Justin Bieber has released “Hold Tight,” the latest and third single from his Music Monday series.
The 19-year-old is dropping 10 personalized singles from his Journals collection over 10 weeks in the lead up to the debut of his upcoming movie-documentary Believe.
Announced days ago as just one of two singles being pushed this week, Justin’s manager Scooter Braun declared “Hold Tight” was “baby making music.”
Ripe though that description was, it was also an accurate pointer to the erotica to come.
Before the early iTunes premiere the teen star tweeted, “ladies #90minutes #HoldTight .”
This latest song orbits out of the lushness of first single “Heartbreaker” and leanness of “All That Matters,” and sees the singer moving deeper into R&B with a jam produced by The Audibles and straight out of R. Kelly’s playbook.
“They hold on tight / Yeah, they hold on tight / Ooh, they hold on tight / Them lips won’t let me go, Lips won’t let me go, lips won’t let me go, oh [x 2],” Bieber caresses in the full on chorus.
In the verse, the pop prince sings,
“Don’t let this go to your head but you’re the best I’ve ever had / Not to mention That thing is swollen / You got me oh so in the trance / Something like a zip lock, but a lip lock / Want you wrapped around me like a wrist watch / Oh, so hard walking out / Got me stuck like crazy glue, ooh.”
As with previous releases, the singer posted a statement explaining the single’s context.
“This song is about the one you can’t shake. I am a hopeless romantic so when I love someone, I never want to let them go,” he writes.
The Canadian continued , “This song is about the rush you get when you have that feeling. No matter how hard you try, you can’t let that person go. You just want to hold on as tight as you can. I tried to capture that with this one. And one more thing: it is never a bad thing to make a lady feel something inside she has never felt before. Make her feel like a real lady. Hold tight girl ) – JB.”
Inevitably, the note will spark more speculation about the state of his relationship with ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez . A later coda stated,
• New description for “Hold Tight” pic.twitter.com/wTehbozm5o
— BelieveTourUpdates™ (@BelieveTUpdates) October 21, 2013
From a musical perspective, Bieber’s rooting in adult territory seems even more established with “Hold Tight,” based on the (presumably) explicit honesty of the lyric matching sensuous, maturing vocals.
Lady Gaga released “Do What U Want Ft. R. Kelly” to iTunes at midnight along with Taylor Swift, whose movie tie-in song “Sweeter Than Fiction” has now been released.
At press time, “Hold Tight” has charted at No. #3 on iTunes US behind Lady Gaga at #1 with “Do What U Want ft. R. Kelly.” The Mother Monster is also No.#1 in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand.
Bieber is currently No. #1 in Sweden, Singapore, India, Israel, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Portugal, Brazil, Turkey, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, ranking lower in other countries.
To view “Hold Tight” lyrics in full click here .
Update: Bieber is now holding at #2 on iTunes US.