You know that thing in film and TV where music supervisors and trailer producers will take a well-known pop song and make it sound creepy? Just off the top of my head, I can remember this happening with Britney Spears, Destiny’s Child, and Lou Reed songs. I get why it’s such a popular tactic; taking something familiar and tweaking it ever so slightly is useful for signaling that bad things are afoot. But it’s getting out of hand. They’re coming for Weezer now.

FOX is teasing a new action-drama series called Rescue: HI-Surf. It’s about a bunch of lifeguards on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, doing a notoriously dangerous profession in a notoriously dangerous place. And so the trailer obviously had to feature Weezer’s “Island In The Sun,” the official White Tourist Anthem of Hawaii. They introduce the song in the usual studio form we know and love, but then — when it’s time to remind you that people die in the ocean sometimes — the instruments drop out and it’s just Rivers Cuomo singing. I don’t think anyone would call Rivers Cuomo’s voice “haunting” or “foreboding” or even “provoking,” even Rivers Cuomo himself. But at least Weezer are making money somehow. Watch the trailer below.

Congrats to Weezer for finally entering the “slowed down for trailer” phase of their career pic.twitter.com/N4PeqSjc2a

— Andrew Woods (@JimJarmuschHair) August 2, 2024