''Hold On Baby'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter

King Princess Mikaela Mullaney Straus (born December 19, 1998), known by her stage name King Princess, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician from Brooklyn, New York. She is signed to Mark Ronson's label Zelig Records, an imprint of Columbia Records. ...

. It was released on July 29, 2022, through

Zelig Records ''Zelig'' is a 1983 American mockumentary film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen as Leonard Zelig, a nondescript enigma, who, apparently out of his desire to fit in and be liked, unwittingly takes on the characteristics of strong per ...

. The album was produced by

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Robbi ...

, Ethan Gruska,

Aaron Dessner Aaron Brooking Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a founding member of the rock band the National, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums; a co-founder of the indie ...

Bryce Dessner Bryce David Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, as well as a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother Aaron is also a member of the group. Together they write the music, in coll ...

, and

Tobias Jesso Jr Tobias MacDonald Jesso Jr. (born July 11, 1985) is a Canadian musician from North Vancouver, British Columbia. His debut album ''Goon'' was released in 2015 on True Panther Sounds. He was included in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 20 B ...

. ''Hold On Baby'' was preceded by four singles, including "Little Bother" (featuring guest vocals from Fousheé). A fifth single, "Let Us Die" (drums contributed by

Taylor Hawkins Oliver Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 – March 25, 2022) was an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, with whom he recorded eight studio albums between 1999 and 2021. Before joining the band in 1997, he ...

) was released alongside the album. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised its

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

and

instrumentals A backing track is an audio recording on audiotape, CD or a digital recording medium or a MIDI recording of synthesized instruments, sometimes of purely rhythmic accompaniment, often of a rhythm section or other accompaniment parts that live music ...

Background and release

In 2019, King Princess released her debut studio album, ''

Cheap Queen ''Cheap Queen'' is the debut studio album by American pop singer-songwriter King Princess, released on October 25, 2019, through Mark Ronson's imprint of Columbia Records, Zelig Records. A deluxe edition of the album with five additional tracks w ...

''. In 2020, she released the singles "

Only Time Makes It Human "Only Time Makes It Human" is a song by American singer-songwriter King Princess, released on October 16, 2020. The song sees Straus delving into the dance-pop genre, and described as "a 21st century take on Kylie Minogue's '00s club mainstay "Ca ...

" and "Pain". The song "House Burn Down" was released in 2021. In 2022, King Princess began releasing singles in promotion for ''Hold On Baby''. On January 14, she released the song "Little Bother" with Fousheé. On March 18, she released the single "For My Friends". Alongside the release, she revealed the ''Hold on Baby'' Tour, and that it would start in September. She released "Too Bad" and "Cursed" in June, along with an announcement of the album and its accompanying artwork. "Change the Locks" followed in July, as the album's fourth single. The album was released on July 29, through Zelig Records.

Recording and production

''Hold On Baby'' features production from

, Ethan Gruska,

, and

Tobias Jesso Jr. Tobias MacDonald Jesso Jr. (born July 11, 1985) is a Canadian musician from North Vancouver, British Columbia. His debut album '' Goon'' was released in 2015 on True Panther Sounds. He was included in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 20 ...

On January 8, 2022, King Princess revealed that her album was in the stage of being mixed.

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

member

, who died in March 2022, appears on drums on the closing track "Let Us Die". "I Hate Myself, I Want to Party" was written by King Princess, partly in collaboration with Aaron Dessner, and in other parts with Gruska. "Cursed" was written by King Princess with

Dave Hamelin Dave Hamelin (born October 3, 1980) is a Canadian musician, songwriter and producer known for his work with indie rock band the Stills. Originally the band's drummer, he moved to guitar and co-lead vocalist in 2005 when guitarist Greg Paquet lef ...

