Weezer (The Black Album)

:This is for the 2019 album, for other uses of "The Black Album", see The Black Album (disambiguation).
Weezer, also known as "The Black Album", is Weezer's thirteenth studio album and sixth self-titled album. It was initially envisioned as a follow-up album to 2016's Weezer (The White Album). After several delays, the album was released on March 1, 2019.
==Overview==
Cuomo first spoke publicly about the Black Album when appearing on Zane Lowe’s radio show in February 2016, saying the "White Album is cool ‘cause then next we can do a Black Album and it'll be like super dark. Already working on those songs. I just love contrast."Camp, Zoe. "Weezer Share "L.A. Girlz," Rivers Cuomo Says He's Already Working on "The Black Album"" Pitchfork. 17 February 2016. https://pitchfork.com/news/63610-weezer-share-la-girlz-rivers-cuomo-says-hes-already-working-on-the-black-album/. The frontman followed up in March, indicating that he was planning to work with Jake Sinclair again, who produced The White Album. Said Cuomo, "Jake, our producer, was very much the voice of conservatism, on the side of the old-school fans... He won on [White], and I'm gonna win on the next album, which is the Black Album." He added that he had already been working on the record for 6 months.Wood, Mikael. "Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo is getting ‘comeback’ fatigue" Los Angeles Times. 25 March 2016. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-ms-rivers-cuomo-20160327-story.html
In April, Cuomo gave more detail about the sound of the Black Album which he said would be coming out in a year. “The next album is going to feel like an urban environment, night-time and gritty and hopefully a lot more modern sounds, synthesized sounds, samples maybe. I like to break away from the distorted power-chord thing but it’s hard ‘cos it works so well”Shutler, Ali. "Rivers Cuomo talks about Weezer’s “gritty” ‘Black’ album" Upset Magazine. 5 April 2016. Archived by Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/web/20170823163231/https://www.upsetmagazine.com/news/read/rivers-cuomo-talks-about-weezers-gritty-black-album/ from the original: https://www.upsetmagazine.com/news/read/rivers-cuomo-talks-about-weezers-gritty-black-album/. In another interview in April, he said that the Black Album would "require new psychological techniques, new writing techniques, new places to hang out, like Echo Park and Silver Lake. Psychoanalysis is going to play a big role. It's going to be more R-rated, with maybe swear words for the first time on a Weezer album"Hedegaard, Erik. "The Dream Life of Rivers Cuomo" Rolling Stone. 7 April 2016. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-dream-life-of-rivers-cuomo-20160407. Cuomo later described the album's sound as "Beach Boys gone bad.""Weezer are already working on new material: “I’m thinking of swearing”" DIY. 20 April 2016. http://diymag.com/2016/04/20/weezer-new-material-black-album
Pacific Daydream's announcement in August 2017 drew into question The Black Album's status, but in his talk with Zane Lowe he explained: "Initially, these songs were set aside in a Dropbox folder called "beach" until this folder started growing faster than the Black Album one did, and the album really came together." However, he insisted that the Black Album was still coming and was "pretty much ready." In November 2017, Cuomo commented in an interview with Vulture that "if Pacific Daydream was one big step away from Weezer’s history, then The Black Album is ten of those."Riesman, Abraham. "Rivers Cuomo Is Still Lonely" Vulture. 1 November 2017. http://www.vulture.com/2017/11/weezer-rivers-cuomo-interview-lifehacks-pacific-daydream.html
On October 9th, a (since removed) Yelp profile was created and shared by the official Weezer Twitter account. All of the reviews contained the words: "Can't knock the hustle!
Hasta luego 
Hasta luego 
Hasta luego 
adios." 
All of the establishments reviewed notably contained the word "black" in their name. Later that day, the profile was deleted. The next day, a tripadvisor profile was created, continuing use of the word "black."@RiversWentz Tripadvisor profile. https://www.tripadvisor.com/members/RiversWentz These reviews were later revealed to contain lyrics from the album's lead single "Can't Knock the Hustle".
