Keep Holding On
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"Keep Holding On" is a power ballad by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. It was released as the first single for the soundtrack to Eragon and later appeared as the last track on her third album, The Best Damn Thing, 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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Written by Lavigne and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald and produced by the latter, the song premiered on radio stations across North America in November 2006, receiving positive reviews from critics.Template:R "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.[1]
Background and composition
Script error: No such module "Listen". "Keep Holding On" was written by Lavigne and produced by co-writer Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald. The strings were arranged and conducted by Leon Pendarvis, long time SNL associate with Dr. Luke. The song was recorded at Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles) in 2006.Template:R According to the sheet music published at musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is composed in the key of G major and is set in a time signature of 6/8 time with a tempo of 56 beats per minute. Lavigne vocal range spans from F#3 to D5.Template:R
Reception
Commercial
"Keep Holding On" reached number two for four weeks on the Canadian BDS Airplay Chart, number one being Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right".Script error: No such module "Unsubst". It became her highest-peaking airplay single since "Complicated" which peaked at number one for one week in 2002. It peaked at number 14 on the Canadian Hot 100, where it spent 20 weeks on the chart.[2] In the United States, "Keep Holding On" spent 21 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking within the top twenty at 17, charting below Lavigne's "Girlfriend" which was number one that week.[2][3] It peaked in the top ten on the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks format chart. This feat is particularly impressive considering no official promotional music video was made.
It was not released in most of Europe, although it got to 9 in Slovakia, and 27 in the Czech Republic. The single was one of the first to be issued as a digital-only release in Australia, where it charted at number five 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.Template:R By September 2015, "Keep Holding On" had sold 1.6 million digital copies in the USA.Template:R In 2023, it hit 100 million streams on Spotify, her first non-single to reach this milestone.[4]
Critical
Billboard described it as a "gorgeous song" in which Lavigne seems to be "set to remain for the long term".Template:R 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.Template:R Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the song as "sullen".Template:R Entertainment Weekly was also not impressed: "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."[5] Stylus said that the song "ends the album for the same reason graduation ends high school: because after all that, Hallmark means something."[6]
In an AOL Radio listener's poll, "Keep Holding On" was voted Lavigne's fifth best song.Template:R
Accolades
| Year | Award Ceremony | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | SOCAN Awards | Pop/Rock Music Award | Won | [7]Template:R |
Notable cover versions
For BBC Children in Need in 2011, over 2,500 children sang the song in unison from 15 towns across the UK.[8] The 15 choirs, each representing a different BBC Local News Region made of local school children, sang live with a performance starting in the studio and then cutting between them before ending in the studio. However 5 of the choirs were missed off the performance. The children sang from: London at BBC Television Centre the studio where the main telethon was held, Glasgow at BBC Pacific Quay,[9][10] Kent at the Bluewater Shopping Centre,[9] Weston-super-Mare at The Grand Pier,[11] Salford at MediaCityUK,[12] Cornwall at The Eden Project,[13][14] Cardiff at The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama,[15] Pudsey at Pudsey Market Square,[16] Birmingham at Aston Hall[17][18] and Belfast at W5.[19] The choirs not included in the main link up were: Hull at Hull Truck Theatre,[20] Hampshire at The National Motor Museum,[21] Colchester at Charter Hall,[22][23] County Durham at Beamish Museum[24][25] and Loughborough at Loughborough University[26][27]
In April 2015, The Voice Kids Philippines Season 1 runner-up Darren Espanto sung his rendition of the song on ABS-CBN noontime show, It's Showtime.[28]
Track listings and formats
- Digital downloadTemplate:R
- "Keep Holding On" – 3:59
Credits and personnel
Credits and personnel are adapted from the "Keep Holding On" CD single liner notes.[29]
- Avril Lavigne – writer, vocals
- Lukasz Gottwald – writer, producer, piano, bass, guitars
- Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering
- Seth Waldmann – recording
- Keith Gretlein – recording
- Mike Caffrey – recording
- Tom Syrowski – recording
- Tatiana Gottwald – recording
- Steve Churchyard – recording
- Billy Griggs – recording
- Steven Wolf – drums, percussion
- Leon Pendarvis – strings
- Matt Beckley – additional production
Charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
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Release history
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | November 27, 2006 | Digital download | RCA | [36] |
| United States | November 28, 2006 | Template:Hlist | Template:Hlist | [37][38] |
References
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- ↑ a b BBC Scotland, Reporting Scotland, 18 November 2011
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- ↑ BBC West, Points West, 18 November 2011
- ↑ BBC North West, North West Tonight, 18 November 2011
- ↑ BBC South West, Spotlight, 18 November 2011
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- ↑ BBC Cymru Wales, Wales Today, 18 November 2011
- ↑ BBC Yorkshire, Look North, 18 November 2011
- ↑ BBC West Midlands, Midlands Today, 18 November 2011
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- ↑ Signage for location seen in background of BBC Northern Ireland programme Children in Need in Northern Ireland 2011, broadcast 19 November 2011
- ↑ BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, Look North, 18 November 2011
- ↑ BBC South, South Today, 18 November 2011
- ↑ BBC East, Look East, 18 November 2011
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- ↑ BBC North East & Cumbria, Look North, 18 November 2011
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- ↑ BBC East Midlands, East Midlands Today, 18 November 2011
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- 2000s ballads
- 2006 singles
- Avril Lavigne songs
- The Inheritance Cycle
- Rock ballads
- Pop ballads
- RCA Records singles
- Song recordings produced by Dr. Luke
- Songs written by Avril Lavigne
- Songs written by Dr. Luke
- Songs written for films
- Sony BMG singles