Rivers Cuomo Breaks Down Weezer's 'Go Away' and Gold Album in New Interview

Rivers Cuomo revealed the story behind Weezer's viral hit 'Go Away' and details about their next album in a new interview.

Cuomo explained the narrative of the 2022 track, which recently surged in popularity online. He described it as a song about a fractured relationship.

What is the song 'Go Away' about?

According to Cuomo, 'Go Away' centers on a romantic conflict. "It's about a boy girl relationship and the boy has misbehaved," he said. "The girl has left him for that reason or is telling him to go away and he's basically imploring her to let him back into her life." He clarified that the story isn't resolved by the song's end, leaving the outcome ambiguous. When asked if the lyrics were based on personal experience, his answer was a simple and definitive "No."

The song's sentiment found a second life as an internet meme. Cuomo acknowledged the trend where "a bunch of kids took that idea or the sentiment from the song and then put it towards another situation with two people and you make a clip and the girl takes off."

What is Weezer's new album?

The band is preparing to release its twentieth studio album. Cuomo confirmed the title follows their long-running color-coded tradition. "The new album is called Weezer again," he said. "The color this time is the color gold. It's not about currency. It's about staying gold. More like the outsiders." This references the famous line from S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, popularized by the 1983 film adaptation.

Cuomo and drummer Patrick Wilson also teased their upcoming tour plans. The band will hit the road this fall for 'The Weezer Gathering.' "We're about to find out in September in cities near you in the United States of America and Canada," Wilson said. He promised an "amazing concept" and urged fans to get tickets quickly. The Shins and Silversun Pickups will be joining them on the road.

The interview touched on several other fan-searched topics. Cuomo traced the band's name back to a childhood nickname from his father, inspired by the character Wheezer from The Little Rascals. He and Wilson identified 'Hash Pipe' and 'Come Together' as having some of the band's best riffs, while naming 'Undone – The Sweater Song' and 'Island in the Sun' as their most iconic.

When asked about their status as a meme, Cuomo seemed pleasantly surprised. "Have we become a meme?" he pondered before connecting it to the 'Go Away' phenomenon. The duo also firmly dispelled any notions of the band being demonic, with Wilson joking they should run the question through a different search engine.

Sources

• Weezer
• WIRED
• The Outsiders