"Hold Me Tight or Don't" (stylised in all caps)[1] is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on November 15, 2017, through Island Records and DCD2. It was released as the fourth single from their seventh studio album, Mania. A music video was released with the single.[2]
"Hold Me Tight or Don't (The Remixes)" was released on April 13, 2018, featuring three remixes of the song.[3]
Composition
"Hold Me Tight or Don't" was written in the key of C# minor with a vocal range of E4 to C♯6.[4]
Al Shipley of Spin called the song "trendy trop house",[5] while also comparing it to reggae.[5] Dave Simpson of The Guardian described the song as a "Shakira-type Europop wobbler".[6]The Musical Hype has described the song, particularly the lyrical content, as emo.[7]
Music video
The music video was directed by Brendan Walter and Mel Soria. It is set on Día de Muertos and features the band performing in the festival. The video also has a romantic subplot between a woman, dressed in traditional Day of the Dead costume, and a man wearing a skull mask.[1] The San Gabriel Mission Museum is visible in the background, implying the video was filmed in San Gabriel, California.[8]
Reception
Maeve McDermott of USA Today called the song a "lazy attempt" at tropical house music,[9] while Hannah Mylrea of NME felt that it is a "chiming tropical jam".[10]
^"Fall Out Boy, 'Hold Me Tight or Don't' Track Review". The Musical Hype. November 20, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2023. On the pre-chorus, the emo is amped up to the nth degree…That emo-ness continues on throughout the chorus, where it's clear this relationship needs max effort or to be curbed.
^McDermott, Maeve (January 19, 2018). "Review: Fall Out Boy's 'Mania' is an unholy mess". USA Today. Retrieved January 27, 2023. Worse are the guitar-less tracks, stripping the group's music of any identifiable traits, as heard on the lazy trop-house attempts of single Hold Me Tight Or Don't.
^Mylrea, Hannah (January 19, 2018). "Fall Out Boy – 'Mania' review". NME. Retrieved January 27, 2023. From chiming tropical jam 'Hold Me Tight Or Don't' to the batshit but brilliant EDM of 'Young And Menace', the quartet have thrown everything they've done previously out of the window.