same day as a surprise precursor to Weezer's thirteenth studio album,which was released on March 1,2019. The album received mixed reviews,with some praising the self-aware frivolity of the project,while others criticized the arrangements.
Following the release of Weezer's eleventh album Pacific Daydream ,an Internet fan campaign was launched to get Weezer to cover "Africa" by Toto. After initially releasing a cover of "Rosanna",a different Toto song,as a joke,Weezer released their "Africa" cover in May 2018. [5] The cover hit the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. [6]
Teal was unexpectedly released on January 24,2019,without prior promotion or advertisement. [7] Several covers on the album have previously been performed live by both the band and frontman Rivers Cuomo at solo shows. [8] [9]
Cuomo has since described his use of Spotify's data on most played songs to establish the tracklisting for the album. [10]
The album was released digitally on January 24,2019,with the physical version planned for release on March 8,2019. To promote the album,Weezer released a teal velcro wallet available for purchase on their website,with the first 100 copies sold including a dollar bill signed by the band members. [11] The velcro wallet sold out quickly,so Weezer released a second promotional bundle on January 24 with a teal Rubik's cube. [12] The band's cover of "No Scrubs" received significant social media attention,with the song trending on Twitter and sparking both sincere and ironic reactions from fans who found the song choice surprising, [13] while TLC member Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas,who sang lead vocal on the original version,openly praised Weezer's rendition,declaring it "AWESOME!!!" on her Twitter account and adding,"It would be even better if we sang it with ya'll!!! I see a TLC/Weezer concert coming up." [14] [15] Weezer themselves responded to Chilli through their own Twitter account by posting the reply,"Hope you want our number",referring to a key line in the song's chorus. [16]
At their 2019 Coachella performance,Weezer brought out TLC's Chilli,as well as English band Tears for Fears for live versions of "No Scrubs" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World",respectively. [17]
Though not appearing on the official soundtrack,their cover of A-ha's "Take On Me" is featured in the 2021 animated film The SpongeBob Movie:Sponge on the Run .
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 58/100 [18] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [19] |
Consequence of Sound | B [20] |
Dead Press! | [21] |
Glide Magazine | [22] |
NME | [1] |
Now | [23] |
Punknews.org | [24] |
The Teal Album was met with divided opinions from critics. At the aggregating website Metacritic,the album has received a normalized rating of 58,based on 9 critical reviews,indicating "mixed or average" reviews. In a review of the album for AllMusic,editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "Taken on a strictly musical terms,The Teal Album is pretty anodyne stuff. Weezer replicates the arrangements of beloved songs,adds a bit more fuzz on the guitar solos,and flattens the vocal affectations,which amounts to one weird trick:Weezer doesn't attempt to make the songs their own,yet these versions unmistakably sound like Weezer." [19] Matt Beaumont at NME stated "Respectful enough to rouse any struggling family gathering but knowing enough to amuse those in on the joke,'The Teal Album' at once satirises the covers album and makes a decent stab at perfecting it." [1]
Reviewing the album for Glide Magazine,James Roberts concluded that "The lifelessness of the covers ensures that it has a shelf life that isn’t much longer than your average meme. I suppose given the origins of the album as a Twitter meme it makes sense. Everything about the album—from its conception to its surprise,digital only release—points to the fact that we aren't meant to take it that seriously. But that's kind of the problem,isn't it? Nothing Weezer does can be taken seriously anymore." [22] Nick Flanagan gave the album a grading of 1 out of 5 in the review for Now ,claiming that "what's horrible about this record is the total lack of controversy,the lack of anything. It doesn't even pass as a joke album –they're just straight-ahead paint-by-numbers covers,like something a wedding band might play." Tim Sommer wrote that “…there is no reason to listen to The Teal Album. There are no revelations,no hearts are placed on sleeves,no one will be moved,and no one will bother to play one of these tracks in the future”,adding that “…Weezer despise the American music consuming public,and want to prove that today’s consumer will click on literally the most banal and redundant nonsense.” [25]
Michael Roffman was more positive in an assessment for Consequence of Sound ,writing "At best,it's a blueprint or rather a teaser for their forthcoming tours,as if to say,"Well,you loved 'Africa',look what else we can do? Come out,folks." Again,that's a more cynical outlook,but hey,maybe Cuomo is being cynical. Maybe this is the self-defeater in him,acknowledging the times,knowing damn well that if he's going to give 'em what they want,he's going to meet them at their level with a shit-eating grin and walk back to the bank." [20]
The Teal Album peaked at number five in its second week on the Billboard 200,after debuting at number 47 the previous week. [26] This was a significant rebound from Weezer's previous album, Pacific Daydream ,which only reached number 23. In its first full tracking week,it debuted with 39,000 album-equivalent units,of which 27,000 were pure album sales. [26]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist | Length |
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1. | "Africa" | Toto | 3:58 | |
2. | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | Tears for Fears | 4:04 | |
3. | "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" | Eurythmics | 3:34 | |
4. | "Take On Me" | A-ha | 3:43 | |
5. | "Happy Together" |
| The Turtles | 2:25 |
6. | "Paranoid" | Black Sabbath | 2:44 | |
7. | "Mr. Blue Sky" | Jeff Lynne | Electric Light Orchestra | 4:46 |
8. | "No Scrubs" | TLC | 3:10 | |
9. | "Billie Jean" | Michael Jackson | Michael Jackson | 4:54 |
10. | "Stand by Me" | Ben E. King | 3:00 | |
Total length: | 36:18 |
Weezer
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Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, and Scott Shriner. They have sold 10 million albums in the US and more than 35 million worldwide.
Weezer is the third studio album by American rock band Weezer. It was released on May 15, 2001, by Geffen Records. It was the second Weezer album produced by Ric Ocasek, who produced their debut album, and it is the only studio album to feature bassist Mikey Welsh, as he left the band a few months after the album's release.
Maladroit is the fourth studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on May 14, 2002, by Geffen Records. It was self-produced by the band, and was their first album to feature bassist Scott Shriner, following the departure of former bassist Mikey Welsh in 2001, although Shriner was featured in the music video for "Photograph" from the band's previous album Weezer. Musically, the album features a hard-rock sound and heavy metal riffs uncommon to Weezer's previous releases.
Weezer is the debut studio album by the American rock band Weezer, released on May 10, 1994, by DGC Records. It was produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars.
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R U the Girl is an American reality television music competition series that aired on UPN in 2005. The series featured Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, the remaining members of the all-girl R&B group TLC whose former member, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, died in a car crash in Honduras in 2002. Initially promoted by the network as a contest to replace Lopes 3 years after her death, both Watkins and Thomas clarified that the winner of the contest would not be joining TLC full-time and would not be a full-time replacement member; the winner would only provide guest vocals on a new single by the duo.
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Weezer is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Weezer, released on June 3, 2008, by DGC and Interscope Records. Rick Rubin and Jacknife Lee both produced parts of the album, with the band producing a handful of tracks themselves. Like in the band's 1994 debut, all band members contributed to songwriting. It is the only Weezer album to feature lead vocals from all four band members. The album also features more musical experimentation in comparison to their previous efforts, especially shown in such songs as "Dreamin'", "The Angel and The One", and "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived".
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