There are a number of songs that were released in the last week of 2017, which I have not looked at yet. Eric Nam’s Hold Me falls into that week, dropping on the 27th of December. While the soloist has been active as a singer throughout the year (via a number of collaborations), it is his first solo track since 2016.

Hold Me is a ballad that tells his lover to continue to hold onto him, regardless of whatever he does. There is some warmth to the song, which makes it an ideal song to listen on a cold Winter’s day. This is partly due to the combination of instruments used in the instrumentation and the vocal work. They all work well together, despite being just there is a background. The main focus is on Eric Nam’s vocals. It doesn’t pierce the music in any way, but rather, is gracefully flowing over the top of the instrumentation. His approach to this song plays to his strength and doesn’t feel overwhelming at all. The way he says “Jebal” (Please in Korean) is extremely striking and powerful in my opinion. Furthermore, that section between the second and third chorus was my most favourite bit because it has momentum, something that the song was aiming to build up to (ever so slightly) from the very start.

There is not a proper music video for this track, from what I can see (and what actually popped up in my Subscription box). But rather the main visuals for the song is a video of the live recording filmed as a music video. The colour palette of the music video makes the video feel warm. I like how they filmed Eric with what seems to be a one-shot. But they manage to include various other shots of the guys in the background playing the instruments, which I guess gave the video a wholesome feel as well.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 7/10
Overall – 7.6/10