Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap song)

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"Hide and Seek"
Single by Imogen Heap
from the album Speak for Yourself
B-side"Cumulus"
Released19 May 2005
Recorded2004
Genre
Length
  • 4:29 (album version)
  • 3:01 (radio edit)
LabelMegaphonic
Songwriter(s)Imogen Heap
Producer(s)Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap singles chronology
"
Aeroplane
"
(2002) 		"Hide and Seek"
(2005) 		"Goodnight and Go"
(2006)
Music video
"Hide and Seek" on
YouTube

"Hide and Seek" is a song recorded by English singer

harmonizer
and describes painfully losing someone due to a breakup or a divorce.

"Hide and Seek" first gained popularity after appearing in a scene in the final episode of the second season of the

RIAA
. It was also a critical success, and has been cited by several critics as Heap's best song.

Heap performed "Hide and Seek" during the 2017 benefit concert

Tiny Desk Concerts
series. The song also appeared on NPR's 2018 list of The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+.

Background and composition

"Hide and Seek" was recorded during a late-night studio session, where Heap decided to record her voice using the "vocoder" setting on a DigiTech Vocalist Workstation

harmonizer after her computer lost power.[1][2][3] During the making of "Hide and Seek", Heap said she found the song "so self indulgent" and believed that no one would enjoy it. Although she was frequently told during recording that "something was missing" from it, she decided to release it after sending it to a friend who called it "genius" and "the most amazing thing he had ever heard". The song is written in the key of A major and Heap's vocals span from B2 to B5.[4]

"Hide and Seek" was released on 19 May 2005, the same day that it was featured in the season two finale of the

The Dearly Beloved". It is an a cappella[3][5] folktronica[6][7] song. Heap uses a keyboard-controlled digital harmonizer (similar to a vocoder) on the song to generate distorted harmonies of her voice, lending the song its altered a cappella sound.[2] Fans have speculated that the song was written about the divorce of Heap's parents at age 12.[3] The song ends with a sample of a train passing by.[8] Heap described the song as one which "doesn't connect to a genre, it's completely open", adding "It's full of color, but it's colorless. It's full of meaning, but it has no meaning. It has so much for you as the listener to identify with it and fill in the gaps."[4] Stereogum's Margaret Farrell wrote that the song's vocal effects make Heap "sound possessed with disquieting misery, bubbling to an overdose where she sounds occasionally alien".[3]

Critical reception and commercial performance

"Hide and Seek" received critical acclaim upon its release. Writing for The New York Times, Laura Sinagra wrote that "Hide and Seek" was "the ghostly pièce de résistance" of Speak for Yourself, adding that the song "suggest[s] a kind of lovesick cyborg alienation, an almost disembodied, distinctly modern malaise".[5] Sophie Heawood of The Guardian referred to the song as "extraordinary", describing its use of vocal layering as "startling" albeit with a "Marmite-style love-or-hate effect on listeners".[9] For Pitchfork, David Raposa identified "Hide and Seek" as the "black sheep" of Speak for Yourself, writing, "It's gorgeous, it's impressive, it's grandiose, and it's barely there at all — just Heap's voice darting and divebombing, making itself scarce, disappearing into itself."[10] The Skinny's Dave Reid suggested that "Hide and Seek" "threatens to put the rest of the album in the shade".[11] Jeff Vrabel of PopMatters wrote that the song was "uniformly gorgeous" with "no beat required", adding, "Its sonic trickery makes the song lap itself; there's so much synthetic beauty in there that it comes off sounding organic anyway."[12]

Since its release, "Hide and Seek" has continued to garner acclaim, with many critics identifying it as Heap's best song.

RIAA.[18]

Music video

Still from the music video for "Hide and Seek" (dir. Joel Peissig)

A music video "Hide and Seek" was released in November 2005. Directed by

lighting effects were accomplished in camera, the intensity of the light controlled by applying pressure to the 35 mm film in front of his camera's gate in time with the crescendo and decrescendo of Heap's voice. He explained that he decided to shoot the frame portraiture as it "complimented her face and her solitude ... also the light streaks we created in camera looked better if you put the camera on its side."[21]

Covers, remixes, and samples

fifth season of Australian reality competition series Australian Idol, finalist Ben McKenzie performed the song on the season's fourth episode.[25] British alternative rock band Fightstar covered the song as a B-side to their single, "The English Way", in 2008.[26] American metal band And Then There Were None covered the song in 2009.[27] In 2010, Canadian guitarist Antoine Dufour recorded a solo guitar version of the song.[28] British a cappella ensemble The King's Singers included a cover of the song on their 2010 album Swimming Over London.[29] In 2010 and 2011, respectively, Dutch DJ Afrojack and Swedish DJ Otto Knows released remixes of the song.[30] In 2012, British pop rock band The Dunwells released a cover of the song on their EP Leaving the Rose. In 2017, English musician Jacob Collier recorded his solo harmonizer rendition of the song.[31] A trance remix of the song by Dutch DJ Ferry Corsten was released in 2013.[32] American DJ Slushii released a future bass remix of the song in 2018.[33] British band Amber Run released a cover of the song [34]

Appearance in media

"Hide and Seek" gained immense popularity after being featured during the climax of the 2005 season two finale of

Popsugar included it on her list of the best songs used in the show.[39][40] Grant Ridner of Vox described the scene as "infamous" due to its use of the song.[41] Lindsay Zoladz of The Ringer called it "arguably the most absurd and melodramatic shooting scene in the history of televisual media" and "stupid and ridiculous and somehow (largely due to the song) genuinely, deeply moving";[16] Metro's Emma Kelly wrote that it was "the most memorable track from a series known for its music".[42]

The scene was later parodied in a 2007

Normal People.[46] Although Maggie Phillips, the music supervisor for Normal People, was initially against using the song due to its association with The O.C. and Saturday Night Live, the song was included in the second episode by director Lenny Abrahamson during a montage of the two main characters, Marianne and Connell.[42][35] Its appearance in Normal People in 2020 caused the song to experience a temporary boost in popularity in Ireland, earning six times as many streams in the six weeks following its appearance than it had throughout 2019 and becoming the most-streamed song from the show.[7]

"Hide and Seek" was also adapted to be featured in the

So You Think You Can Dance.[51]

Live performances

"Hide and Seek" was performed live by Heap at

Tiny Desk Concerts series with her Mi.Mu gloves on 20 June 2019,[55] and performed a "jolly" rendition of the song for Royal Albert Hall's Royal Albert Home free virtual concert series on 29 May 2020.[42] After three years of absence from the live stage, Heap joined Swedish artist ionnalee on 2 March 2023 for a live duet of "Hide and Seek" in London at EartH (Evolutionary Arts Hackney), as part of iamamiwhoami's then ongoing world tour.[56]

Track listings

CD single

  1. "Hide And Seek (Radio Edit)" – 3:02
  2. "Hide And Seek (Album Version)" – 4:29

Vinyl

  1. "Hide And Seek" – 4:29
  2. "Cumulus" – 3:34

Charts

Chart performance for "Hide and Seek"
Chart (2005–2008) Peak
position
Canada Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[57] 57
Italy (FIMI)[58] 4
UK Singles (
Official Charts Company)[59]
 125
UK Download Chart (
Official Charts Company)[60]
 22
US
Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[61]
 37

Certifications

Sales and certifications for "Hide and Seek"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[62] Silver 200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[18] Gold 647,000[17]

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release dates for "Hide and Seek"
Region Date Label
United States 19 May 2005
RCA Victor
United Kingdom 26 September 2005 Megaphonic

References

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