 However , the praise was balanced by certain critics . Blender considered By the Way to be an indistinguishable sequel to Californication , calling it " Californication 2 " . It further condemned the Chili Peppers for not varying their style and remaining extremely similar in sound . Jaime Lowe of The Village Voice panned Kiedis 's lyrics as " absolutely baffling " and commented that " it 's as if he picked up a rhyming dictionary and arbitrarily strung some phrases together . " The newspaper 's Robert Christgau was also critical of his songwriting , writing that " it 's not enough for Anthony Kiedis to get all mature — he 's supposed to say something interesting about maturity . " Entertainment Weekly praised By the Way for being well refined and a superb collaboration , but criticized the Chili Peppers for playing it safe and keeping the album 's energy mild ; for being " more fascinating for what it symbolizes than what it is . " 
