"Holding on to You" is a song written and recorded by American musical duo Twenty One Pilots, for their second studio album Regional at Best. A partially re-recorded version of the song appeared on their third studio album, Vessel. "Holding on to You" was released as the first single from Vessel in the iTunes Store worldwide on September 11, 2012 but was first released on Twenty One Pilots’s PureVolume account on September 7, 2012.[1] A video for the song was released on November 15.[2] The video was directed by Jordan Bahat.[3] The song impacted alternative radio on December 4, 2012,[4] and released to mainstream radio on June 11, 2013.[5] It is the band's debut single.
Background
In an interview with SiriusXM, Tyler Joseph, the lead singer of Twenty One Pilots, revealed that he was considering ending his career in music, but continued as he was excited about a track he was working on called "Entertain my Faith";[6] however, its name was changed to "Holding on to You" when Joseph could not decide on a better title. While originally unsatisfied by the title, he has since grown used to it. "I remember the riff..." Joseph says while talking about the conception of "Holding on to You", "on the piano, on the keys. I'm very visual when I write music and I remember I accidentally jumped over a few notes when I was trying to figure out just the riff and I didn't think it worked. Then I listened to it again and actually the riff anticipates the chord progression in a really nice way and then I fell in love with it."[7] "Holding on to You" contains lyrical elements from the chorus of "Lean wit It, Rock wit It" by Dem Franchize Boyz. The track's vocals on the album Regional at Best were recorded in Joseph's basement, and the same ones were used for their first major-label release Vessel.[8]
Alex Darus of Alternative Press wrote that the track addresses "taking shotgun of your own life and holding onto your values,"[11] while Kerrang! stated that it was about "taking back control of your own mind, lost to mental health."[12]
Music video
The music video for "Holding on to You" shows Tyler Joseph singing with several skeleton face painted dancers around him, and Josh Dun playing drums alongside them. The dancers are said to represent Joseph's thoughts, and how he's trying to hold on to the good part of his mind, and trying to rid the evil part.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
