The moment Flea found inspiration in Frank Ocean: “I couldn’t get enough of it”
It was surprising to listen to Flea‘s 2026 solo album Honora and be most compelled by his cover of Frank Ocean’s ‘Thinking Bout You’.
Flea has long been known for his aggressive and funk-driven grooves that exemplify the very best parts of rock and roll’s original energy. It was always about pushing the boundaries for Flea and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and so, within that, there was little time to waste performing covers of other musicians.
Moreover, there was nothing really worth Flea’s time. His signature style was so deeply embedded in the sonic style of the Peppers that paring it down to fit the pop sensibilities of musicians around him felt like a restriction, if anything. But as his life has mellowed, he’s reconnected with the melody section of the band and embarked on his trumpet-led, jazz-infused solo album Honora.
There, a wealth of songs that would have been mobbed by Flea’s bass playing now have new meaning, and the great bassist can engage with contemporary music in an entirely new way. Rather undeniably, the standout track on the record was his take on Ocean’s hit, which allowed Flea to slow down his performance style and play between the rhythmic gaps that he usually sets.
On ‘Thinkin Bout You’, his trumpet playing bleeds over the top of the song in a way that clearly indicates a personal relationship to Ocean’s music, which Flea has since established stretches beyond that famous single and to his entire debut album.
“Frank Ocean is amazing,” he passionately exclaimed, “When he put out Channel Orange, it just floored me, man. And very rarely does that happen. I appreciate stuff, and can be like ‘Oh that’s smart, that’s clever, oh that guy’s really poetic’, or I feel the pain being expressed. Whereas Frank’s record just laid me out. I couldn’t get enough of it.”
‘Thinking Bout You’ was the standout track and laid Ocean’s personal style of songwriting bare to the audience. It’s largely why it stood out as an obvious choice for Flea to pick it when deciding what to cover. But it’s clear that he perhaps chose that song on the basis of it being less sacred to a global audience, especially in comparison to some of the deeper cuts on the record, which Flea realised, can only belong to Ocean himself.
He noted introspectively, “That song ‘Bad Religion’, him coming to terms with himself in such a vulnerable way and speaking to somebody he doesn’t know, a cab driver asking him to be a shrink…doing it with a phrasing and a melodicism, interesting instrumentation and recording it the way it sounds. I love it. I respect him and admire him so much.”
It’s clear that Flea isn’t a lyricist, and Honora wasn’t an album that sought to rectify that. But the Californian bassist has a unique ability to empathise with music in completely different ways on his record, and he proved that, allowing his trumpet playing to ache and bleed in a way that did Ocean’s music justice.
