College Times

Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Music

Media Credit: Universal

Weezer
Raditude
(DGC/Interscope)
Grade: B-

Lil Wayne is on a Weezer album. You read that right. If longtime, hardcore fans were alienated by the ultra-poppy 2008 Hollywood party-rock disc The Red Album, then the band isn't redeeming itself this time around with Raditude.

Shockingly, the album wasn't named by a frat boy. It was given the title by lead singer Rivers Cuomo's new BFF, actor Rainn Wilson, otherwise known as Dwight from "The Office." But Weezer didn't take their much-loved nerdy cues from the Dwight character. Cuomo is focusing his attention less on awkwardly staring at his feet and more on the bottle-popping, Bacardi-sipping atmosphere of the Los Angeles elite.

Back to that whole Lil Wayne thing. It's not a lie. It's called "Can't Stop Partying." The track was co-written and produced by Jermaine Dupri and it sounds nothing like Weezer. We'd like to think the band is just taking on a new direction in hipster irony coming from their shy, geek-rock roots, but the elctro-poppiness of "Can't Stop Partying" rivals the Black Eyed Peas. Not very reassuring.

Luckily, the song is an odd fit on the album. The approachable, catchy "(If You're Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To," "I'm Your Daddy," and "The Girl Got Hot," are meant-for-radio tracks with sexual overtones sure to please the masses.

Raditude's greatest asset is its infectious hooks that bring your attention back, even when your mind starts to wander after hearing cliché lyric after cliché lyric. Since the album had a quick turnaround following The Red Album, there are sure to be some throw away tracks. And if you think you've heard "I Don't Want to Let You Go" before, you have. It's every '50s slowed-down break up track ever, hyped up on vodka Red Bulls.

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