The phrase "Can't knock the hustle" is the title of a song by rapper off of his 1996 album Reasonable Doubt. Jay-Z also has another famous album (that was intended to be his last) called The Black Album. It is unknown if this is a deliberate homage.
It was mentioned in an interview with The Woody Show on October 11 that the sound of the album would be a mix of the Beastie Boys, Beck, and Weezer.Ballesteros, Arthur. "Weezer debuts new song “Can’t Knock the Hustle” starring Pete Wentz" 104.5 FM KFOG. 11 October 2018. http://www.kfog.com/2018/10/11/weezer-performs-live-on-the-woody-show-debuts-new-song-cant-knock-the-hustle/ In January 2019, several music news outlets stated that the album would be officially titled Invasion Of Privacy."Invasion Of Privacy (The Black Album)" Rough Trade. https://www.roughtrade.com/us/weezer/invasion-of-privacy-the-black-album/tape. This was reverted shortly thereafter. The cause of this error is unknown.
==Writing process==
On an interview with iHeart Radio the band said the following"Weezer Talks Black Album, Drugs, New Tour, and More! | Exclusive Interview" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWoBEwFUNg:
==Release==
In an interview with Dazed, Cuomo indicated a hope that the album would be out in May of 2018 and that it was nearly complete.Eloise, Marianne. "Rivers Cuomo on dark thoughts, Post Malone & being prolific" Dazed. 27 October 2017. https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/37880/1/rivers-cuomo-on-dark-thoughts-post-malone-being-prolific On February 2, Cuomo stated on an Australian Radio show that The Black Album was coming May 25, 2018. He also said that it was very similar to Pinkerton writing wise and that Pacific Daydream would be the modern day Homie. 
The first song to be released for the album was the single "Can't Knock the Hustle" on October 11, 2018. A second song, "Zombie Bastards", was later released on November 21, along with the album's release date of March 1, 2019. Two more tracks, "High as a Kite" and "Living in L.A."", were released back to back on February 21.
===Promotion===
To promote Black, the band released an island in the game Fortnite called Weezer World.Porter, Jon. "Fortnite’s latest collaboration is with aging rock stars Weezer" The Verge. 1 March 2019. https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/1/18245926/fortnite-weezer-black-album-collaboration-creative-mode The map was made by Fortnite creative mode map-making team Cre8 and contained multiple minigames and activities, featuring the music of Weezer's Black Album. Activities included a hoverboard park and a golf cart target shooting game.https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb5SZ6bQpOA
==Scrapped tracks==
In a November 2017 interview, Rivers mentioned the song "Runner-Up", which he called Pinkerton-esque, also saying "my piano is in there, but then there are all these electronic, dark elements that sound like nothing we’ve ever done." In May 2018, Rivers played a new song at a solo-acoustic set called "Cardigan Disaster", which matched the descriptions of the Black Album as the song includes the lyrics "midnight in the city" and featured swearing. It was later revealed to have been the intended first single for the album. At one point, the video eventually used for "Can't Knock the Hustle" was intended for this song under the new title "Midnight". 
==Reception==
===Critics===
====Individual songs====
==Track list==
==Personnel==
*Rivers Cuomo – lead vocals, piano
*Patrick Wilson – drums, lead guitar
*Brian Bell – guitars, backing vocals, keyboard
*Scott Shriner – bass guitar, backing vocals, synthesizers
*Dave Sitek - production, engineering
*Lisa Boldyreva - assistant engineering
*Matty Green - mixing
*Eric Boulanger - mastering
*Michael Beinhorn - pre/post production
*Jason Hiller - additional guitar engineering
*KoOoLkOkAk - additional production ("Can't Knock The Hustle")
*Money Mark - keyboards ("Can't Knock The Hustle" & "Byzantine")
*Jonny Coffer - co-production ("Living in L.A.")
*Jerome Williams - additional production ("Living in L.A.")
*Todd Simon and Sam Robles - horns ("The Prince Who Wanted Everything")
==See Also==
* Weezer (The White Album)
* Pacific Daydream
* Black Album bio
* Black Album bio (Interview with Rivers Cuomo and Dave Sitek)
==References==
Category:Weezer albums
Category:2019 releases
Category:Self-titled records