, at the latter's home. Hamelin managed the track's production. King Princess additionally handled drums on the song. "Little Bother" came about as King Princess and the song's featured artist, Fousheé, shared

direct message In computing, a private message, personal message, or direct message (abbreviated as PM or DM) refers to a private communication sent or received by a user of a private communication channel on any given platform. Unlike public posts, PMs are only ...

s with each other. The guitar loop on the song was provided by songwriter Zach Fogerty. King Princess wrote the song's chorus; her and the featured artist wrote the verses together.''Hold On Baby'' by King Princess
,

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

. July 29, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022 "For My Friends" was written by King Princess, with Gruska and

Amy Allen Amy Allen (born October 24, 1976) is an American actress and film crew member who portrayed the Jedi Master Aayla Secura in ''Star Wars'' films released in 2002 and 2005. She worked behind the scenes on many different movies, including ''A.I. ...

. The song is written as "a love letter" to her friends. The piano line in "Crowbar" was contributed by Aaron Dessner, though it was originally shared to Gruska, as part of an unrelated project. "Sex Shop" was written on the piano at King Princess' home. Her father aided her in recording the song's vocals. The creation of "Change the Locks" was inspired by a slump in King Princess's relationship with creative producer Quinn Wilson, which was caused by the

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. The song was created in collaboration with Aaron Dessner at Long Pond Studio in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...

. "Winter Is Hopeful" was originally titled "Quinn", as it mentions Wilson by name.

Composition

The album's opening track, "I Hate Myself, I Want to Party" describes depression in a gritty manner and includes sinister-sounding production. The track intensifies near the end, as guitars play loudly next to the singer's vocals. "Change the Locks" also involves a guitar in its sound, while "Crowbar" makes use of heavy drums, and finds King Princess comparing her breaking relationship to the titular object. The latter number is sung over a light piano and drums. "Winter is Hopeful" is a vulnerable track that makes usage of an R&B beat. "Dotted Lines" is a punchy, club-inspired track about being undervalued as a woman in the music industry. "Sex Shop" contains distorted noises and is filled with pop sounds. "For My Friends" and "Cursed" are songs about

platonic relationship Platonic love (often lowercased as platonic love) is a type of love in which sexual desire or romantic features are nonexistent or has been suppressed or sublimated, but it means more than simple friendship. The term is derived from the nam ...

s; the former song slowly creates momentum using synths and drums, which have been compared to

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...

by El Hunt. "Cursed" involves a "spindling guitar... and a thumping, distortion-muffled bridge". "Let Us Die" is a fuzzy closing track which includes drums.

Maura Johnston Maura K. Johnston (born May 28, 1975) is a writer, editor and music critic. A member of Boston College's journalism faculty, she has written for ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Boston Globe'', ''Pitchfork'', ''The Awl ''The Awl'' was a website abo ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' opined that the song concludes "on the musical equivalent of a

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

Critical reception

''Hold On Baby'' received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised certain attributes like its

vulnerability Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, com ...

, and vocals. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album has an average score of 78 out of 100. Cordelia Lam of ''

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

'' called the album the artist's "most diverse, 'chaotic' sound to date". Tony Clayton-Lea of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' called ''Hold On Baby'' "a potential album of the year", singling out the closing track "Let Us Die" as "a throbbing, turbo-charged

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

-like tune" that could rank among the best songs of the year. ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'' reviewer Ims Taylor directed praise toward the album's instrumentals, and pointed out that the singer's level of confidence had increased on the record. El Hunt of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' was less positive, saying that the "best moments on ''Hold On Baby'' unearth a raw sense of introspection"; the reviewer criticized the record's cohesion and pacing. Charles Lyons-Burt, writing for ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'', criticized the album's melodies, remarking that "never quite come to life as convincingly as they should". ''Pitchfork'''s Shaad D'Souza was positive about ''Hold On Baby'', but disliked the fourth track, "Little Bother", saying that the song "feels too similar to ..other emo revival songs". Martyn Young, in his review of the album for ''

MusicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

'', opined that the record makes a strong case for the artist's talents. The reviewer had reservations about the restrained nature of ''Hold On Baby'', saying that it makes parts of the album "

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

a little disappointing".

