"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Hold on My Heart" by Genesis. Calm throughout, barely shifting. balanced composition. Mood: intimate, melancholy, reflective. Visual style: early-1990s alternative aesthetic, weathered film grain. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
Deep calm, gentler than 99% of our 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for sleep.
77
BPM
Hold on My Heart by Genesis is 77 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 39 BPM · Double-time 154 BPM · released 1991
Fan image for "Hold on My Heart"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Song DNA
Notes: Gentle ballad with smooth instrumentation and expressive, controlled vocals creating a soft, reflective atmosphere without harsh elements. Subtle falsetto moments add emotional depth while maintaining overall calmness.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: anxiety relief deep listening relaxation
A poignant 1991 power ballad by Genesis expressing hesitation yet openness to love after loss, featuring Phil Collins' heartfelt vocals and minimalistic production.
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The right gear changes everything.
Moods: intimate, melancholy, reflective
Traditions: pop rock, soft rock
At a glance
"Hold on My Heart" by Genesis
77 BPM, dynamic range 3/10, smooth texture, soft vocals. Sits in the middle band — neither built for stillness nor pitched at workout intensity. Whether it works for a given moment depends more on mood and lyrical content than on the acoustic profile. The full sensory breakdown follows.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 3/10 places this song in the "steady volume" band. Loudness stays within a narrow window from start to finish — you won't be ambushed by a louder section if you set the volume at the opening.
Sudden changes: none. Transitions are musically signaled — nothing will surprise you if you're only half-listening.
Texture: smooth.
Predictability is high — the song telegraphs what it will do next. A sensory-sensitive listener can usually guess where it's going without close attention.
Vocal style: soft vocals.
Where this sits in Genesis's catalog
We have 22 songs from Genesis in the library. Of those, 6 are rated Safe, 7 Moderate, and 9 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 3/10 sits below the artist average of 7.0, making it the #22 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from We Can't Dance
We have 3 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- No Son of Mine — intense DR 8
- I Can't Dance — moderate DR 6
1991 context
Released in 1991. We have 266 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.8/10. This track is quieter / less dynamic than the year average. Explore more from the 1990s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm — A guide for sensory-sensitive li…
How fast is "Hold on My Heart"?
77 BPM — Slow (downtempo / ballad)
For running
Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.
For workouts
Warm-up, cool-down, yoga, stretching.
For daily life
Sleep, meditation, reading, focus work.
Browse more songs at 77 BPM.
When "Hold on My Heart" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
✓
Focus / studying
Yes — low-variance volume, no surprises, steady tempo. The ideal study-music profile.
✗
Running / workout
No — 77 BPM is too slow for sustained cardio.
~
Sleep / winding down
Maybe — calm overall, but tempo is a bit high for deep sleep. Better for winding down than falling asleep.
✓
Driving / road trip
Yes — predictable enough for safe driving attention, interesting enough to stay engaged.
✓
Cooking / dinner background
Yes — sits in the background without demanding attention.
✓
Emotional release / catharsis
Yes — this is a song for actively feeling what you came to feel, not for background.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
The counterintuitive reason some heavy metal is safer than a Taylor Swift album
Not all loud music is unsafe. Not all quiet music is safe. How doom metal, drone, and sludge rock score better for sensory sensitivity than …
Nick Cave's albums ranked by emotional darkness — which one is your nervous system ready for?
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds made some of the most devastating music in rock history. But not all darkness is the same. This guide ranks his …
Why this rating
We rate this song Safe because its dynamic range stays within our low-variance band, there are no unsignaled changes, and the texture and vocal style are both in the low-fatigue range. Our methodology uses an AND rule for Safe — a song has to clear every dimension to earn the rating.
This song in the Music Studio
12/100 intensity
See how “Hold on My Heart” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Spotify and YouTube links go direct to the track when we have the ID; otherwise they search for it. Embed this sensory profile on your site →
Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-14. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
This sits near the calm end of everything we've measured — gentler than 99% of the 19,209 songs in the library. Its intensity reading of 12/100 comes from a dynamic range of 3/10, smooth texture, no sudden shifts, and soft vocals. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is an unusually steady, even volume: more extreme on that axis than 100% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on full chaos — sudden changes, huge quiet-to-loud swings, and relentless energy — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
Too Good to Be True — Kacey Musgraves · 99%How Can I Tell You — Cat Stevens · 99%Dimming of the Day — Richard Thompson · 99%Tomorrow Never Came — Lana Del Rey (feat. Sean Lennon) · 99%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
What it’s good for
Sleep10/10
Focus9/10
Workout0/10
Dinner6/10
Party / hype0/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1991 in context
The 266 songs we’ve measured from 1991 average a dynamic range of 6.8/10. At 3/10, this track is gentler and steadier than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity12
Dynamics22
Tempo21
Surprise0
Density0
Predictability0
Vocal force25
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Hold on My Heart"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Hold on My Heart" by Genesis?
"Hold on My Heart" by Genesis has a tempo of 77 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 39 BPM, and at double-time 154 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Hold on My Heart" by Genesis?
"Hold on My Heart" by Genesis rates as Low-Intensity. Dynamic range 3/10, no sudden changes, smooth texture. Our Low-Intensity rating means no single dimension triggers the higher-intensity thresholds.
How loud is "Hold on My Heart" — what is its dynamic range?
"Hold on My Heart" has a dynamic range of 3/10. This places it in the steady-volume band — loudness stays within a narrow window start to finish.
Does "Hold on My Heart" have sudden or surprising changes?
No. "Hold on My Heart" has no sudden unsignaled changes. Every transition is musically telegraphed.
What is "Hold on My Heart" best for?
In our library "Hold on My Heart" is recommended for: anxiety relief, deep listening, relaxation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Hold on My Heart" released?
"Hold on My Heart" is from 1991, on the album "We Can't Dance". It appears in our 1990s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Hold on My Heart"?
We tag "Hold on My Heart" as intimate, melancholy, reflective. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Hold on My Heart"?
The vocal style is soft vocals.
Is "Hold on My Heart" good for running?
Not really — at 77 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "Hold on My Heart" good for studying?
Yes — low dynamic range (3/10) and no sudden changes means the song stays in the background without pulling focus.
Can I use "Hold on My Heart" for sleep?
Yes — it clears every sleep-music criterion: low intensity, minimal dynamic range, no surprises. Use as a wind-down or sleep-playlist anchor.
Should I listen to "Hold on My Heart"?
If you want gentle, low-arousal music, "Hold on My Heart" is a solid pick — Low-Intensity across every sensory dimension.
Songs with the same DNA
smooth texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.