Heap grew up playing music from an early age, and by her eleventh birthday she was writing her own songs. From the age of 15, she studied at the BRIT School Of Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon, South London, recording three tracks for the school's annual CD between 1994 and 1995, "Aliens" being the title track of the latter.
After being introduced to Nik Kershaw by his manager Mickey Modern, Heap and Kershaw recorded four demos that Mickey Modern took to Rondor Music. Consequently, a few months later Heap signed her first record contract at 18 to independent record label Almo Sounds. During 1996, Heap began working with an experimental pop band called Acacia, which featured her future collaborator Guy Sigsworth and was fronted by the singer Alexander Nilere. While never a full member of the band, Heap was a guest vocalist (as a counterpart to Nilere) and contributed to various Acacia single and album tracks in 1997. One Acacia song, "Maddening Shroud", would later be covered by Frou Frou.
Heap enjoyed a prestigious live début, performing four songs (backed by friends Acacia) between sets by The Who and Eric Clapton at the 1996 Prince's Trust Concert in Hyde Park, London. Her début album, I Megaphone (an anagram of "Imogen Heap") was internationally released in 1998 on independent record label Almo Sounds and garnered critical acclaim. However, as production of the album neared completion, it was announced that the record label had been sold and would be shut down. I-Megaphone featured collaborations with Guy Sigsworth and Dave Stewart. In Japan, the regional distributor, Zora, re-released the album in 2002, featuring "Blanket," her collaboration with Urban Species which was released as a single in the United Kingdom, and a Frou Frou remix of one of her B-sides, a video to which was released exclusively to Japanese media. Following the disbanding of her UK and USA record label, I Megaphone was scarce in circulation, having not been re-printed until November 2006. An independent Brazillian record label has rights to the record, and has issued limited copies, some of which are available on eBay. It has also been released through the iTunes Music Store under the Almo label.
At the same time as the Japanese re-release, Heap was working on new tracks with producer Guy Sigsworth, who had collaborated on "Getting Scared" from I-Megaphone. Together, they formed an electro-pop group Frou Frou, releasing an album called "Details" and singles, "Breathe In", "It's Good To Be In Love" and "Must Be Dreaming." The album was a full collaboration between the two artists. Frou Frou were approached to cover "Holding Out for a Hero", originally performed by Bonnie Tyler, for the soundtrack to the highly successful movie Shrek 2. An album track, "Let Go", was featured in the movie Garden State in 2004.
In December 2003, Heap announced on her web site that she was going to write and produce her second solo album, using her site as an online blog to update fans on progress, even seeking them to be her A&R team for the lyrics to "Daylight Robbery". Heap set herself a deadline of one year to make the album (she booked the album mastering for December 2004), and re-mortgaged her flat to fund production costs, including the use of studio time and instruments (which she purchased as a birthday present to herself). Having been burned by previous challenges with record labels (Heap had been spurned twice by record companies, when Almo Sounds was sold and when Frou Frou's label staff focused on promoting other acts), Heap decided to form her own record label on which to release the new record. At the end of 2004, Heap premiered two album tracks online, enabling fans to pay for a digital download, entitled "Just For Now" (which was up for a limited time as a Christmas gift), and "Goodnight And Go", which had been featured on the second season of hit US TV drama The O.C.
In April 2005, The O.C. season two finale featured another track, the sparse vocodered-vocal track, "Hide And Seek". The track was released immediately to digital download services such as iTunes where it became an instant fixture in the chart. The track was released as a digital download on the 5th July 2005 in the UK and peaked at #8 on the iTunes download chart.
The album, entitled "Speak For Yourself" was then released in the UK on July 18th 2005 on her own record label, Megaphonic Records. The album was also released on iTunes UK, where it entered the top 10, selling strongly. "Hide And Seek" also received radio attention from the popular UK radio station BBC Radio One, with DJ Scott Mills featuring it as his "Record of the Week", and provoking strong reactions ("love it or hate it") from other DJs at the station. Due to popular demand, the track was commercially released on a special limited edition (1500 copies were printed) 7" vinyl in the UK in September. Speak For Yourself was licensed to Sony BMG imprint RCA Victor in August 2005, enabling the record to be released in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It was released in those territories in November, and Heap appeared on the Hotel Cafe Tour promoting the record. Imogen also performed "Goodnight And Go" on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 11, 2006. Heap is slated to continue touring in 2006 in the US and UK to support the record.
As well as TV soundtracks (Frou Frou and Heap's solo records have been featured in shows as varied as The O.C. to CSI, among others), Heap has also contributed solo tracks to movie soundtracks. Her cover of the song "Spooky" (made famous by the band Classics IV, and previously covered by Dusty Springfield) for the soundtrack to the Reese Witherspoon movie Just Like Heaven. Heap also wrote a special track entitled "Can't Take It In" for the soundtrack to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She has also appeared on the second soundtrack for the HBO television series "Six Feet Under", entitled "Six Feet Under Vol. 2: Everything Ends" with a 50-second track that closed the Season 4 episode "I'm A Lonely Little Petunia (In An Onion Patch)". Three versions were recorded and are available from Heap's official web site.
