It’s been two years since rock/pop/alternative band Weezer released its slightly disappointing self-titled album “Weezer” (also known as “The Black Album”), as well as a cover album featuring their rendition of Toto’s “Africa” (“The Teal Album”). Now, with its new album “OK Human,” released on Friday, Jan. 29, Weezer is truly back.

For the past year, the band has been promoting a new album. This was a return-to-form rock and roll album entitled “Van Weezer,” which was set to release in May 2020. Along with the new album, the band was set to take on the “Hella Mega Tour” with Fall Out Boy and Green Day that summer. However, the pandemic quickly forced Weezer to rethink its plans for releasing new music. It made the difficult decision to delay “Van Weezer” for a full year, disappointing many fans tired of listening to the rendition of “Africa.”

The next couple of months consisted of complete radio silence from the band, and fans were clamoring for any sort of announcement. On Jan. 21, Weezer announced that it will be releasing a completely different album called “OK Human.” The album’s title is a nod to Radiohead’s legendary 1997 rock album “OK Computer.” However, “OK Human” is completely different from anything rock-related. Instead of a rock opera, fans received an album full of piano ballads, a 38-piece orchestra and introspective lyrics about vulnerability and escapism.

Overall, I think “OK Human” is the album we didn’t know we needed. It consists of some of the most compelling lyrics lead singer Rivers Cuomo has ever written, reflecting on isolation during the pandemic in a relatable way. Each song seamlessly flows into the next, making the whole album feel like one long song. The opening track, “All My Favorite Songs,” details Cuomo’s conflicting emotions about his life. He sings, “All my favorite songs are slow and sad, all my favorite people make me mad.”

The production and lyrics are excellent, but my only complaint about the song is that the rhyme scheme is not very sophisticated, rhyming “sad,” “mad” and “bad” (Eminem must be trembling). In “Grapes of Wrath,” Cuomo relishes in his love for listening to audiobooks in order to escape everyday life. The track channels the feeling of reading a good book as opposed to spending time focused on technology. The lyrics expand on a theme present throughout the album of denying technology for a more authentic, natural and human life. The theme of escapism continues in “Playing My Piano,” in which Cuomo explains how music allows him to forget everything going on in the world. It includes my personal favorite line, “Kim Jong-Un could blow up my city, I’d never know.”

My favorite song on the album is “Bird With A Broken Wing,” in which Cuomo applies the metaphor of an injured bird to express the feeling of worthlessness.

“I was feeling pretty irrelevant and passed over and past my prime, I guess I was feeling pretty sorry for myself,” Cuomo explained in an interview with Apple Music.

I love this song because it gives me a feeling of nostalgia and has a very peaceful and calming vibe despite its slightly depressing lyrics.

Finally, in the closing track, “La Brea Tar Pits,” Cuomo reflects on his own mortality and worries that he may fade into obscurity. Yet, he says that “there’s still so much to give.” In my opinion, this song was a bit underwhelming as a closing track, but I like the chorus, and it gives the album a nice feeling of closure.

I would highly recommend listening to “OK Human.” The length is around thirty minutes, so it’s a pretty short and easy listen. I always find myself coming back to Weezer because the band always comes up with something fresh and different for me to appreciate. Although its excruciatingly extensive discography (fourteen albums over the past three decades) is not as consistent as I would like it to be, they’ve made some of my favorite music ever, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.