A jazzy swing precludes the sultry melodic action soon to come pouring out of our speakers in the new single from Sharon Hendrix, “Hold Me Tight,” but while the beat in this track and its eroticized video is enough to draw us into the music, it’s not the sole source of catharsis in this mix at all. Contrarily, that title belongs to Hendrix herself, whose very presence in this performance nudges a romantic vibe forward from the moment she starts to sing forward. Her voice is in top form, and arguably giving us just the right kind of slow jam to turn up the heat this late winter season.
Hendrix has always been one of the more thoughtful vocalists in her peer group when it comes to making sweet harmonies that match up well with her lyricism, and I think this is yet another example of her skillset at work. Her charm knows no boundaries when she gets into the guts of this groove, and while she’s blunt with the beat, she’s always quite soft in her construction of the hook, which is a nice change of pace from the rebellious tone some of her rivals are taking right now.
Watch the video for “Hold Me Tight” below
There’s a ‘90s element to the aesthetics of this track, but I’m very hesitant to call “Hold Me Tight” a direct throwback; after all, you don’t hear many homages to the past that have the kind of weighty beat this single does right out of the gate. Besides the fact that she’s leaning on the bassline as a springboard from which to build her statements, Hendrix is mostly a versatile, moving component of the bigger harmonies in this single, which tether her style (outside of cosmetics) more to the surreal pop movement of the present than anything that transpired over twenty years ago.
Becoming an icon in her own right through years of collaborative work with some of the biggest names in all of pop, rock, and R&B, Sharon Hendrix continues to show class like few others can in “Hold Me Tight,” and I doubt this will be the last of her essential listens to debut in the 2020s. She’s got amazing credibility as an artist, and when listening to a track that’s got as solid a structure as this one does, it’s easy to see what all the fuss is about. Reliability is a rare commodity in pop, but something I think we can all count on this player for every time she enters the studio.
