Award-winning singer/songwriter Patricia Bahia continues her elegant display of music that touches the heart and soul. In her new track, “Hold On” the feelings of encouragement and friendship are beautifully displayed within Bahia’s warm delivery. “Hold On” is a testament to Bahia’s prowess as a lyricist, and the natural empathy she so convincingly delivers each song she releases. The tears you cry, could fill an ocean, she sings somberly. It’s a different tenor, a different vibe than the typical Bahia-optimism we’ve heard in the past in songs like “(Say Yes) World With A Little More Love”, which makes Bahia’s artistry all the more real and satisfying.
URL: https://patriciabahia.com/music
While the motivation of the song might be to help a friend through mental anguish or rough times, the way Bahia’s voice swells with love, it’s hard to not admire her conviction. I think when you listen to a song like “Hold On” the adult contemporary genre alarms are ringing loud and clear, but something about this song that transcends genres is not only the lyrical content, but Bahia’s vocals seem to be at home in the jazz, Americana or roots world, too. She doesn’t have a twang, per se, but the melodic tones in her voice ribbon out like a wholesome, high integrity performance. You feel safe in her presence; you feel important in her world. That spark, the invisible energy that exudes from her in this vocal performance can’t be replicated in a studio. She’s either a top-tier actress that can chameleon her way into thinking she’s reading your emotional meter, or she’s just a natural artist that makes it look so darn easy. I fall into the camp that she’s exceptional at what she does and because she wrote the song, she’s just as emotionally attached as if she were singing the song from pen to recording.
Bahia’s emotive reach lingers within the acoustic guitar arrangement. While it meanders around the pool, the guitar creates circles as if you could reach out and touch the emitting wavelengths. That guitar has a vibe, as if it were a Spring garden just popping up to create this sense of anew. It’s colorful enough to feel enlightened, or the sense of that morning has broken. The sun has shown the path. At times Bahia’s modest delivery is juxta positioned, as if she’s emphasizing the storm, getting through the dark times. For that, Bahia can certainly draw from personal experience. Bahia, who hails from St. Louis, started writing songs in 2003. She had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and left her law career. Her other recordings include the EP Long Road Home (2010) and Save Your Heart (2015).
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/patricia-bahia/407167354
Many of her songs have been featured in film and television, and last year her songs “Every Heart One Love” and “It’s All Good” were finalists in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Proving that she has her heart on the pulse of wonderful music, “Hold On” is worth the emotional grip. Bahia’s latest single is a must-listen.
Chadwick Easton