Red Hot Chili Peppers dial back the tempo on dreamy new ballad, Not the One
The third single from the band's forthcoming album, Unlimited Love, shows John Frusciante's textural side
Red Hot Chili Peppers have premiered Not the One, the third single from their forthcoming album, Unlimited Love.
A dreamy ballad driven by some cinematic piano work by RHCP bass guitar hero Flea, Not the One is the most down-tempo of the three tunes (it was proceeded by the Hendrixian Black Summer and the funky Poster Child) we've heard so far from Unlimited Love, the band's first album with electric guitar player John Frusciante since 2006's Stadium Arcadium.
Frusciante, for his part, really shows his textural side on this song. With fade-ins on the volume knob of his Stratocaster, two different delays set to different times, and a chorus pedal, he adds an eerie, ethereal quality to this otherwise straightforward piano ballad.
You can hear the single below.
"Flea had put together a drum machine and bass song in his cobweb-covered garage," RHCP frontman Anthony Kiedis told Zane Lowe on his Apple Music 1 show about the origins of the song. "It was not what you hear today for Not the One, because the bridge was the verse and the chorus was the bridge, and it was completely inverted.
"Every day after band practice, I ride home and I listen to what we've done that day over and over and over and over hoping that it sparks something or that I hear the right melody or something, anything. In that case, I started hearing that entire song on the way home, but completely inverted from the way he had arranged it.
"When you start something, you get a little bit married to it. I came in the next day and I said, 'Flea, I know this is not what you had in mind, but is it all right if I sing the verse over the chorus and the chorus over the bridge?' He's like, 'yeah, do whatever you want.' I was like, 'Really?' He's like, 'Yeah, yeah, whatever,' because he wrote a beautiful thing.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
"I thought maybe he wanted to keep it as it was written. On this particular day, he was so supportive and that was super helpful. I think I was going through a very lonely and introspective month. This idea came out about I think I know who you are, but maybe I don't.
"You think you know who I am, but maybe you don't and especially in intimate relationships, like we know we all present something and people always have an idea, but what would happen if we just showed each other our very worst from the very start?"
Unlimited Love was produced by Rick Rubin, and is set for an April 1 release via Warner Records.
You can preorder it here, and check out its cover art and track list below.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Unlimited Love:
- Black Summer
- Here Ever After
- Aquatic Mouth Dance
- Not The One
- Poster Child
- The Great Apes
- It’s Only Natural
- She’s A Lover
- These Are The Ways
- Whatchu Thinkin’
- Bastards of Light
- White Braids & Pillow Chair
- One Way Traffic
- Veronica
- Let ‘Em Cry
- The Heavy Wing
- Tangelo
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
“We’ve made something really unique and special”: Thin Lizzy to release first new record in over 40 years – featuring brand new guitar parts from founding member Eric Bell and unheard Phil Lynott vocals
“The sonic equivalent of a fist-fight between James Hetfield and Alex Lifeson”: October 2024 Guitar World editors’ picks