In addition to producing her own records, she has also produced a track for Nik Kershaw and has collaborated with artists as diverse as Joshua Radin, Jeff Beck, Temposhark, LHB, Way Out West, Jon Bon Jovi, Mich Gerber, Sean Lennon, Urban Species, Blue October, Jon Hopkins and Acacia.
Heap's 2009 album 'Ellipse' features Canvas, Aha! and Half Life.
Sites: Twitter
www.imogenheap.com
Aeroplane
Imogen Heap Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And up on into space
Leave behind the morning city
In it's special place
Some flutterbies they enter and they
Play around in my soul
And once again part of me
Da da day
Flying in my aeroplane.
Peaceful colours everywhere
Purples and deep blues
Feeling so at home here oh
As if up here i grew
It's so beautiful up here now,
Oh I think I might just stay
All alone and by myself
So free and far away
Da da day
Flying with my aeroplane
I can see heaven
Heaven down below
I look at heaven
And an angel who I know
I can see heaven
Heaven down below
Da da day
Flying with my aeroplane
Just happy to be me again
The lyrics in Imogen Heap's song "Airplane" are evocative of a person who is escaping the city and everything that is weighing them down. The verse talks about drifting through the atmosphere and up into space, telling us the listener that this person has taken off on a plane and is seeking refuge up high in the sky. The lyrics "peaceful colors everywhere, purples and deep blues, feeling so at home here as if up here I grew" capture this feeling of escape and immersion into nature as the person is enjoying the beauty of the sky.
Another important set of lyrics from the song talks about the existence of flutterbies, butterflies that play around in their soul, making them feel whole again. This part of the song implies that there was something that was weighing down this person's soul but by being in this peaceful state up high in the sky, they feel free and complete.
The lyrics also mention seeing heaven down below and an angel they know. These lyrics could be interpreted as the person feeling like all their problems are below them and they can see the bigger picture now. As they observe the world beneath them, they feel like they can approach life with a new perspective. At the end of the song, the lyrics tell us that they are happy to be themselves again, implying that perhaps they had lost sight of who they are and needed this break to reconnect with themselves.
Line by Line Meaning
Drifting through the atmosphere
Moving slowly and gently through the air
And up on into space
Ascending even higher into the sky, beyond the Earth's atmosphere
Leave behind the morning city
Leaving behind the hustle and bustle of a busy city in the early hours of the day
In it's special place
The city is still there, occupying its unique spot on the Earth's surface
Some flutterbies they enter and they
Some lovely and delicate creatures come into my thoughts and play around there
Play around in my soul
These creatures bring a sense of joy and playfulness to my inner self
And once again part of me
As a result of this experience, a part of me that was missing is now restored
Fills up to be whole
I feel complete and full of life again
Da da day
An exclamation expressing excitement or pleasure
Flying in my aeroplane.
Traveling through the sky in an aircraft
Peaceful colours everywhere
The colors of the sky and the surroundings are calm and serene
Purples and deep blues
The colors I see are mostly shades of purple and dark blue
Feeling so at home here oh
I feel comfortable and content in this environment
As if up here I grew
It feels as if I have matured or grown in some way while being up in the sky
It's so beautiful up here now,
The view from up above is truly spectacular
Oh I think I might just stay
I am tempted to continue flying and not come back down to Earth
All alone and by myself
I am the only person in the plane, enjoying solitude
So free and far away
I feel unencumbered and distant from the concerns of daily life
I can see heaven
I am struck by the beauty of the view below, which reminds me of a heavenly place
Heaven down below
I see the Earth from above, with its stunning natural landscapes and vibrant cities
I look at heaven
I am gazing out at the world below, marveling at its wonder
And an angel who I know
I see someone I am familiar with, perhaps recognizing them from the past
Just happy to be me again
I feel content and at peace with myself, enjoying this moment of reflection and beauty
Contributed by Savannah Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@pollyanapolly6720
I feel so safe in her songs
@alexisgee2314
yes!
@stunnadenae7710
3:20 hits so hard for me because for a long time i wasn't myself & when i found myself again, it made me feel just like this.
@jesusalejandrodesantiagoca474
Thats what i love about imogen heap and frou frou songs hits to all in some sort of way
@imadearisantojonathan9549
That hit me hard as well. Especially when the music at that part was so fucking ethereal and inducing some out of body experience type of shit
@deepstructure
According to the wikipedia entry for Frou Frou: "The first official Frou Frou release was a remix of "Airplane" (renamed "Aeroplane") which the duo had completed for the Japanese re-release of Heap's debut album."
@roxastopher
i randomly remembered this song and hate that it's not on spotify
@mp-yq9jb
There hasn’t been a comment in 4 years- how y’all doin👀
@prettyastri
Ikr
@oakmsp3805
Pls I’ve been listening to this for almost a year now and I just never felt like
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