Is there any musician who digs pop music more than Rivers Cuomo? The Weezer frontman has professed his love for Debbie Gibson and Kiss; curated an Internet radio station that plays everything from Fall Out Boy to the Turtles; and spent the summer covering Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” in concert. Now, on his band’s seventh album, the awesomely titled Raditude, comes a cameo by Lil Wayne and a collaboration with Swedish bubblegum merchant Dr. Luke, whose most recent smash was Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” A smash, incidentally, that Cuomo can’t stop listening to. “It’s a great song,” he gushes.

Weezer have certainly come a long way since the nerdery of their early albums. These days you’re more likely to hear Cuomo singing about partying than (ugh) feelings—an evolution some fans have deemed insincere. But those detractors miss the point: For Cuomo, loving pop music is the most sincere thing in the world. “Weezer was always a pop band first,” he says. “Even our most abrasive music had a beautiful melody.” Nowadays when they cowrite a song with, say, hip-hop hit maker Jermaine Dupri (as they did on Raditude), it’s not to be ironic; it’s because Cuomo can’t resist a guilty pleasure. “If it moves you, it moves you,” he says. “To me that’s the definition of genuine.”

Which is not to say Raditude is totally carefree. “Can’t Stop Partying” (the Lil Wayne, Jermaine Dupri track) is less a champagne-popping celebration than a sinister cautionary tale, and despite its vaguely douchey title, “I’m Your Daddy” was actually written about Cuomo’s infant daughter lying sick in a hospital bed. But now that he’s 39 and married, Cuomo says, “All the knots inside me are slowly unwinding.” Life is rad, and he just wants to kick back and have a little fun. And who could be mad at that?