Make Believe is the fifth studio album by Alternative Rock band Weezer, released in 2005, and is notable for being a lyrical return to the band's emo roots.
Shortly before their previous album Maladroit was even released, the band immediately began work on a fifth album, though they scrapped what they had a few months later and started over with new material that would eventually form the final product. The band hired Rick Rubin as a producer, who introduced lead vocalist and frontman Rivers Cuomo to Vipassana meditation. This would have a profound impact on both his life and his songwriting, as several songs such as "Pardon Me" and "Hold Me" were written based on his experiences while meditating.
Musically, the band adopted a poppier sound akin to Weezer (The Green Album) and abandoned the Word Salad Lyrics of their previous two albums in favor of the more personal songwriting found on their first two albums. The album is described as "[a] return to musical, emotional bloodletting". Ironically, a common criticism of the album is its lack of emotional depth.
The album had four singles: "Beverly Hills", "We Are All on Drugs", "Perfect Situation", and "This Is Such a Pity". "Beverly Hills" is notable for being the only Weezer single to reach the the Top 10 in the Billboard Hot 100, and by extension, their only song to hit the Top 40. To this day, Make Believe remains Weezer's highest-charting album, peaking at #2 and being certified Platinum by the end of the year.
Tracklist:
- "Beverly Hills" (3:16)
- "Perfect Situation" (4:15)
- "This Is Such a Pity" (3:24)
- "Hold Me" (4:22)
- "Peace" (3:53)
- "We Are All on Drugs" (3:35)
- "The Damage in Your Heart" (4:02)
- "Pardon Me" (4:15)
- "My Best Friend" (2:47)
- "The Other Way" (3:16)
- "Freak Me Out" (3:26)
- "Haunt You Every Day" (4:37)
Enhanced CD Bonus Videos:
- "The Making of Make Believe" (10:13)
Principal Members:
- Rivers Cuomo – lead vocals, guitar
- Brian Bell – guitar, backing vocals
- Scott Shriner – bass, backing vocals
- Patrick Wilson – drums, percussion, backing vocals
We are all on tropes:
- Best Friend: "My Best Friend", though the friendship in the song is implied to also be romantic.
- Bowdlerise: "We Are All on Drugs" was censored to "We Are All in Love" when MTV executives refused to air a video for a song with references to drugs.
- Call-Back:
- "The Other Way" contains a lyric lifted from Maladroit but slightly altered.
"I will turn and look the other way."- "My Best Friend" has a reference to "No Other One":
There is no other one who can take your place" - Cannot Talk to Women: "Perfect Situation" is about this trope.
- Concept Video:
- The music video for "Perfect Situation" features a fictional precursor to Weezer named Weeze, which is the same band except with Elisha Cuthbert as lead singer and Rivers as a roadie. Towards the end of the video, Elisha would Rage Quit following an argument with the rest of the band and Rivers would Step Up to the Mic to take her place, with the band being renamed to Weezer (the "r" for "Rivers").
- The music video for "We Are All on Drugs" features Rivers trying to go about his day while everyone around him is high.
- Drugs Are Bad: "We Are All on Drugs", though a popular interpretation of the song is that we are all addicted to something.
- Emo Music: This album marked a return to the genre.
- I Just Want to Be Special: "Beverly Hills" is about wanting to be famous.
- Isn't It Ironic?: "Beverly Hills" is a rare case where a song was considered to be ironic but was actually sincere. Cuomo wrote the song as an unironic yearning to be famous, but it was often interpreted as a sarcastic indictment of Hollywood.
- It Came from Beverly Hills: "Beverly Hills", of course. The song even provides the page quote!
- Pastiche: "This is Such a Pity" is a homage to 80s pop music.
- "Haunt You Every Day" is a Rivers' attempt at writing a Billy Joel song.
- Performance Video: "Beverly Hills" has a video featuring the band performing at the Playboy Mansion.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: "Hold Me" is about Rivers desperately trying to hold onto a failing relationship.
- The Not-Remix: "Perfect Situation" had an album mix and a single mix that featured a slightly different chorus and the band chanting "Perfect Situation" during the outro. Eventually, the band decided that they prefered the single mix and put that on later pressings of the album.
