(1) Irma (born 1988 in Douala, Cameroon) is a singer-songwriter from Cameroon. She is now living in France.
Irma is from a family with a musical background. Her father is guitarist and her mother was in a church choir. As a child Irma was performing at masses too. At age 15 she went to a high school in Paris to improve her school education.
No doubt about it: Irma is part of a generation that can do just about anything. She’s capable of removing the blinkers of received ideas and transcending the boundaries between categories. And she was also daring enough to re-record her first album, initially entrusted to the greatly respected New York producer, Henry Hirsch, long-time musical partner of Lenny Kravitz. “We recorded in a place two hours from New York, in a chapel that had been converted into a studio. I thought it sounded good, but when I listened to it again back in Paris, I was pretty disappointed! Too many musicians around her, too many effects and not the emotion she was after. Driven by the audacity of youth, the 20-year-old Irma took the risk of re-recording in Paris. And it was worth it because the album reveals her personality, with her soft vocals and hazy aura, and shows a gentle modesty that is perfectly consistent with her barely disguised shyness. She did most of the takes herself from the mixing desk in a studio converted from a former cellar. She played around with the various tracks to recreate the private world of this young woman barely out of childhood and give us a sense of the atmosphere of the bedroom where she composed for many years.
Born in Douala into a family from Bangangté in western Cameroon, Irma arrived in Paris in 2003 to continue her secondary school studies. She was 15 years old and already showing some serious talent. This was the start of a new life for the teenager, who discovered the voices of neo soul and singers “with guitars” as she puts it, starting with Ben Harper’s ‘Live from Mars’, one of her favourite albums given to her by her mother and ‘Change the World’ by Eric Clapton, which she dug up from her father’s record collection. The young Cameroonian guitarist and songwriter redid songs by her heroes in her own style and started posting videos on YouTube in 2007: for starters, a cover of ‘Au Suivant’ inspired by seeing –M- and Camille’s version on the TV programme Taratata, followed by the Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’, Yael Naïm’s ‘New Soul’, and Django Reinhardt’s ‘After You’ve Gone’. It didn’t take long for praise to start flooding in; lots of fans wanted to find out (lots) more. Wanted to hear some of her own songs. They got ‘Letter to the Lord’ with its original black-and-white clip, and it opens the album. “I describe the process of searching for inspiration. I write to the Lord asking him to send me some chords. A love letter,” she says, never shy with references to her faith which is “very important” to her. Later she posted the wonderful ballad ‘Somehow’, a piano-vocal number that concludes the collection, opening up new horizons for this singer-songwriter who had until now composed her own personal brand of mostly sweet, sometimes bitter songs on the guitar. Irma prefers the subtle charms of light and dark to the glaring lights of seduction.
The hype built up so quickly that she started to receive emails from tempted producers, including a big cheese from My Major Company who’d succumbed immediately to the charms of ‘I Know’. Things moved very fast after that. In August 2008, the beautiful stranger succeeded in winning over 416 Internet co-producers in just one weekend; in under 48 hours she had collected the €70,000 she needed to record her first album. “It was amazing because we had reckoned on 5 months to get the money together.” She marked her arrival at My Major Company with a fundraising record that has not yet been matched! And we can expect a similarly bright future for this album composed of well-crafted tunes that will strike a chord with listeners of all generations, and choruses that draw on the influences of all the singers who have struck and shaken her heart, beginning with her absolute idol, Michael Jackson. “I’ve got everything of his! I love everything about him! His energy, his tunes, his voice, his sensitivity, his showmanship: he had the whole world spellbound! I’d only just started taking classical piano lessons!”
Irma trod the same fertile pop and soul path as the former little prince of soul who became the king of pop, if we want a resumé of her style that doesn’t, however, tell the full story. How can you sum up in a few words the multitude of influences that have gone into making this unclassifiable album? She is as indebted to Cat Power and Eric Clapton as she is to The Fugees and Queen, but you can also add Regina Spektor and Fink, the star of the Ninjatune team. “My songs are the fruit of everything I’ve assimilated: two seconds on the radio, a few notes in a film, or a whole album. I just need to set that all to music.” It’s not as if she’s a debutant. She brought a few of her own compositions with her from Cameroon – ‘I Know’, ‘Love You’, ‘End of the Story’ and others. A third of the album dates back to her early years when the little girl got her hands on a guitar her father had bought and taught herself to play. “Simple verse-chorus songs in a major key”, which the young woman she has become has since reworked to reflect her new liking for neo soul sounds, as on ‘Their Truth’ with its funky hip-hop-like beats, churchy organ, the crackling of vinyl records and her even warmer vocals.
You’ll have realised by now that Irma is a composite character with a shifting identity; multiple and yet singular. Like her songwriting. Her lyrics tell us about her without ever being autobiographical, stories of love, its joys and its disappointments. “The words come to me completely naturally,” Irma says modestly. But her lyrics certainly don’t lack irony. ‘Your Guide’, for example, pokes fun at young people who are indifferent to everything, already disappointed in love, have survived everything, against all the odds. She is quite the opposite, ready to embark on this strange journey called music and fully intending to perform live, a dimension she added in spring 2010. “I spent the whole of March 2010 with Diam’s. It was the first time I’d been on tour and travelled like that.” Irma has supported many different artists including –M-, Mickey and Tété since then. Each time she had “twenty minutes, five tracks”, completely alone with her guitar and her voice. And last autumn she performed weekly dates at the Java, just like a real star. The crowd always ended up falling under the spell of her husky melodies.
Her subtle charisma will overpower you too – and she promises to enchant us for many years to come.
