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Keep Holding On

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"Keep Holding On"
Song

"Keep Holding On" is a power ballad recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne and is the theme song for the 2006 film Eragon. It also appears as the last track on Lavigne's third album, The Best Damn Thing,[2][3] which was released on April 17, 2007. Lavigne has described the rest of the album as being upbeat and heavy in comparison to "Keep Holding On". Originally, an alternate version was to be included, but the original version made it instead.[citation needed]

The song was written by Lavigne and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald; Luke also produced the single. It was the first single from the soundtrack and premiered on radio stations across North America in November 2006, receiving positive reviews from critics.[4] "Keep Holding On" was one of the songs short-listed for the "Best Original Song" category at the 79th Academy Awards, but it was not among the final nominees. The song was also ranked on the iTunes Australia top 500 at 403.[5]

Background and composition

"Keep Holding On" was written by Lavigne and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald. Dr. Luke also produced the song. The strings were arranged and conducted by L. Leon Pendarvis, long time SNL associate with Dr. Luke. The song was recorded at Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles) in 2006.[6] According to the sheetmusic published at musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is composed in the key of G major and is set in time signature of 6/8 time with a tempo of 56 beats per minute. Lavigne vocal range spans from F#3 to D5.[7]

Reception

Commercial

"Keep Holding On" reached number two for four weeks on the Canadian BDS Airplay Chart, being kept off the top spot by Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right".[citation needed] It became her highest-peaking airplay single there since "Complicated" which peaked at #1 for 1 week in 2002. It peaked within the top 20 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart, peaking at #17, and the top 10 on the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks format chart. This feat is particularly impressive considering no official music video was made to promote it. It was not released in most of Europe, although it got to #9 in Slovakia, #27 in the Czech Republic and #32 in Latvia. The single was one of the first to be issued as a digital-only release in Australia, where it charted at #5 on the Top 40 Digital Tracks chart. It was also certified Gold by the RIAA on February 22, 2007 and Platinum on January 31, 2008.[8] As of September 2015, "Keep Holding On" had sold 1.6 million digital copies in the USA.[9]

Critical

Despite the film being panned by critics, the song has been well received by music critics, with Billboard describing it as a "gorgeous song" in which Lavigne seems to be "set to remain for the long term".[10] Darryl Sterdan of JAM! described the song as "A strummed guitar, lush strings and a soaring vocal about love and loyalty". He went on to compare it to "a sweeping Alanis-like ballad". Despite this, Sterdan advises the reader to skip the track.[11] Sal Cinquemani of Slant magazine described the song as "sullen".[12] Entertainment Weekly was negative: "And: I will only have like 3 slow songs on the record. Yay!! Yay, indeed, given how little heart she's invested in that trio of limpid ballads, including Keep Holding On, a.k.a. the love theme from Eragon."[13] Stylus described "“Keep Holding On” ends the album for the same reason graduation ends high school: because after all that, Hallmark means something."[14] Dave Donnely praised the picking: "‘Keep Holding On’ is a stay-over from the Lord of the Eragons soundtrack, a pop ballad which demonstrates his gift for spotting and isolating great melodies."[1] PopMatters stated that this song tries to match "I'm With You" but it fails.[15]

In an AOL Radio listener's poll, "Keep Holding On" was voted Lavigne's fifth best song.[16]

Cover versions and samples

The song was used in the season 2 finale of the American television series Ghost Whisperer.[17] An arrangement of it was sung by the cast of Glee in the episode "Throwdown" in October 2009.[18] The song is also sung by eliminated cast members of the show The Glee Project at the end of each episode. For Children in Need 2011, this song was sung by choirs all over the UK in unison to raise money. This led the song to re-enter the UK top 200 chart at no.141. Allen Jane Sta Maria performed this song on the X Factor Philippines. Boyce Avenue also have a version of the song. The song was redone and covered by Mark Salling, on the 100th episode of popular musical series Glee. In April 2015, The Voice Kids Philippines Season 1 finalist, Darren Espanto sung his rendition of the song on ABS-CBN noon-time show, It's Showtime[19]

