A reggae song,[1] "Hold Up" is written in the key of C major in common time with a tempo of 84 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of C–F–D–G–D–F, and when it comes to Beyonce's vocals, they go from C3 to F5.[2] The track features a light reggae beat.[3]
A demo of "Hold Up" – a simple track containing just a chorus – was first written and recorded by Diplo and Ezra Koenig in 2014.[4] Koenig, the frontman of the indie rock band Vampire Weekend, was interested in the opening of "Can't Get Used to Losing You" by Andy Williams, played to him by Diplo, and wrote a hook around it. The lyrics include a slight rewording of the chorus of "Maps" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs that Koenig had tweeted years prior.[5] Beyonce, having heard and liked the demo, gave it to various songwriters to get the best ideas for building on it.
MNEK said he wrote a full song over the demo, but Beyoncé only made use of 3 lines from his song, which were eventually used in the bridge.[6] He also mentioned the unique process of Beyoncé: "The way she works, she is a writer in herself. And then she pieces together stuff and she pieces together, you know, Diplo's going to work on the track; she's going to send it to me to do a melody idea. That's the process. And it worked because she's overlooking everything."[7]
Father John Misty also said Beyoncé contacted him after she heard his song through Emile Haynie. She gave him the simple demo track and he ended up writing the first verse and refrain. He told NME, "With 'Hold Up' they just sent me the beat and the hook. I wrote that first verse and the 'jealous and crazy' part."[8] He didn't know if his part would be used or not but later Beyoncé told him in person that his part made the final cut at his 2015 Coachella set.[9]
In the outro of the song, Beyoncé sampled the hook from "Turn My Swag On" by Soulja Boy. She used the first two lines of the hook twice with slow falsetto vocals to express the feeling between denial and anger.
Critical reception
Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal named "Hold Up" as "Best New Track", calling Beyoncé's vocals "emotive" and stating "The music has no weight, no place, no time—a calypso dream heard through walls and generations...When Beyoncé works in the pained refrain of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps," she makes it glorious while allowing our memories to hint at the anguish underneath."[10]
Slant Magazine considered the song the 4th best one of 2016,[11] while Pitchfork named it the 28th best.[12] The song would later be voted in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop best in music in 2016, the 18th best single of the same period.[13]Billboard ranked "Hold Up" at number 23 on their "100 Best Pop Songs of 2016" list: "Beyonce's Lemonade was designed for memes… and tweets… and gifs. But ask anyone the image that defines the album, and you're likely to see a shot from "Hold Up"."[14] Richard Walker for The National named "Hold Up" the greatest song of the 2010s decade.[15]
Commercial performance
After the release of Lemonade, "Hold Up" debuted and peaked on the US BillboardHot 100 chart at number 13.[16] "Hold Up" also entered on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs at number 8.[16] In overseas charts, the song entered in multiple digital charts in top 5: Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.
In 2018, Beyoncé performed the bridge of “Hold Up” after Jay-Z performed “Bam” during the European and first three North American dates of the OTR II Tour, their second co-headlining, all-stadium tour together.
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