“Hold You Now” by Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend and Danielle Haim’s “Hold You Now” is a song set on a sad and somewhat awkward premise. The male narrator (Ezra Koenig) finds himself in a romantic relationship with the female narrator (Danielle Haim) who is about to get married. Or at least it would seem the romance is still, to some extent, ongoing. Or else the prospect of ‘holding’ her would be out of the question.

Ezra’s disposition is that he did his best in terms of doing her right. And he understands that he “can’t carry (her) forever”, as in accepting the fact that their relationship is about to end. But what he can do is “hold (her) now”, insinuating one last attempt to show her affection.

Meanwhile Danielle knows that he still wants her. But it seems that he waited until too late to tell her as this song is taking place, again, “on (her) wedding day”. She also portrays him as an emotional mess, as in he is deeply hurt that the woman he loves is about to marry another man. But she does not see this day as so much the end of one chapter as it is the beginning of another. But obviously she is still sympathetic to where he is coming from, as she too states that whereas she “can’t carry (him) forever”, she can at least “hold (him) now”.

Chorus

Meanwhile the chorus features words sung by a choir, spoken in a foreign language. What the message of it basically boils down to is the singers accepting their fate as God ordains it. And such is the perspectives of Ezra and Danielle, though they are obviously in two different moods. Ezra desires to hold Haim as a seemingly final expression of love. Meanwhile Haim is willing to hold Koenig as seemingly a final expression of sympathy. Either way they both care for each other, even if not in the same capacity.  Ezra apparently had his chance but failed. And now, after embracing each other for what would likely be one last time, they have accepted that fate has driven them apart.

Facts about “Hold You Now”

• “Hold You Now” is the opening track on Vampire Weekend’s 2019 album Father of the Bride. It was released on 3 May 2019 by Spring Snow and Columbia Records along with the rest of the album.
• This track is one of three duets on Father of the Bride. The others are “We Belong Together” and “Married in a Gold Rush”. And they all feature Danielle Haim.
• Writing credits for this track go to Ezra Koenig and renowned German composer Hans Zimmer.  Zimmer is responsible for the sample that makes up the chorus. The singers of chorus are the Choir of All Saints from Honiara, with Honiara being the capital of the Solomon Islands.
• Ezra Koenig also produced “Hold You Now” alongside Ariel Rechtshaid.

Was this released as one of the singles from the album Father of the Bride?

No. The following are the singles from the album:

• “Harmony Hall”
• “2021”
• “Sunflower”
• “Big Blue”
• “This Life”
• “Unbearably White“