(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’.
Precis som du
Irma Lyrics
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Precis som du
Ibland så känns det som om allting går igen
Och dina drömmar står som blommor i asfalten
Samma gamla misstag samma fällor en gång till
Och trots goda intentioner blir det aldrig riktigt som man vill
Du stannar upp och känner hur du fryser till is
För han går och han ler
Precis som du
Han pratar och han sysslar
Precis som du
Han lovar att stanna kvar
Precis som du
Och det är alltid ett steg framåt och två tillbaks
Och du slits mellan din stolthet och en önskan att vara till lags
Ditt liv känns som en b-film som inte har nåt slut
Och när du säger vad du tycker
Då går han bara ut
Inte ännu en repris du stannar upp
Och känner hur du fryser till is
För han går och han ler
Precis som du
Han pratar och han sysslar
Precis som du
Han lovar att stanna kvar
Allt jag vill är att bli sedd
Allt jag vill är att bli hörd
Men det verkar vara svårt
Hitta nån att lita på
Någon jag kan hålla i
När det blåser hårt
För han går och han ler
Precis som du
Han pratar och han sysslar
Precis som du
Han lovar att stanna kvar
Precis som du
Precis som du
Precis som du
Precis som du
Precis som du
Precis som du
Precis som du
The lyrics to "Precis Som Du" by Irma describe the feeling of being stuck in a cycle of repeating the same mistakes over and over again, while also desperately seeking validation and acceptance from others. The song starts by painting a picture of the world as a bleak place where nothing changes, and where the singer's dreams are unattainable. They recognize that despite their best efforts, they can never seem to get things exactly how they want them, and are constantly falling into the same traps over and over again.
The chorus highlights the central theme of the song - the singer's struggle to differentiate themselves from others and find their own way. They describe the person they are interested in as being exactly like them in every way, which makes it difficult to stand out and be seen as an individual. Ultimately, the singer is left feeling isolated and alone, searching for someone they can trust to weather the storms of life with.
Throughout the song, Irma uses both vivid imagery and repetition to convey a sense of familiarity and consistency in the singer's life. The use of the phrase "precis som du" (exactly like you) reinforces the idea that everything they experience is mirrored in the actions of others, emphasizing their desire to be seen and heard as an individual rather than just another face in the crowd. The song ultimately ends on a note of resignation, as if to suggest that this is simply the way things are, and the singer will continue to try to find their place in the world despite the challenges they face.
Line by Line Meaning
Ibland så känns det som om allting går igen
Sometimes it feels like everything repeats itself
Och dina drömmar står som blommor i asfalten
And your dreams are like flowers growing in the concrete
Samma gamla misstag samma fällor en gång till
The same old mistakes and traps once again
Och trots goda intentioner blir det aldrig riktigt som man vill
And despite good intentions, it never really turns out the way we want
Inte ännu en repris
Not another repeat
Du stannar upp och känner hur du fryser till is
You stop and feel yourself freeze up
För han går och han ler
Because he walks and he smiles
Precis som du
Just like you
Han pratar och han sysslar
He talks and he does
Han lovar att stanna kvar
He promises to stay
Och det är alltid ett steg framåt och två tillbaks
And it's always one step forward and two steps back
Och du slits mellan din stolthet och en önskan att vara till lags
And you're torn between your pride and a desire to please
Ditt liv känns som en b-film som inte har nåt slut
Your life feels like a B-movie that never ends
Och när du säger vad du tycker
And when you speak your mind
Då går han bara ut
He just walks out
Allt jag vill är att bli sedd
All I want is to be seen
Allt jag vill är att bli hörd
All I want is to be heard
Men det verkar vara svårt
But it seems to be hard
Hitta nån att lita på
To find someone to trust
Någon jag kan hålla i
Someone I can hold on to
När det blåser hårt
When times get tough
Precis som du
Just like you
Precis som du
Just like you
Precis som du
Just like you
Precis som du
Just like you
Precis som du
Just like you
Writer(s): Scocco Mauro
Contributed by Madelyn E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.