Hold On - Single Edit

Wilson Phillips is a trio of singers from prominent musical families. Chynna Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas, while Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson are the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and Marilyn Rovell of The Honeys. This song was their breakout hit, and it was a huge one, peaking at #1 on June 9, 1990 (25 years earlier, "Help Me, Rhonda" by The Beach Boys was in its second week at #1). Their next single, "Release Me," also went to #1, as did another song from their debut, "You're In Love." Despite their privileged upbringing, Wilson Phillips came off as very down-to-earth, wearing jeans instead of runway fashions. Their accessible image made them very relatable and earned them legions of female fans.

This is a song of encouragement addressed to a person who is going through some rough times. There's some tough love in there ("No one can change your life except for you"), but also plenty of compassion ("Things'll go your way if you hold on for one more day"). Chynna Phillips wrote the lyrics about her drug and alcohol addiction. Producer Glen Ballard had been working with Wilson Phillips when he handed Chynna a cassette tape with some music that needed words. Phillips took it home to work on the lyrics, but inspiration struck before she even got to the front door. Sitting in her car with her mother Michelle inside the house, she wrote about the pain of a lost love and the substance that surrounded it. "I thought to myself, 'Well, AA tells me, just hold on, just one day at a time,'" Phillips told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'OK, if I can just hold on for one more day, then I can do this.'"

"Hold On" was Wilson Phillips' first single. They honed their skills singing together in Wendy Wilson's bedroom; when they were ready, Michelle Phillips got them a meeting with producer Richard Perry, who was at the controls for Carly Simon's "You're So Vain." Perry introduced them to Glen Ballard, who took them on. Ballard was an up-and-coming songwriter/producer whose biggest success was co-writing Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror," a #1 hit in 1988. He would later co-write and produce Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album. Wilson Phillips recorded a 4-song demo with Ballard that included "Hold On." With harmonies honed from years singing together, an impressive musical pedigree, and a set of songs overseen by Ballard, they seemed like a sure thing but struggled to get a record deal. They signed with SBK Records in 1989 and released "Hold On" in February 1990, three months ahead of the album. SBK sent them on a promotional tour that found them answering endless variations of the question "What's it like having famous parents?" and the song took off on radio, eventually knocking Madonna's "Vogue" from the top spot.