Hold On

Album: Breakthrough (2019)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Mickey Guyton wrote this song with Karen Kosowski and Victoria Banks for the movie Breakthrough. The film tells the true story of a St. Louis teenager, John Smith, who slipped through an icy lake and had no pulse for nearly 45 minutes after he was rescued.
  • Six months after Guyton had a meeting with her label telling them that she wanted to start writing for film and television, the singer got an email from them briefing her about a movie called Breakthrough. She was told they needed a song for a specific scene in which John Smith falls through ice and isn't expected to make it through the night.

    Guyton doesn't have any children but wondered what she would tell her child if she didn't think they were going to make it. At the time she was writing with Victoria Banks (Jessica Simpson's "Come on Over," Sara Evans' "Saints & Angels"). She asked her, "Victoria, what would you tell your daughters if you didn't think that they were gonna survive the night?" Banks replied that she would "tell them to hold on."

    And that's exactly where they wrote the song from. Guyton explained: "We wrote the song basically as a prayer, because when you think that someone you love isn't going to make it, the first thing you want to do is get on your knees and pray and let them know that you're here and hold on to me. And that's how it came about."
  • Prior to her songwriting appointment with Karen Kosowski and Victoria Banks, Guyton had had a full-on allergic reaction to some chips and was sick for an entire day. Still feeling bad when she sat down with her co-writers, Guyton feared nothing would come out of their session, but they ended up writing the song in 30 minutes.

    "That allergic reaction was just like a godsend, which is crazy because the song is for a faith-based film," she told Billboard. "It just feels like God has played a part in it."

Comments: 1

  • Catherine Todd from Lake Atitlan, GuatemalaMore about her allergic reaction before writing the song:

    "Prior to writing my song ("Hold On", cowritten with Karen Kosowski and Victoria Banks), I had ingested some chips that caused a full-on allergic reaction," Guyton explained to Billboard prior to a Nashville screening of the film, which opens wide April 17. "I had to have an EpiPen, an ambulance came, and I was deathly ill. I have never been allergic to anything in my life. Even after the allergic reaction was treated, I was still sick for an entire day.” Despite her doubts that she and her co-writers would come up with anything useable given how bad she felt, they wrote the song in 30 minutes. “That allergic reaction was just like a godsend, which is crazy because the song is for a faith-based film,” she says. “It just feels like God has played a part in it."

    more: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/tvfilm/8505781/breakthrough-soundtrack-carrie-underwood-darius-rucker-cindy-mabe/
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Dave Edmunds

Dave EdmundsSongwriter Interviews

A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson of Jethro TullSongwriter Interviews

The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions Answered

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions AnsweredSong Writing

10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.