Playing "Hide and Seek" with Imogen Heap

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It may be hard to believe it in this technology-driven day and age, but one of the most pervasive sounds in popular music came about when a computer STOPPED working. In 2005, artist and innovator Imogen Heap released "Hide and Seek," a mysterious and emotional song featuring just her voice and a digital harmonizer. In this episode, Nate and Reanna dissect a song that launched a thousand memes and gave the world one of the defining sonic textures of our time. Songs Discussed Imogen Heap - Headlock Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight Daft Punk - Around the World Imogen Heap - Getting Scared Frou Frou - Let Go Jason Derulo - Whatcha Say Bon Iver - Woods Coldplay - Hurts Like Heaven Kacey Musgraves gracias a la vida Frank Ocean - Close To You Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey - The Middle Caroline Polachek - So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs.
0:04.8	Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand.
0:12.5	Marketing tools that get your products out there. Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time.
0:17.5	From startups to scaleups, online, in, and on the go. Shopify is made for
0:22.9	entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.
0:33.5	We've been doing this whole virtual assistance thing for more than a decade.
0:37.7	And yet Siri is still terrible.
0:39.8	Alexa and Google Assistant are, you know, better, but they're pretty much just for music and timers.
0:45.3	But everybody is convinced all those companies and many others that AI is going to change the way that we do everything.
0:51.8	So is now really the time for the voice assistant and virtual
0:55.2	assistant revolution? That's what we discussed this week on the VIRGcast, wherever you get podcasts.
1:04.2	Welcome to Switch on Pop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan.
1:13.2	And I'm producer Rihanna Cruz.
1:15.0	Rihanna, I want to tell you about one of the most memorable live music experiences I've had.
1:20.3	It's 2009. We're at Webster Hall in New York City and the singer, composer, keyboardist, technologists, multi-hyphenate artist,
1:31.2	Imogen Heep is performing. And she is doing a solo set, including some of her most familiar songs,
1:38.8	but because it's the magic of live performance, she's not doing it in the same way that you hear
1:44.1	on the recordings. It's familiar, it's the same way that you hear on the recordings.
1:45.5	It's familiar. It's different. It's live. It's unfolding in front of you. And she's not just,
1:50.8	you know, up there with a piano singing. She is wearing this pair of digital gloves called Moomoo
1:57.8	gloves that she invented. She's like doing this interpretive dance on the
2:02.6	stage. Every movement corresponds to a musical effect, a reverberation, an echo, a sustained
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -28 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.