Weezer's Rivers Cuomo Calls Adam Lambert's Voice 'Amazing'

Frontman talks about lending 'Pick U Up' to 'American Idol' runner-up's debut album.

There's no mistaking a Weezer song: the faux-metal riffs, big hooks, infectious choruses and Rivers Cuomo's sweet, slightly nasal croon. Cuomo has spent a career crafting these quirky pop songs that leap across genre boundaries, which is why it makes perfect sense that he would collaborate with "American Idol" runner-up and erstwhile glam rocker Adam Lambert. Cuomo wrote a song for Lambert for his upcoming debut album, For Your Entertainment.

"I wrote a song called 'Pick U Up' for Weezer. It's one of my favorite songs I ever wrote. For some reason, Weezer didn't want to record it for Raditude," Cuomo told MTV News, referencing his band's new album, which hit stores Tuesday (November 3). "I figured it would end up on the next record and it just didn't fit this time around. Then I was invited to sit in with Adam Lambert and watch him sing, and he was checking out the song. And as it turns out, he came up with a few ideas for it for himself, changed the melody around, suggested some lyric changes and before you knew it, I was writing a song with Adam Lambert."

Cuomo said "Pick U Up" draws from a fantastically eclectic combination of sounds. "It sounds like a combination of ABBA, with beautiful pop melodies, and a disco beat like you'd hear in a Donna Summer song," he said. "But then there is this heavy guitar feel to it, like from [German techno-metal band] Rammstein or something. It's just a wonderful hybrid of all the music I love."

Cuomo clearly enjoyed his time with Lambert and was phenomenally impressed with his instrument. "He has the most amazing voice. It's exactly the kind of voice I convince myself I have on my best day, but of course I'm nowhere near that amazing," he said.