(2) Irma Schultz Keller (born 1 October 1965) has appeared in many movies and television series in Sweden. As a singer, she has made five solo albums and participated in many other music projects like ‘Songs for December’ along with Uno Svenningsson. In 2007, Keller and Uno Svenningsson performed in Melodifestivalen and made it to the second chance round with the song ‘God Morgon’.
Hear Me Out
Irma Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As I talk to you
Don't close your eyes
I just like you
Mmmmm...
Mmmmm...
As I talk to you
You don't own my life
Cause I'm scared of you
Broken bones
Scars on my skin
Yeah l feel disgraced
For my own killer sins
Mmmmm...
Mmmmm...
Hear me out
As I talk to you
So hear the crowd
Cause that'd be the truth
Cause you teIl me why
L swear in vain
And l'm here to sing for the poor lands
Mmmm...
Mmmm...
And the helpless mom calling this way
The father you ignore every day
The homeless child who is walking on a better way
Oh, it's a crazy world up here
But l have faith
I believed that l was going to win someday
La la la la la...
Hear me someday
La la la la la...
The song "Hear Me Out" by Irma is a poignant message about the strength and resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity. In the opening lines, Irma implores someone to listen to her as she speaks, declaring that she likes them in the process. However, she also reminds them that they do not own her life and that she is scared of them. This fear is underscored by the lines that follow, where the singer talks about her broken bones and scars, expressing shame and regret for sins that she has committed or been a victim of.
Despite this, the singer calls out to her listener to hear the crowd and acknowledge the truth that lies therein. She asks them to tell her why she swears in vain and use her voice to sing for the poor lands. The song grows increasingly urgent as it focuses on the desperate cries of the helpless--the mother calling for her child, the ignored father, and the homeless child searching for a better life. Against this backdrop of suffering and struggle, Irma reminds herself and her listener that the world is indeed crazy, but that she has faith and believes that someday she will overcome.
Overall, "Hear Me Out" is a powerful song that speaks to the universal human experience of pain, fear, and hope. It encourages us to keep speaking out, even when we are scared or ashamed, to use our voices to fight for justice and to hold onto a belief in something bigger than ourselves.
Line by Line Meaning
Hear me out
Listen to me and pay attention to what I have to say
As I talk to you
While I communicate with you through this song
Don't close your eyes
Don't ignore me or shut me out
I just like you
I have feelings for you and want you to reciprocate
You don't own my life
You don't have control over me or the decisions I make
Cause I'm scared of you
Because I fear your power or influence over me
Broken bones
Physical injury that I have endured
Scars on my skin
Visible marks that show the pain I have experienced
Yeah l feel disgraced
I feel ashamed and humiliated for what I have gone through
For my own killer sins
As a result of my own mistakes or wrongdoings
So hear the crowd
Listen to the voices of the people around me
Cause that'd be the truth
Because they will speak the honest and genuine reality
Cause you tell me why
Explain to me the reasons why
I swear in vain
I make empty promises that I can't keep
And I'm here to sing for the poor lands
I'm singing to bring attention to those who are suffering in impoverished areas
The helpless mom calling this way
The mother who is in desperate need of help and support
The father you ignore every day
The father who is being neglected and overlooked with no acknowledgment
The homeless child who is walking on a better way
The child who is struggling and has no home but is on the path to improvement
Oh, it's a crazy world up here
The world we live in is unpredictable and chaotic
But I have faith
Nevertheless, I still believe in something greater
I believed that I was going to win someday
I have hope that I will overcome adversity and achieve my goals eventually
La la la la la...
Non-verbal vocals
Hear me someday
Please listen to me at some point in the future and understand my perspective
Contributed by James R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Noëlle H
J'aime toutes tes chansons! Merci 👍❤👏
Janusz
Bravo Irma ! Super !!!
Maintenance Hospitalière
Trop de talent Irma. Je suis très heureux à chaque fois que je suis ta belle voix, ta musique, ta guitare. Merciii pour ses émotions. Tu me transportes dans un autre univers grâce à ta musique. Content d'être camerounais
Mickael Minel
Irma est une artiste formidable qui mérite d'etre connu dans le monde entier. J'ai eu la chance de vivre un de ces concerts à Limoges(John Lennon)
J'ai jamais écouter une chanteuse qui donne autant d'émotions dans ces chansons.
A la fin du concert , apres que le public est scandé "une autre une autre" , Irma reviens pour un dernier morceaux dans la fausse , tous assis par terre , qui peut faire ca à part IRMA ...personne
Merci à ces musiciens extraordinaire
Coach Viv
patrice l'a fait au cours d'un concert en 2010 au bigband café a caen.... = ceci étant, cela n'ote pas le fait que c'est une artiste extraordinaire.
Richard Beardsley
I have been living in Cameroon, on and off for 9 years: Yaoundé, Mendong, Simbock, Kribi... I discovered Irma only today on France 24 and, God willing will be at her concert 31 January in Toulouse, France. She is a complete musician and a total star. Eureka.
Rosa Rossell
Preciosa canción para dar "Una oportunidad a la paz"
léa Geremy
ce clip est bouleversant et plein d'émotions. travail magnifique, j'ai vraiment hate que l'album sorte
rainbow candy
this deserves way more views.
it saddens me that songs that bring good messages like this one often getting ignored by the world. instead the society pay way too much attention to things that promote drugs, sex, racism, how-much-swag-a-celebrity-has and whatnot.
But i never lose hope. I know there are people out there that genuinely care about world peace, basic human rights, safety for children, education, extinction, environment and other things that actually matter. I might not live to see the day when things like this actually caught attention from the world, but as long as i live, i will continue fighting for what i believe in.
dijonay971
+rainbow candy I couldn't agree more. Don't give up! :)