can i createRecord() without using save()?

I'm learning ember from the scratch and i stumbled upon something i can't quite understand:

const newNote = this.store.createRecord('note', {
    content: 'once upon a time...',
});

newNote.save().then(this._redirectToNewNote.bind(this));

Is the result of createRecord in the database before saving, or is it like a dummy object? can I use createRecord without saving?