Gregg Alexander closed the chapter on New Radicals after their lone record, 1998’s highly regarded Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too, yet he subsequently established himself as one of pop’s most successful composers behind the scenes. He co-authored chart-toppers such as Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder On The Dancefloor,” the Santana–Michelle Branch collaboration “The Game Of Love,” and the Oscar-nominated Begin Again ballad “Lost Stars,” performed by Keira Knightley and Adam Levine. By the time the band’s initial run ended, Alexander had grown weary of the rock-frontman lifestyle, and since their 1999 tour opening for Goo Goo Dolls, he has rarely given interviews or performed publicly.
In 2021, however, New Radicals reassembled for the first time in 22 years to take part in President Joe Biden’s virtual inauguration parade. The group’s breakout hit, “You Get What You Give,” served as Beau Biden’s theme during his cancer battle, a detail the president highlighted in his memoir. In recent years,.Geese, Benee, Gus Dapperton, and other Generation Z artists have also offered their own interpretations of the track.
Alexander has lately issued his own renditions of “Murder On The Dancefloor” (in 2024) and “The Game Of Love” (just last month), giving fans a chance to hear those songs in his own vocal voice.
Now there is a bona fide new New Radicals track. Alexander and Danielle Brisebois were the band’s sole permanent members, and they kept collaborating after the project concluded, co-writing songs including “Lost Stars” with Brisebois’ husband, Nick Lashley (not to be confused with Nick Lachey).
Last Friday brought the release of “One Night Only (Break Loose Break Free!).” Alexander, Brisebois, and Lashley co-wrote and performed it, marking the first newly recorded song credited to New Radicals since 1998. (To be precise: Alexander and Brisebois issued their own version of “Lost Stars” in 2015, though not under the New Radicals name. When it was reissued in 2024, it was retroactively credited to New Radicals before vanishing from streaming services. So if you prefer to call this the group’s first New Radicals track in 11 years, that distinction could be debated. Anyway…) The new track functions as the theme for One Night Only, the upcoming rom-com starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, where premarital sex is outlawed except for one night each year. Its punchy, piano-driven pop-rock and spoken-word passages aren’t far removed from the sound of Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too.
King Princess and Este Haim, both part of the film’s intriguing cast, also contributed to the soundtrack. King Princess delivered a cover of John Paul Young’s 1977 hit “Love Is In The Air,” while Este Haim reunited with Suncoast collaborator Christopher Stracey to compose the movie’s score. “One Haim Only Plus A Stray (Score Suite),” a medley of their work, is streaming alongside the New Radicals and King Princess tracks. Check them out below along with the trailer.
