Rivers Cuomo posted another “special treat” to the Weezer message boards today, the band’s cover of the 1996 Toni Braxton hit “Un-break My Heart.” You might think it was done as a joke, but like many things about Weezer, it’s definitely not. American Songwriter magazine contacted Cuomo for a word about the unusual cover choice:

I loved that song. It was actually Rick Rubin’s suggestion. We both loved that song and we both thought it would be great for Weezer, and for my voice, and it’d be great to do like a rock version of it with more of an alternative aesthetic. And you know, just the way I would sing it versus in the way Toni Braxton would sing it. And I love the way it came out, and I think probably the rest of the band really does not like it, and that’s probably why it didn’t make our fifth record, in 2005 when we were recording it.

So the cover’s actually five years old. But the timing’s good — “Unbreak My Heart” appears on the band’s upcoming rarities album, Death To False Metal. Have a listen:





(H/T CoverMeSongs)

Death To False Metal is out 11/2.