“Perhaps” is a song by the American hard rock band Guns N’ Roses, released as a single on August 18, 2023. A limited edition 7-inch vinyl is scheduled to be released on October 27, 2023, with “The General” as its B-side.
“Perhaps” was originally recorded during the Chinese Democracy sessions in 2000, and was leaked online in 2019 alongside other tracks from the same era.
The song was rehearsed at the soundcheck for the Tel Aviv concert on June 5, 2023, and again before the band’s Glasgow concert on June 27, 2023. Prior to the release, the song was leaked through digital jukeboxes in bars across the United States. The song features drumming from former band member Brain.
“Perhaps” was first played live on August 18, 2023, at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The music video for the song, which shows footage of the band live and backstage during the We’re F’N Back! Tour, reached a million views only a day after its release.
Since Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan reunited as Guns N’ Roses in 2016, fans of the band have been hoping for new studio music from the group. They’ve been rewarded here and there, with the electro-punk of “Absurd” (né “Silkworms”) in August 2021 and the more traditional rocker “Hard Skool” the next month. Now, two years later, and after a false start last week, GN’R have officially released a piano-driven song titled “Perhaps.”
So, is it any good? Yeah, it is. While technically a new song created with the input of the GN’R core trio of Rose, Slash, and McKagan, it has its roots in the sessions for Chinese Democracy, the legendarily delayed album that Rose finally released in 2008.