Added: 2 years ago
From: TEDtalksDirector
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  • Most of the time she did live performances and studio version recording arrangement differently, and each of those has magic on it's own.

  • Amazing!!!

  • She is one of the few people today who can actually sing. Amazing performance.

  • 2:35 + was orgasmic

  • mediocre talent. not impressive at all

  • Poor performance?? Goodness.. I like this version than the studio one..

  • Very inspiring. Thank you for sharing! #shoutwithjoy!

  • is it just me or does her voice sound a little like natasha bedingfields?

  • @AxelHeusser strange that you say that lol NB new album reminds me of imogen stuff...

  • Shes So HOT. I love U

  • At 3:46 she looks kinda like a robot the way she's moving haha! Which would make sense, cause it doesn't seem possible that one human being can possess so much talent and creativity! She truly is amazing

  • shes greek right? it sux cuz my heath teacher looks exactly like her, and talks exactly like her xD. beautiful song though :) <3

  • I love the piece of lyric.. 'Time heals everything'

  • this is so beautiful, she is so amazing

  • a real artist, beauty defined...

  • I love her. Can barely type. Marvellous. Lx

  • This is a good example of how personal taste and fame can provide both "it's poor quality work" and "it's genius and amazing work" as responses to the same video. If you saw this performance on Britain's Got Talent you'd say to yourself "Hey, she has potential, but she needs to get singing lessons" and if you're an Imogen Heap fan you say "OMG OMG OMG I LUV HER SO, THIS WAS AWESOME" and in reality it's a lovely performance that has lovely flaws which help color and shape the performance.

  • And of course, my view of 'reality' is my own. The only true flaw is "clambelling cliche" which kinda sticks out, but I'm totally ok with the way she sings some parts with shallow breath. It brings to mind the feeling of immediacy, personal experience, introspection, and stark humanity.

  • @P00P0STER0US The first intelligent comment I think I've ever read on YouTube, well done.

  • @P00P0STER0US no dude it's just a crap performance

  • This song is phenomenal. The lyrics tell a simple story but its execution is a masterpiece! I just had to write about this song on my blog, line from a lyric at blogspot. The title of the post is "this too shall pass, for real".

  • Why on earth are there so many dislikes? It's ridiculous, this is flawless.

  • @FinalFantasyFan300 Iknorite! Wtf? x_X Soooooo much better than most artists...

  • Chuck is the best!

  • Imogen released instrumental versions of all the songs in "Ellipse". I really like her stripped-down versions, where it's just her and the piano, and maybe she could released some stripped down versions with her next album :)

  • i love this song! :) 

  • Beautiful song and great live performance ... and such a lovely piano theme !

    And the lyrics capture me, especially the part: " Everybody says that time heals everything ... but what of the wretched hollow - the endless in between ...

  • This is one of my very favorite songs. Every version I've heard I love. Emotional truth and artistry count for so much IMO when it comes to music. There are so many people out there with great voices but their music is emotionally dead and hollow. She's so creative, and I love the truth and passion in her voice when she sings.

  • generally she's no where near as good live, but this performance is very good!

  • @onnie9summers You're wrong, generally she's as good if not better live.

  • She's just freaking amazing!! :DDD

  • She's AMAZING!!

  • she's wonderful. she has talents that come once in a lifetime.

  • Her wonderful synth-voice on her albums is EXACTLY the same as her live voice. She is a great singer and she has ALL my respect! More singers need to be able to sing in real life, they hardly write their own music, let alone do anything else useful. It leads me to wonder why they are singers in the first place IF THEY CAN'T ACTUALLY SING! Anyone can sit there and get autotuned and sing, and most of the lyrics are weak and the artist's image is crappy. It's very saddening to me.

  • just because it isn't a "studio recording" people automatically discount this as a poor performance? Imogen Heap is extremely talented...it just goes to show that ignorance is running rampant like the lion...she is fantastic and un-processed!!!

  • Such a wonderful version of this song. So beautiful and haunting. One of my favourites aside from "Hide & Seek"

  • I think I'm in love with this song now.

