Guns N' Roses have released a video for their new single, Perhaps. It's scheduled for physical release on October 21 as a 7" single, backed by another new song, The General.
The song, a mid-paced, piano-led rocker typical of Chinese Democracy-era Guns N' Roses, finds singer Axl Rose in surprisingly conciliatory mood. "My sense of rejection is no excuse for my behaviour,” he sings, before pondering, “How would I know how it feels or what it is to be you? I’ve been so upset harbouring this hate for days/What a weight upon your shoulders that you don’t need.”
According to a press release, Perhaps was "written and recorded by Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan this year," and is Guns N' Roses' "first collective new composition and recording together in thirty years since 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident?". Having said that, a demo of Perhaps was leaked on the internet in 2019 as part of the Rough Mixes bootleg series, so who knows?
The release of the video comes days after the finished recording was leaked via TouchTunes, a digital jukebox installed in more than 75,000 bars and restaurants across North America and Europe. The previous week, a pre-save link for the track was briefly made available on streaming platforms, alongside a release date of August 11. Then track then officially emerged yesterday, after being premiered by the Audacy network of rock radio stations across the US.
Perhaps is the third "new" song to be released by Guns N' Roses since the current lineup of the band reunited in 2016. Two more songs of vintage origin, Absurd and Hard Skool, were given a modern polish in the summer of 2021.
