Rivers Cuomo has provided fans with a treasure trove of fascinating musical scraps. Under the banner of “randum cuverz,” the Weezer frontman uploaded 15 solo acoustic covers to YouTube this past Sunday. The recordings, which sound like intimate voice memos, vary in age—some are recent, while others predate the smartphone era. While some tracks are only a few seconds long, the collection offers a compelling look at the songwriter’s process.
The songs included in this unexpected release are a diverse mix: Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” Sam Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road,” Post Malone and Quavo’s “Congratulations,” Morgan Evans’ “Country Outta My Girl,” Radiohead’s “Creep,” Nirvana’s “Drain You,” Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” Eagles’ “Hotel California,” Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” Nirvana’s “Lithium,” Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Green Day’s “When I Come Around,” and Harry Nilsson’s “Without You.”
These recordings are not entirely new to the public eye, as many are dated 2018 or 2019 in their filenames, with some dating back over two decades. While Weezer has performed many of these songs live, tracks like the Sam Hunt and Whitney Houston covers appear to be fresh additions to the “Weezerverse.” Notably, the raw performance of “Without You”—which reportedly appeared on MySpace in a shorter form back in 2003—takes on a haunting quality reminiscent of the Pinkerton closer “Butterfly.”
Redditors have speculated that Rivers Cuomo may have been attempting to privately archive home demos from his Dropbox and accidentally made them public. Regardless of whether the release was intentional, the tracks remain available, offering a fun, raw curio for dedicated fans. You can dive into the full playlist below.
