Diplo has tantalising demo of Beyonce’s ‘Hold Up’ from her new album Lemonade, featuring Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig. Check it out below.
A few days ago, Vampire Weekend’s lead singer sent out a tweet saying that he had essentially adjusted the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s hit ‘Maps’ while working on the piece some five years ago. Diplo and Ezra subsequently worked on a hook in the studio based on the tweet with the pair eventually agreeing that it was a better fit for Beyonce’s latest album, ‘Lemonade’.
- MORE: Listen to Beyonce's new album Lemonade online for free here
Unfortunately, all we have at the moment is a promising 10-second clip, that is clearly reminiscent of Koenig work with Diplo’s Major Lazer project on ‘Jessica’. The finished ‘Hold Up’ remains probably the closest thing ‘Lemonade’ has to a single (although we believe that’s no slight on the eclectic album).
.@diplo's demo for 'Hold Up' #LEMONADE pic.twitter.com/YqpnYh3zOU
— BEYONCÉ LEGION (@Bey_Legion) April 26, 2016
The artist tweeted that it sounded like a “filtered... experimental alternate version that didn’t go anywhere”. And, though he admits it’s a pretty bare-boned snippet we’d certainly like to hear more of the balmy reggae cut. The fact that the lyrics came from an innocuous tweet way back in 2011 only adds to the fragile, intricate hook. He did however finally state that “I’m sure you’ll hear it at some point. Let’s enjoy the great finished product first tho! It barely just came out”.
Koenig is one of the 15 writers credited for Beyonce’s track which has sparked such interest after its peculiar evolution. This list also features Father John Misty after his work was featured significantly – much to his surprise. Father John Misty told Billboard, "about a year and half ago, my friend Emile Haynie played Beyonce some of my music, along with some tunes I've written for other people, back when she was looking for collaborators for the record... Pretty soon after they sent along the demo for ‘Hold Up’, which was just like a minute of the sample and the hook".
Tillman continued that “it wasn't until she came to my Coachella set in 2015 and told me personally it had made the record that I really had anything concrete with which to convince my friends that I hadn't actually gone insane”. “I'm pretty sure they were just looking for lyrics, but I went crazy and recorded a verse, melody and refrain too… that unbelievably ended up making the record”.
