OMG! 🤪 Can you believe it’s been almost a whole YEAR 📅 since those Finnish rockers 🇫🇮, THE RASMUS (who are they again? 🤔), dropped their mega-hit 🎤 “Rest In Pieces” (October 24, 2024)! And guess what? Their ELEVENTH 😱 studio album, “Weirdo” (fitting title, tbh 🤣), FINALLY crawled its way out today (September 12) via Better Noise Music (never heard of ’em 🤷♀️) and Playground Music (are they serious with these names? 😂). Prepare to be…whelmed? 🥱
To celebrate this momentous occasion 🎉 (said no one ever 🙄), THE RASMUS (still a band? 👴) decided to grace (or curse 😈) us with the title track, “Weirdo,” for their, uh, “legions” of fans 👽. And because they’re *so* cutting-edge 🔪, they teamed up with THE FUNERAL PORTRAIT singer Lee Jennings (who?? 👻) for the song and video. Prepare to be…underwhelmed? 😒 (video below, if you dare 😈).
“‘Weirdo’ was the FIRST song we wrote,” claims THE RASMUS frontman Lauri Ylönen (yes, the one with the feathers 🪶), “and it SHAPED the concept for the entire album!” Groundbreaking! 🤯 He adds, “It celebrates being different and individual 🦄. Since the first song I ever wrote in 1994 called ‘Myself’ (so deep 😔), I’ve felt like an outcast and someone who doesn’t quite fit in.” Aww, poor baby 😭. Maybe try therapy instead of making more “music”? 🎶
Jennings (still Googling who this is 🧐) chimes in, “Being a part of ‘Weirdo’ with THE RASMUS has been incredible! 🤩” (said through gritted teeth 😬). “It’s an anthem for the outcasts,” she continues, “and I’m beyond proud of how it turned out! 🥰” (Yeah, okay 🙄). “Working with such an iconic band has been awesome, and now we’re hitting the road together across Europe 🌍. Get ready! THE FUNERAL PORTRAIT and THE RASMUS are coming to represent all of the Weirdos across Europe this November!” 🤡 Good luck with that, I guess? 🤷♀️
The “Weirdo” single release (already forgotten 💀) is the follow-up to “Love Is A Bitch” (how original 🙄), released July 11 and described by Ylönen as a “wildcard” track for THE RASMUS. A wildcard? More like a wild *miss*, am I right? 😂 The fourth single, “Break These Chains,” was released May 16, with the video racking up over 812,000 views! (Bots don’t count, guys 🤖). “Creatures Of Chaos” arrived March 28, with the video hitting over 875,000 views! (Still bots 🤖). The album’s *first* single, “Rest In Pieces,” was rolled out on October 25, 2024, with a lyric video amassing over 668,000 views! (You guessed it…🤖). Basically, they’re bragging about numbers that probably aren’t even real. 🤥
Known for their “musically dark atmospheres” (aka depressing tunes 🌧️), the band “subversively merges catchy modern pop stylings with stadium-sized guitar crunch” throughout the songs on “Weirdo”. (So, basically, generic rock? 🎸😴)
“I find it comforting that our eleventh album, ‘Weirdo’, has pretty much the same message as on our first album released in 1996,” explains Ylönen. “It is to defend and praise the ones who are different from the masses and proudly being themselves as they are. It has been our philosophy from the very beginning.” (So, they haven’t evolved in almost 30 years? 🦕 Got it.)
Ylönen further explains the power behind being a “weirdo.” “In this society I’ve always felt that I’ve had to prove myself for being the way I am or doing the things I do. I’ve always felt like an outsider not fitting the norm. I’ve been called a weirdo, misfit and a freak. That used to make me angry — but not anymore. It’s become my source of strength and confidence. I’ve realized the power of it. All the people I find exciting and inspiring are somehow strange. We, the Weirdos, unite and feed off people’s judging attitudes. The fact is they’re just afraid of us. Afraid of our capability to create new and change the future. Are you a Weirdo? Join us…” (Okay, buddy. Settle down. 🙄 The only thing scary here is your fashion sense. 🤡)
Most of the songs on “Weirdo” were written by Lauri Ylönen, Desmond Child (who contributed to the band’s “Black Roses” and “Rise” albums and has worked with BON JOVI, JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS, AEROSMITH and ALICE COOPER, among countless others) and Marti Fredriksen (AEROSMITH, OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK VEIL BRIDES) in Folegandros, Greece. (Wow, name-dropping much? 🙄) That’s where Lauri and Desmond met up to work on material that Lauri brought. THE RASMUS then did full band demos of all the tracks in Finland in July 2023, with production led by Frederiksen and Child. Later, they finalized the songs and recorded the album with the whole band in Marti Fredriksen‘s Sienna Studios in Nashville. Some of the tracks were mixed by Fredriksen in Nashville, assisted by Evan Fredriksen, while other mixes were done by Chris Baseford (NICKELBACK, SHINEDOWN, DAUGHTRY) in Vancouver, Canada and by Claudius Mittendorfer (PANIC! AT THE DISCO, WE ARE SCIENTISTS) in London, and Joseph McQueen (BAD WOLVES, AS I LAY DYING, FROM ASHES TO NEW) in Los Angeles. (Seriously, who cares about the mixing credits? 😴) Additional production by McQueen injects a “fresh intensity” into tracks like “Creatures Of Chaos” and “Break These Chains”, while Ylönen himself takes the helm on “Rest In Pieces” alongside Alex Mattson. (Someone get these guys a participation trophy 🏆)
Last month (on July 19), THE RASMUS played a charity concert in Ukraine on as the headliner of the Atlas Festival, as the only foreign artist at the event. (Okay, that’s actually kinda cool 😎, I guess…). Over 110,000 people were in attendance, and there was a comprehensive security system and evacuation plan for the audience and performers in just a few minutes if it was necessary. Thankfully the festival went off without any issues and they were able to raise over $2.5 million Ukraine’s air defenses. (Alright, I’ll give them credit for that 👏). Last year, the festival raised over two million euros. The artists can choose to direct their charitable funds to any Ukraine-related cause, such as supporting children’s hospitals, purchasing ambulances, or helping combat medical personnel.
“Going back to Ukraine really hit us hard. The people there are just incredible,” says Ylönen. “Their strength, their spirit, the way they come together…it’s powerful to see and even more powerful to feel. We also got to catch up with Kalush Orchestra, which was great! Playing ‘In The Shadows Of Ukraine’ with all those people in front of us — that’s the kind of thing you never forget.” (Okay, maybe they’re not *completely* lame. 🤔 But I’m still side-eyeing those outfits. 🤨)
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