In May 2022, Sawayama announced her second studio album,
Hold the Girl was set for release on 2 September 2022. She then proceeded to release the singles "
This Hell" and "
Catch Me in the Air" in May and June, respectively. On July 21, Sawayama posted teasers for the title track on
TikTok, with the caption "single out next week". Three days later, on July 24, Sawayama announced that "Hold the Girl" would release three days later on Wednesday, July 27. On the day of the song's release, she announced that the album would be pushed back from 2 September to 16 September due to "production issues", however promised a fourth single would be published before then. == Composition ==