Everything Will Be Alright in the End is the ninth studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on October 7, 2014. It is Weezer's only album released by Republic Records, and the third and final Weezer album produced by Ric Ocasek, who previously produced both Blue (1994) and Green (2001).
Everything Will Be Alright in the End departs from the electronic pop production of Weezer's previous two albums, Raditude and Hurley, returning to a sound more reminiscent of the band's earlier albums. The lyrics deal with singer Rivers Cuomo's relationship with his father figures, fans and women.
The album received positive reviews and became the most acclaimed Weezer album since Pinkerton (1996). It is the band's fifth album to peak in the Billboard 200 top five, reaching No. 5 and selling 34,000 copies its first week. The album was supported by three singles: "Back to the Shack", "Cleopatra", and "Da Vinci". As of early 2016, the album has sold 100,000 copies in the U.S.
Background and recording
In 2010, Weezer released two albums: Hurley, and a collection of unreleased material, Death to False Metal. Shortly after their release, the band announced that work had begun on a ninth studio album, with the intent of a 2011 release. Set to be produced by Shawn Everett, who had worked on the band's previous two releases, the album was shelved. At this time, band frontman Rivers Cuomo stated: "We just started working on our tenth record. I was talking to the producer and he was saying, "These songs sound totally different from Hurley. Hurley was kind of dark, and the new songs sound like you're 16, riding your bicycle to get a Slurpee." The band abandoned work on the album, in order to give primary songwriter Cuomo more time to write more material.
Cuomo wanted to create a "complex, classic album", but hit a creative wall during the hiatus. In May 2013, following his yearly Vipassana meditation trip, Cuomo came up with "a strong vision of the album". He announced plans to begin recording a new album in January 2014, with work continuing through the summer. Ric Ocasek was announced as the album's producer; Ocasek produced the band's self-titled first and third albums, otherwise known as the Blue Album (1994) and the Green Album (2001). The band chose him as the producer based on the feeling that he would best be able to return to "the sound and the vibe and the energy of where [the band] came from", while also allowing them to "explore and try new things". Bassist Scott Shriner described Ocasek's production style as "very serious".
The band recorded the majority of the album in The Village, a recording studio located in Los Angeles, California. On March 19, 2014, Weezer released a clip of two new songs on the band's official YouTube account that ended with the words "in the studio now". On June 13, the album title was announced.
Writing and composition
Over 200 songs were considered for the album, with 20 being tracked and "a dozen or so" being chosen for the album. According to the album's official press release, the album is organized thematically around three groups of songs: "Belladonna", "The Panopticon Artist" and "Patriarchia". Band leader Rivers Cuomo described the album's theme as "an increased awareness of the impermanence of everything we [take] for granted [and] "how to make peace with that." Drummer Patrick Wilson described the album's sound as "bombastic, loose, kind of booming. [The] record sounds like it's going to have the tight structure of the Blue Album with a little bit more abandon like Pinkerton". The band stated the album would feature less "modern pop production" than its previous two albums, Raditude and Hurley. The album as a whole has been described as alternative rock, power pop and pop punk.