December 9

Today's Imogen Heap day, but today's column is really all about "Hide and Seek". So, in the interest of giving credit where credit's due, a little info on Imogen Heap: she's a British-born singer-songwriter who's not afraid of using electronics or making music into art. In other words, she's the 21st century Laurie Anderson. She has four Grammy nominations to her credit, and she's auditioning cello players for an upcoming tour... okay, at this point, she would still be one of those hipster playlist artists that you don't really know but everybody who's anybody says you should, like Har Mar Superstar and My Morning Jacket. The thing is, you DO know one of her songs...

For the record, the name of the song is "Hide and Seek", from her second solo album Speak For Yourself. She released it on her own label in 2005 (she'd had bad experiences with record labels) and sold it on vinyl and as digital downloads.


She also released the song for use on the Fox TV show "The O.C." A sample of the song, about 3 minutes in, was used in the second season finale:


This scene was catnip to the comedy team The Lonely Island, whose online comedy series, "The 'Bu", a parody of "The O.C.," had made them internet stars, and helped gain them jobs on Saturday Night Live. SNL produced this digital short:


This short became an insane Internet meme; even though SNL couldn't post it themselves (they hadn't secured the music rights,) fans began posting and re-enacting and offering tribute re-edits...


This year, Jason DeRulo, an R & B singer, added his Auto-Tune to Imogene's, and used it as the base for his pop melange "Whatcha Say?" Last month, "Say" hit #1. (Meanwhile, in 2005, "Hide and Seek" reached #91 on the Billboard 100.)


Whatcha say to that? I'm wrapping this up before I get shot...