Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Hold an Old Friend's Hand" in English language version.
It's institutional, international pop with muted dance music, muted ballads, muted country-pop and muted rock, all calculated to play with listeners' memories and sense of nostalgia.
The tunes here fall into two categories. treacly and overblown slow ones ("It's the Lover (Not the Love)", the title cut) and pre-fab funk 'n roll ("I'll Be the Girl", "We're Both Thinking of Her" and "Oh Jackie").