Songfacts®:

• The R&B-inspired rock band Alabama Shakes originated when lead singer/guitarist Brittany Howard approached bassist Zac Cockrell during a high school psychology class in Athens, Alabama and the pair began meeting after school to write songs. Howard and Cockrell then approached punk-rock drummer Steve Johnson, who was working at a local music store, to join the band. The trio recorded some of their songs in a studio in Decatur, Alabama and subsequently recruited guitarist Heath Fogg on his return to Athens from college in Tuscaloosa. Originally christened The Shakes, they found out other bands were using that name, so they became The Alabama Shakes.
  
  The foursome gained widespread media attention after releasing a self-titled four-song EP in September 2011; Rough Trade Records in the United Kingdom and ATO Records in the United States signed them two months later. "Hold On" is their first single from their 2012 debut album, Boys & Girls.
• "Hold On" is one of the earliest Alabama Shakes songs, written during a stressful time for Brittany Howard when she was working at the post office by day and playing music at night. The song finds her summoning the strength to carry on - you can hear her encouraging herself in the line, "Come on Brittany, you got to come on up."
  
  Her bandmates came up with the riff for the song before she wrote the lyric. Instead of sitting down with a pen and paper, she decided to form the words on the fly as the performed it one night at The Brick in Decatur.
  
  "We talked about playing it that night, and I told them, 'Just start playing it and I'll make up words on the spot,'" she said. "That's where the song came from. It was a good night for dancing. They started playing it, and I just came up with some words - whatever was on my mind - and that came out."
• The song first appeared in 2011 on Alabama Shakes' self-titled EP, which they released independently. By the end of that year they had a deal with ATO Records (Dave Matthews' label), which released it as a single on February 6, 2012. The next day, Alabama Shakes made their national television debut by performing the song on Conan. They gradually got more and more press coverage, culminating in two Grammy nominations: Best New Artist and Best Rock Performance (for "Hold On"). They lost both awards (Fun took Best New Artist) but Brittany Howard made her presence felt during a performance of "The Weight" with Elton John, Mavis Staples and other notables.
  
  The ceremony took place on February 10, 2013 and drew a lot more attention to the band. A few weeks later the song entered the Hot 100, peaking at #93.
• Howard explained the meaning of the "never thought I'd make it to 22 years old" line to NME: "It's not necessarily that I didn't think I was going to make it to 22," she explained. "It's just like, you know when you're younger and you can't imagine yourself ever being grown? I didn't like my job and I didn't like where I was living and I didn't like the way my world was. You're holding on but at the same time you're tired of waiting for things to get better. Why have you always got to want something better."
• "Hold On" was the #1 song on Rolling Stone's list of the top songs of 2012. The magazine said: "In a year when most divas couldn't get beyond post-Gaga spectacle, along came Brittany Howard, a twentysomething from Athens, Alabama, who reincarnated the ghost of Sixties rock and soul without resorting to oversinging histrionics or bald imitation."
• Alabama Shakes played "Hold On" during their first appearance on Saturday Night Live along with "Always Alright," which was written for the Silver Linings Playbook soundtrack. Host Christoph Waltz managed to mess up their name when he introduced the band as the singular "Alabama Shake."
• This became the 16th different song titled "Hold On" to reach the Hot 100 when it entered the chart dated March 2, 2013. In doing so, it increased its lead as the most frequently used song title in the chart's history with "Runaway" running close behind with 14 different versions.
• "Hold On" is the most popular and enduring Alabama Shakes song. It sold over 500,000 digital downloads and does very well on streaming services. The band released another album in 2015 called Sound & Color that includes another big song in their catalog, "Don't Wanna Fight." The went on hiatus in 2018, with Brittany Howard launching a successful solo career. The band got back together late in 2024 and hit the road in 2025 for their first tour since 2017.