| "Hide and Seek" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Imogen Heap | ||||
| from the album Speak for Yourself | ||||
| B-side | "Cumulus" | |||
| Released | 19 May 2005 | |||
| Format | Paid download, vinyl | |||
| Recorded | 2005 | |||
| Genre | Acapella, folktronica | |||
| Length | 4:29 (Album Version) 3:01 (Radio Edit) |
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| Label | Megaphonic | |||
| Writer(s) | Imogen Heap | |||
| Producer | Imogen Heap | |||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||
| Imogen Heap singles chronology | ||||
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"Hide and Seek" is the first single by Imogen Heap from her album Speak for Yourself. The song is performed with the sole accompaniment being a keyboard synth transformed by a vocoder, creating an altered a cappella sound.
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The song gained popularity after being featured as background music at the climax of the season two finale of the American television series The O.C., later parodied in a 2007 Saturday Night Live Digital Short called The Shooting.
The song also appears in the films The Last Kiss, The Town and Warren Miller's Off the Grid. It has also been featured in the series So You Think You Can Dance, Smith, The L Word, The Real World: Sydney, Smith's pilot episode and CSI: Miami.
The single was certified gold by the RIAA on 3 April 2009.
In a 2005 interview, Heap stated that the song's lyrics were ultimately about having painfully lost someone and how others react to things that happen to someone else. She then related it to when President George W. Bush was told of the September 11 attacks and she felt that his behavior was "emotionless", "awful and selfish", reminding her of the person inspiring the song.[1]
Heap arranged an alternate version of the song, labeled "Hide and Seek 2", for the compilation album Songs for Tibet — The Art of Peace.
British alternative rock band Fightstar covered the song as a B-Side to their single, "The English Way". This is performed solely by lead singer Charlie Simpson on Vocals and Piano. The Christian crunkcore band And Then There Were None has also covered the song.
Jason Derülo's 2009 single "Whatcha Say" prominently sampled Heap's song.[2] The single topped the Billboard Hot 100.[3]
Both EDM artists Avicii and Afrojack have sampled the chorus from "Hide and Seek" in remixes of the song
| Year | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | UK Download Chart[4] | 22 |
| UK Singles Chart[4] | 125 | |
| U.S. Hot Digital Songs | 37 | |
| U.S. Pop 100 | 91 | |
| 2006 | UK Singles Chart[4] | 140 |
| 2008 | Hot Canadian Digital Singles | 57 |
| Region | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 19 May 2005 | RCA Victor |
| United Kingdom | 26 September 2005 | Megaphonic |
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