Roger Weeks -- What's the Worst That Could Happen?
Bee Delores raves about What's the Worst That Could Happen? a translucent lyrical tapestry from roger weeks
Roger Weeks’ debut album arrives with a flash and a bang. Possessing the emotional sharpness and clarity of a Sasha Alex Sloan album, What’s the Worst That Could Happen? arrives as one of the year’s most resonant records. 13 songs capture the scope of human existence; fragile moments fit together like a mosaic, jagged yet beautiful. There’s a commitment to shattering self-preservation that washes over the listener. Weeks isn’t here to paint over the messy parts of life but to let them live and breathe alongside the brighter moments. When he comes clean about life’s bleakness, his pen excavates things that would otherwise wither and die.
What’s the Worst That Could Happen? is a quiet album. Weeks heaves hushed melodies, encased in breathy whispers, over translucent arrangements that bowl you over. There’s no need for the brash clashing of instruments or bubbly pop hooks. With folk as his guiding hand, permitting him to masterfully paint outside genre lines, he pieces each song like links in a chain. There’s a world-weariness woven into the album’s backbone that’s tough to contain. As he dabbles in various genres, the album practically collapses into itself from Weeks’ two-ton lyrical anvil. He wields his words with impressive strength, as he does with the “i think i love you” opener. With propulsive force, the album barrels down the track with such intensity that you witness Weeks’ life bursting in bright colors.
Weeks faces every fear he’s ever experienced in life. “I wonder where the feelings went / All the leaves were turning dead again,” he spins his wheels on “Feels Like Treason.” He erects the album around crushed sadness, as you’ll hear on standouts “Traveler” and “Caught in Chaos.” He shows his entire hand on What’s the Worst That Could Happen?, allowing himself to endure every thorny prick all over again. Such raw honesty is forged through Weeks’ delicately constructed meditation on love and loss, pain and regret, and the suffocating pressure of not being good enough.
“I wanna wash you off my sheets / I swear I still feel you sleeping next to me,” Weeks sighs on “System,” a song that uses vocal distortion to great effect. “But it’s been a year now, and I can hear my friends say I’m pathetic for thinking you’re still around.”
Weeks commits every song to exorcising his demons. Even if it hurts, it's better to let them go than to continue wallowing in the airless, bottomless pit. I can’t quite name a single song that shines brighter than the rest, indicating that What’s the Worst That Could Happen? is the album to beat in 2025. The year isn’t quite half over, and Roger Weeks blows away most of his competition. It certainly outpaces everything in the mainstream, from the faded lyrical tapestry to the shades of musical brilliance.
I hate relishing in hyperbole, yet it’s well deserved in this instance. If this is what Weeks has in store for a debut, I can’t fathom what he’ll create 10 or 15 years down the road.
