Tell Me Baby is a song from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 2006 double album, Stadium Arcadium. The song was released as the follow-up to the hit single "Dani California" on July 17, 2006. The single was not as successful as "Dani California" as far as chart success, but did reach number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart and remained there for 4 weeks.
The song incorporates both the old funk sound from their Blood Sugar Sex Magik days in the verses of the song, and the chorus focuses on the more melodic sound found on the more recent Chili Peppers albums.
The music video for "Tell Me Baby" was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, a directing duo that has worked on many other Chili Peppers videos. Flea has stated "It is the best [video] we ever did." For the video, Dayton and Faris interviewed and auditioned people who originally came to California to achieve some sort of fame and people who play music just for the sake of playing music. During the callback for the auditioned people, their second audition was filmed and the members of the Chili Peppers surprisingly entered the room during auditions to join in playing along. The music video for Tell Me Baby is to represent how awkward auditions are and how hard it is to make it in the music business. It also shows the lighter more enjoyable side of music if you make it or when you're just playing for fun.
