As bell hooks wrote, love is not only a feeling, but an action—it requires intention. For her latest single “Hold U,” which comes from her upcoming sophomore album Any Shape You Take, Indigo De Souza said that she wanted to write a “love song that was painfully simple.” She’s delivered a grooving track that has both intention and action at its core.
Like many of her tracks, “Hold U” starts understated, only some glimmering synths and a quiet drum beat. “You are a good thing / I’ve noticed,” she sings softly. “I would do anything for you,” she later affirms. But anything is limitless and timeless; thoughtfully, De Souza chooses to follow up with an immediate action of affirmation and safety. The track blossoms into a funky party with twirls of guitar as she sings, “I will hold you” with joy.
The song’s video, directed by Honey Simone and Garnet Fisher, follows suit in this jubilation. A tender get-together with friends turns into a glamorous house party. There’s glitter and cheese. There’s so much love. In a statement about “Hold U,” De Souza said, “I am really blessed with the sense of community that I have in my life, and I wanted to highlight that in this video. Community is the purest kind of magic and can heal so much trauma and pain. We all just want to feel truly held by the people around us!”
She continued, “I wanted to write about a really simple kind of love that isn’t necessarily romantic, but that is just about holding space for other people to fully express themselves and to feel celebrated. Just simply seeing someone in their humanity and loving them. We are constantly evolving and we only truly have space to process our lives openly if we feel safe and are encouraged to love ourselves and celebrate our bodies.”
Watch “Hold U” below, and pre-order the album here.
