London-based singer-songwriter Liya Shapiro has just dropped her latest single, “Hold Me Tight,” and it’s as much a reclamation of the past as it is a bold step into the future. The track carries a curious backstory, as its verses were penned seven years ago, in the thick of an unrequited love that left Shapiro grappling with loneliness and an inability to let go. For years, those words sat untouched, until last autumn when, in a sudden rush of inspiration at the piano, she wrote the chorus. With that, the song shifted from a fragment of heartache to a complete anthem of longing, self-awareness, and resilience.
Musically, “Hold Me Tight” thrives on groove and grit. It kicks off with a hazy, immersive soundscape, Shapiro’s voice floating through a reverbed haze like a distant echo of memory. The filter breaks as her cool, mystical, and hypnotic vocals come through and the beat lands, only for her delivery to grow bolder, with intimacy and defiance. You can feel the deprivation in her voice. Then comes the chorus, as the guitars riff with grit, drums pounding steady, and Shapiro’s voice soaring above it all. When she pleads, “Please just don’t let me slip away,” it’s like she’s sitting in the agony of the tug-of-war between vulnerability and self-assertion.
What makes the track compelling is its duality: the verses carry the weight of the younger Shapiro’s uncertainty, while the chorus pulses with the confidence of the artist she has become. It doesn’t wallow in sadness but transforms it into forward momentum, recalling the smugness of Arctic Monkeys and the cinematic intimacy of Lana Del Rey. Listen to “Hold Me Tight” by Liya Shapiro on Spotify.
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Review by: Naomi Joan