The public first heard "Hold On" during Adele's interview with Oprah Winfrey. The song follows Adele as she worries about the chaos that she is causing in the lives of the people she loves most — like her son, Angelo. "Oh what have I done yet again?" she sings, in heartbreak. "Have I not learned anything? / I don't want to leave in chaos /  It's like a ride that I want to get off / It's hard to hold on who I am / When I'm stumbling in the dark for a hand." Then, the chorus demonstrates Adele's struggle to simply hold on. "Hold on / Let time be patient / You are still strong / Let pain be gracious / Love will soon come / Just hold, hold on," she sings.

During her discussion with Oprah, Adele revealed the meaning behind the track. "My friends would always say 'hold on' when I would feel like [how I felt] in the lyrics in the verse," the singer explained (via StyleCaster). "But it was just exhausting to keep going with it. ... The process of a divorce. The process of being a single parent. The process of not seeing your child every single day wasn't really a plan that I had when I became a mom. The process of arriving for yourself every single day, turning up for yourself every single day, and still running a home, running a business. ... And it just, I felt like not doing it anymore."