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
Run-Time
Imogen Heap Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's a delayed reaction of the third kind (ooh)
I'm so ready for this
Shrink-wrapped tones, I can face the music
Stop matters bonding us way beyond
Our best by-days
You know we've had it good,
We've done all we could and all again
I'm done pretending
Let's quit while we're still friends
Making up stories that grew to be too tall,
My fortress to forget couldn't take anymore
You nearly watched me ruin everything, everything!
There's a number one rule of don't-do's
Well we knew it all too well
You were supposed to be looking out for me!
Have you any idea how difficult it's been?
You know we've had it good,
We've had it bad, so no hard feelings
We've done all we could, and all again
Let's save ourselves a sorry ending
You know we've had it good, we've had it bad,
But this is as far as we can stretch
Let's stop pretending, stop pretending
And quit while we're still friends
Well I was so young, misguided maybe
But still this hands over my every pen to paper
And this all started with a song (started with a song, started with a song)
Let this be our last one
Drop, drop (bridge, bridge, bridge, bridge)
We've had it good, we've had it bad,
This is as far as we can stretch
Stop pretending!
And quit while we're still friends
I wish you well
I wish you well (I wish you well, wish you well, wish you well)
Wish you well, I wish you well, I won't tell if you won't tell
I won't hold it against you if you bow out gracefully (gracefully)
Can we just not drag this out, please?
I wish you well, I wish you well, I won't tell if you won't tell
I won't hold it against you if you bow out gracefully (do it gracefully!)
Can we just not drag this out?
Imogen Heap's song "Run-Time" is about the end of a relationship and the struggle to let go. The opening lines "Sparks might fly, in no time/It's a delayed reaction of the third kind" seem to suggest a sense of inevitability about what's to come, as if the singer has been waiting for this to happen but didn't expect it to unfold quite so quickly. Despite the shock of it all, the singer is "ready for this" and faces the music ("Shrink-wrapped tones") head-on.
She acknowledges that the relationship had its ups and downs, though she holds no grudges ("We've had it good, we've had it bad, so no hard feelings/We've done all we could and all again/I'm done pretending"). The chorus repeats the message that it's time to move on and end things before it gets ugly: "Let's quit while we're still friends/Let's save ourselves a sorry ending/Let's stop pretending". There's a sense of sadness and regret there, but also relief at the prospect of closure.
In the second verse, the singer addresses her partner directly, accusing them of failing to look out for her: "You were supposed to be looking out for me!/Have you any idea how difficult it's been?". She concedes that both of them may have made mistakes, but ultimately it's time to break up and "Wish you well" in their separate lives. The final lines "Can we just not drag this out?" sound like a plea for a clean break and a reminder that things can still end on good terms.
Line by Line Meaning
Sparks might fly, in no time
There could be a sudden burst of energy or passion soon.
It's a delayed reaction of the third kind (ooh)
This feeling has been building up for a while and is about to be released.
I'm so ready for this
I am emotionally and mentally equipped to handle this situation.
Shrink-wrapped tones, I can face the music
I am ready to confront the harsh realities of this situation.
Stop matters bonding us way beyond
We need to stop letting outside circumstances dictate the course of our relationship.
Our best by-days
The high points of our relationship are behind us.
You know we've had it good,
We have had positive moments in our relationship.
We've had it bad, so no hard feelings
There have also been negative moments, but we both realize it's not personal.
We've done all we could and all again
We've given our relationship our all, and tried multiple times to make it work.
I'm done pretending
I can no longer fake that everything is okay.
Let's quit while we're still friends
We should end things before the relationship becomes toxic or ruins our friendship.
Making up stories that grew to be too tall,
We have been exaggerating things and not facing reality.
My fortress to forget couldn't take anymore
My coping mechanisms to forget about our problems are no longer effective.
You nearly watched me ruin everything, everything!
You almost let me make a mistake that would have ruined our relationship.
There's a number one rule of don't-do's
There's something we both know we should never have done in this relationship.
Well we knew it all too well
We are both aware of what we did wrong.
You were supposed to be looking out for me!
I thought I could trust you to protect me, but you let me down.
Have you any idea how difficult it's been?
You may not fully understand the emotional toll this situation has taken on me.
Let's save ourselves a sorry ending
We should end things before they become destructive and hurtful.
But this is as far as we can stretch
We have reached the limit of what we are capable of in this relationship.
And quit while we're still friends
Let's end things before they ruin our friendship.
Well I was so young, misguided maybe
I may have been naive when we started this relationship.
But still this hands over my every pen to paper
Despite my youth, music has always been my way of expressing my emotions.
And this all started with a song (started with a song, started with a song)
Our relationship began through music or a shared love of music.
Let this be our last one
Let this be the last song or expression of our relationship.
Drop, drop (bridge, bridge, bridge, bridge)
This is a musical interlude or transition.
I wish you well
I hope for the best for you.
Wish you well, I wish you well, I won't tell if you won't tell
Let's not speak of the negative aspects of our relationship.
I won't hold it against you if you bow out gracefully (gracefully)
I won't blame you if you choose to end things with dignity.
Can we just not drag this out, please?
Let's avoid making this situation any more painful or complicated than it already is.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Imogen Heap, Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Sumtinrandom
This woman is the coolest person in the world.
@Martin-xj9zj
Right? She is like embodiment of I don´t care I will do me!
@drunkenramble4120
Pretty much, especially shooting videos around all of my hang outs.
@johnIZaUWL
She’s like a 21st century Kate Bush in a sense and THAT IS A HIGH COMPLIMENT I’m giving I ASSURE YOU lol
@Jaz12345ism
Absolutely
@maiwritesmovies0560
THATS MY RINGTONE!!!! EVERYONE STARES WHEN THEY SEE A SIX FOOT BLACK GUY WITH LONG HAIR WITH AN IMMY RINGTONE!!!! 🤣🤣🤣 LOVE IMMY!!! 🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍🕺🏾🕺🏾🕺🏾🕺🏾🎵🎼🎼🎸🫠🫠🥰😍
@laudemdem
All of Imogen's songs seem to have a very healing quality (including those from Frou Frou). If ever I feel depressed or am lacking creativity, I guarantee that any one of her tracks will inspire a change in one or the other or, usually, both. No one can put emotions so perfectly into music like her! Thank you Immi!
@kobron1559
That was so beautifully said..I'm sure you read the minds of 90% IMOGEN HEAP fans lol
@farahildasaputri
😀 👍💟
@jorgemurillo6637
Laura Demaude I very much agree.