"One Hot Minute" was not as universally well received as "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", and was ultimately considered to be a poor follow-up. It did, however, receive mixed to positive reviews from critics. Daina Darzin of "Rolling Stone" said ""One Hot Minute" dives into the emotionally deep end of drug addiction and loss", and that the album "is a ferociously eclectic and imaginative disc that also presents the band members as more thoughtful, spiritual—even grown-up. After a 10 plus-year career, they're realizing their potential at last." David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" said that ""One Hot Minute" wails and flails like a mosh-pit workout tape, but it also has moments of outright subtlety and maturity." He goes on to praise Kiedis for "keeping his boorish tendencies under control." Browne, however, criticizes the band for "attempts at cosmic philosophy which often trip up on hippie-dippie sentiments", and some songs "fall back on tired frat-funk flop sweat." "The Peppers work their own little patch with considerable expertise," wrote Peter Kane in "Q". "The incoming Navarro rarely fails to deliver the goods and upfront the taut ball of energy going by the name of Anthony Kiedis still makes for a suitably rubbery-lipped frontman, if not exactly a lovable one." "Q" also included "One Hot Minute" in its 'best of the year' roundup: "A bulging, blistering blend of a skewed ballads and physically intimidating workouts that charge around like a bull on a promise."