[8] Using the demo as a "center point of the next album", the band hired Sinclair as producer, first recording the single, "Do You Wanna Get High?".

[7] Sonically, Cuomo credited The Beach Boys as a major influence,[16] describing the album as "a ’90s grungy take on ’60s pop songs".

[17] Sinclair was also "determined to return Weezer to their Nineties glory", combining the "brashness and unpredictability of Pinkerton with the summer Beach Boys grunge pop of the Blue Album".

[11] Cuomo also wrote stream-of-consciousness thoughts in his journal, then highlighted interesting lines, adding them to a spreadsheet of potential lyrics organized by number of syllables and strong-weak emphasis.

[8] Several critics described Weezer to be a concept album,[18][19][20][21] their first since Pinkerton, with Pitchfork reviewer Zoe Camp labeling it a "a three-act tale of geek-meets-girl, followed en suite by boy-gets-heart-torn-asunder".

[20] In contrast, Mikael Wood described the songs as "[talking] vividly about desperate people in a would-be paradise",[6] while Noisey commentator Emma Garland characterized them as a "vulnerable, weird, and intelligent outpouring from a dude who finds the world a difficult place to live in.

"[19] As with previous Weezer albums, several references are made to pop culture, such as the 2014 film Whiplash, the online dating app Tinder, and Australian rock band 5 Seconds of Summer; however, several music critics noted more varied and obscure historical and religious-themed references throughout the album, such as the extinction of the Great auk, American composer Burt Bacharach, the concept of a female God, Brahmin youth reciting the veda and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Girls" and Weezer's 1994 B-side, "Susanne", as well as references to the guitar riff from the 1996 single, "El Scorcho", in "California Kids", and the bass line from Blue Album closer "Only in Dreams" being featured in the bridge to "King of the World".

[26] "(Girl We Got A) Good Thing", as described by Cuomo, is written in a "60s-style...major key boppy feel" combined with "the big 90s guitars we love".

In response, he chose the title "Good Thing" from his spreadsheets and wrote lyrics that, instead, described Cuomo's experiences on Venice Beach.

[28] "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori", written solely by Cuomo, featured a key change into the chorus, as well as a "pretty extended satisfying guitar solo that I get to play [... as well as] this sublimated sexual longing in the lyrics.

Girls", written by Cuomo, Bell and Luther Russell–featuring references to The Divine Comedy, Whiplash, and the Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky"–serves as a "throwback to the Blue Album, with Wall of Sound-like production values, sweeping guitars" and deals with the lyrical theme of longing, with "Cuomo’s voice [quivering] right along the borderline between hope and fear even as he makes an undisguised declaration of love in the bridge.

[18][31] "Endless Bummer", co-written by Cuomo, Bell and Russell, serves as the "acoustic closing track where the summer fun finally dies out and the narrator laments [...] the emptiness of it all.

[35] Coinciding with the start of the tour, the band released a five-track acoustic EP through Spotify, featuring two songs off the album: "California Kids" and "King of the World".

[36] On October 7, 2016, Weezer released a deluxe edition of the White Album on digital outlets, containing an additional four tracks: "I Love the USA", a song the band had previously released on June 30 as part of Apple Music and NASA's celebration of the Juno space probe's impending landing on Jupiter;[37] a remix of "Jacked Up" with guest vocals from Michael "Fitz" Fitzpatrick of Fitz and the Tantrums and Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot; and two previously-unreleased songs from the White Album sessions, "Friend of a Friend" and "Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter".

[38] Later in the year, two White Album outtakes, "The Last Days of Summer" and "Prom Night", were released as a 7" vinyl single for the official Weezer Fan Club.

[41] Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic stated that "The White Album winds up existing in a fantasy world that's entirely the band's own creation", calling it "Weezer's version of Southern California".

[42] Evan Lucy of Alternative Press declared the album as Weezer's best material in 15 years, stating "feel free to call it a resurgence, a comeback, a resurrection or whatever else you will.

Club reviewer John Hugar praised Cuomo for "[writing] some ridiculously fun, optimistic tunes", positively comparing the tracks to the band's 90's work, as well as Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys.

If it takes a couple bullshit alt singles to anchor a collection of vintage Weezer melodies, then it's a worthy sacrifice.