Credits and Personnel

Track listings

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (2006–07) Peak
position
Australian Digital Singles Chart[21] 5
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[22] 14
Czech Rádio Top 100 (IFPI)[23] 27
Romanian Top 100[24] 51
Slovakia Rádio Top 100 (IFPI)[25] 9
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[26] 175
US Billboard Hot 100[27] 17
US Adult Pop Airplay (Billboard)[28] 3
US Pop Airplay (Billboard)[29] 18
Chart (2011) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[30] 141

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[31] Platinum 40,000*
United States (RIAA)[32] Platinum 1,600,000[9]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Awards

Year Awards ceremony Award Results
2008 Socan Awards[16] Best Pop Song Won

Release history

Country Date Format Label Ref.
Canada November 27, 2006 Digital download RCA Records [20]
United States November 28, 2006 Contemporary hit radio RCA Records / Fox Music [33]
Hot adult contemporary [34]

References

  1. ^ a b "Review: Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing - Sputnikmusic". sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  2. ^ Luciana Maria Sanches (January 31, 2007). "Disco novo de Avril Lavigne já tem data; cantora comenta". Omelete. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  3. ^ Starpulse Entertainment News Blog (January 30, 2007). "Avril Lavigne Announces Release of Third Album". Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  4. ^ http://www.mmr247.com/mmrweb/allaccess
  5. ^ Keep Holding On iTunes Competition Archived 2011-04-25 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ The Best Damn Thing liner notes. Arista Records (2007)
  7. ^ "Avril Lavigne Keep Holding On – Digital Sheet Music". Music Notes. Universal Music Publishing Group. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  8. ^ Recording Industry Association of America (February 22, 2007). "Keep Holding On - Certifications". Retrieved December 18, 2010.
  9. ^ a b Trust, Gary (6 September 2015). "Ask Billboard: Avril Lavigne's Best-Selling Songs & Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  10. ^ Billboard Magazine (February 22, 2007). "Keep Holding On - Billboard Review". Retrieved 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ Darryl Sterdan (14 April 2007). "Jam! Review". Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  12. ^ Sal Cinquemani (April 15, 2007). "Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing". Slant Magazine. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  13. ^ "The Best Damn Thing - EW.com". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  14. ^ "Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing - Review - Stylus Magazine". stylusmagazine.com. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  15. ^ "Avril Lavigne". PopMatters. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  16. ^ a b Cheung, Nadine. "Top 10 Avril Lavigne Songs". AOL Radio. Archived from the original on January 15, 2011. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
  17. ^ Heard On TV (May 17, 2007). "Music from Ghost Whisperer - The Gathering". Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  18. ^ Tim Stack (October 9, 2009). "'Glee' Exclusive: Watch the cast cover Avril Lavigne's 'Keep Holding On'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  19. ^ "Darren inspires with 'Keep Holding On' | ABS-CBN News". mobile.abs-cbnnews.com. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  20. ^ a b "Keep Holding On (From "Eragon") - Single by Avril Lavigne". iTunes Store (CA). Apple Inc. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  21. ^ "Title = The Aria Report" (PDF). 14 February 2007. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  22. ^ "Avril Lavigne Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  23. ^ Czech Republic Airplay (May 2006). "Keep Holding On Runs on Czech IFPI Chart". ifpicr.cz. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  24. ^ Romanian Top 100 (September 2007). "Keep Holding On Runs on Romanian Top 100". Retrieved December 19, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ "SNS IFPI" (Hitparáda - RADIO - TOP 100 Týždeň - 200709). IFPI. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  26. ^ "Chart Log UK (1994–2010): DJ Steve L. – LZ Love". zobbel.de. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  27. ^ "Avril Lavigne Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  28. ^ "Avril Lavigne Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  29. ^ "Avril Lavigne Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  30. ^ "Chart Log UK - Weekly Updates Sales 2011". zobbel.de. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  31. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Avril Lavigne – Keep Holding On". Music Canada.
  32. ^ "American single certifications – Avril Lavigne – Keep Holding On". Recording Industry Association of America.
  33. ^ "R&R :: Going For Adds :: CHR/Top 40" (Week Of: November 28, 2006). Radio & Records. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  34. ^ "R&R :: Going For Adds :: Hot AC" (Week Of: November 28, 2006). Radio & Records. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
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