"I'll Just Hold On" is a song written by
Ben Hayslip,
Troy Olsen and
Bryan Simpson, and recorded by American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer
Blake Shelton. It was released in February 2009 as the second single from his fifth studio album ''
Startin' Fires''.
Content
The song is a mid-tempo ballad in which the male narrator expresses his love for a free-spirited woman who does not want to stay with anyone. He tells her, "I'll just hold on / Until you're gone." The song features a
sitar in the intro, with
fiddle and
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
flourishes as well.
Critical reception
Lynn Douglas of Country Universe gave the song a C+ rating. His review of the song states that "
heltonhas tenfold the personality and talent that this prosaic song and standard Nashville country-pop production would have us believe."
Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave a mixed review, saying that the use of sitar gave the song a distinctive sound, but added "the lyric has been said before and I have to wonder if the release of this song won’t return Shelton back to the valley portion of his career."
Chart performance
"I'll Just Hold On" debuted at #60 on the
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart dated March 7, 2009, and reached a peak of #8 on the chart in September 2009.
Year-end charts
References
{{authority control
2009 singles
Blake Shelton songs
Songs written by Ben Hayslip
Songs written by Bryan Simpson
Song recordings produced by Scott Hendricks
Warner Records Nashville singles
2008 songs