Track listing

Notes * indicates a co-producer * indicates a miscellaneous producer

Personnel

Musicians *

– vocals (all tracks), electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 5, 8–12), programming (1–3, 5, 7, 8, 10–12), piano (1, 9), background vocals (2, 4, 5, 7, 12), drums (2, 7, 9, 10), synthesizer (2–12), bass (3, 4, 10, 12), keyboards (4) *

– bass, programming, synthesizer (1, 6, 9); piano (1, 9); acoustic guitar, electric guitar (9) *

Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...

– drums (1) * Thomas Bartlett – piano, synthesizer (1, 9) *

James Krivchenia Big Thief is an American indie rock band with folk roots based in Brooklyn, New York. Its members are Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar, backing vocals), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums). The band's debu ...

– percussion (1, 6, 9) * Clarice Jensen – cello (1, 6) * Yuki Numata Resnick – viola, violin (1, 6) *

Justin Peroff Justin Peter Papadimitriou (born October 13, 1977), family name changed to Peroff, is best known as the drummer for the Toronto-based indie rock collective Broken Social Scene. He is a credited actor, appearing in the major motion picture ''How to ...

– drums (2) *

– electric guitar (2, 8), programming (2, 5, 8–11), synthesizer (2, 8, 10) * Gabriel Cabeza – cello (3, 5) *

Rob Moose Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar. Early life and education Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connect ...

– cello (3) * Ethan Gruska – programming, synthesizer (3, 5, 8, 11, 12); electric guitar (8), bass (11) *

Fousheé Britanny Fousheé (born August 1, 1992), known professionally as Fousheé, is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Jersey. She came to wide notice when the vocals for her song "Deep End" were used on a hit song by rapper Sleepy H ...

– vocals, background vocals (4) * Zach Fogarty – bass, electric guitar, keyboards, programming, synthesizer (4) * JT Bates – drums (6) * Ryan Olson – percussion (9) *

Shawn Everett Shawn Everett (born July 6, 1982) is a Canadian music engineer and producer best known for his work with Alabama Shakes, Kacey Musgraves, The War on Drugs, The Killers, and Julian Casablancas. Everett has won six Grammy Awards. Early life Ever ...

– synthesizer (10) *

– drums (12) Technical *

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cage the ...

– mastering (1–3, 5–12) * Dale Becker – mastering (4) *

Serban Ghenea Șerban Ghenea (born October 13, 1969) is a Grammy award-winning Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended ...

– mixing (5) * Shawn Everett – mixing (1–3, 6–12),

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

(10) * Jeff Ellis – mixing (4) * Aaron Dessner – engineering (1, 6, 9) * Clarice Jensen – engineering (1, 6) * Jonathan Low – engineering (1, 6, 9) * Justin Vernon – engineering (1, 6) * Kyle Resnick – engineering (1, 6) * Thomas Bartlett – engineering (1, 6) * Dave Hamelin – engineering (2, 5) * Ethan Gruska – engineering (3, 5, 8, 11, 12) * Zach Fogarty – engineering (4) * Fili Filizzola – engineering (4) * Kayla Reagan – engineering (4) * Noah McCorkle – engineering (4) * King Princess – engineering (7) * Veronika Jane Wyman – engineering (7) *

– engineering (10) * Oliver Straus – engineering (11) * John Lousteau – engineering (12) *

– engineering (12) * Ivan Wayman – engineering assistance (1–3, 6–12) * Trevor Taylor – engineering assistance (4)

Release history

References

{{King Princess 2022 albums King Princess albums Albums produced by Mark Ronson Albums produced by Aaron Dessner Bedroom pop albums Pop rock albums by American artists Indie pop albums by American artists Albums produced by Tobias Jesso Jr.