“Hold Up” Demo Is A Fascinating Look At Beyoncé’s Creative Process

Our love for Beyoncé’s “Hold Up” is well-documented. It’s a great song, a great video, and an iconic dress. The song, as you know, started when Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig tweeted about Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps.” Now, Diplo, the song’s producer has released a snippet of that sample. The blog Team Vampire Weekend first spotted the clip, which was the picked up by Billboard. Obviously, it’s completely different. Diplo provides spoken word backing and Koenig sings over a beat that’s more than spare. Still, even nine seconds of the song are a fascinating and rare look into Beyoncé’s creative process. A huge part of a pop star’s skill is selection, and Beyoncé demonstrated her vision when she heard this track and worked with Diplo, Koenig, and Father John Misty (among others) to realize that vision. Diplo has long been an advocate of pulling back the curtain to show how songs are made. It's good to see nothing has changed. Take a listen below.