Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has described taking a more calculated, business-minded approach to songwriting on the band's 20th album, telling the Guardian he needed to "think less like a mad scientist… and more like a CEO." The shift followed the poor reception of SZNZ, a four-part concept project released across 2022, whose streaming figures showed dwindling listenership with each instalment. In response, Cuomo deliberately paused new releases to "build up demand" and refocused on writing material he believes fans actually want, rather than pursuing high-concept experiments.

The new self-titled album, nicknamed the "Gold Album" by fans because of its sleeve colour, continues Weezer's practice of reusing the band's own name, following six earlier records with the same title. Speaking alongside drummer Patrick Wilson, Cuomo, 56, discussed his notoriously methodical songwriting process, which relies heavily on Google Sheets, including a spreadsheet nicknamed "The Encyclopedia o' Riffs" that logs unused musical ideas. Despite the album's origins in a song, CEO, that wryly acknowledges fan pressure to recreate the band's 1990s sound, Cuomo said the record is a more considered and sophisticated project than a simple attempt to please the audience, with the band treating live shows as a testing ground for new material.