  • Part @:

    Not all music is meant for dancing. And to judge by "perfect pitch" is to desparately miss the point. Personal communication, torment & eventual exhaustion/resignation, are the point here.It's not about Pop Diva here, it's about a person, a real person. A single plaintive voice, broken and resigned.

  • @MrMilesify couldnt have said it better myself ! :)

  • Part 1:

    You must see that alone on a TV stage w/only a piano, millions of viewers peering at you through the microscope, cameramen scurrying to get in your face, seeking to view your personal pain, is the loneliest place on the planet. It is the perfect setting for this personal surrender. She lays her soul bare for all to see. "...and what of the wretched hollow, the endless in-between...."

  • Her mic is loud as piss so, of course, who's not going to feel nervous when every molecule in your mouth can be heard?

  • This song hits me square in the chest and takes my breath away. The live performance is even more intense. This song speaks to many parts of my life, and I thank Imogen Heap for capturing raw emotion in this song.

  • I really love imogen heap but seriously, she is shocking live.

  • @seconddani

    good shocking or bad shocking?

  • @veloceGT

    Bad shocking.

    Her recorded songs have such emotion, Hide and Seek and Wait it Out have such raw emotion and i love them to peices, but honestly- i will never again listen to her live. it ruins the illusion with her lack of pitch.

  • Comment removed

  • @seconddani

    You what? Might i recommend a decent hearing aid?

  • @ingl0rius

    her recorded electronic stuff is fantastic but i had never heard her live before this and yuck, im going to stick to recordings.

  • One word: Magic.

  • Brilliant performance!! What an inspiring genius.

    Thank you (-:

  • "All I want, only one street-level miracle.

    I'll be a an out-and-out, born again from none more cynical."

  • Oh jesus her hair is a mess... I HAD to say it! LOL. Anyways i LOVE this song and her music <3 her!

  • 80 angry idiots missed the like button.

  • I love this song soo much!

  • Mr. Imogen Heap (a.k.a. Lloyd Bartlett of Kingston on the Thames) has a wife and 2 children. Before beginning his pop career he impersonated, on the London club circuit, Cher, Madonna, Blondie, Sheryl Crow and Tina Turner.

  • @TransliteratedJumble I'm not buying it for a god damn minute.

  • @CarlyAnne2and20 I know. That was the most random comment ever. Does her music sound anything remotely close to Cher and Tina Turner? lol

  • so amazingly beautiful one of the greatest performers i have had the pleasure of seeing. it truly touched my heart

  • Wow, so passionate. I got goosebumps. People always looks for the lyrics or how technical or advanced a song is to judge it. But to me, what's really important is the feeling it gives you.

  • My favorite song of hers.

  • Offstopic: CHUCK FTW!!!

  • @yonisis i thought i was the only one who caught her song in the season 3 pilot!

  • Simply beautiful :)

  • Its an outstandin performance from an artist who writes and plays her own material.

  • A true artist, with more soul, more talent, and more class in her pinky than the rest of the "scene" can even dream of having. "Ellipse" is easily the best album of 2009, if not the past few years. A musical genius.

  • Beautiful

  • purrty :)

  • rosmary101 u so correct... shes amazing with her music

  • it's kinda sad how Imogen Heap's songs are in a lot of things, Garden State, The Holiday, Chuck, Jason DeRulo's Whatcha Say off the top of my head but people don't know who she is...

    she's a true musical genius...her songs are so full of emotion...

  • dont forget she is featured in every Season of the OC!

  • Agreed one billion percent!

    She is such an expert with electronic gadgets that I think it might put ALbert Einstein to shame :))

    Most important of all, how she take advantage of all the electronica gagdgets to create beuatiful music

  • @rosmary101 yeah... the remixes never do them justice, never

  • @mcquoidellum of course, there's some reason they even make remixes in the first place....to try to channel the greatness of a song..:)

  • @rosmary101 that is so true, especially watcha say song, i hate that song that Derulo's made, he made it so different, each time i explain Imogenheap i always ask if they know Hide and seek, they say no, have you heard watcha say? they say yes. ARG! i love her so much!

  • @Poetatoe good taste is hard to find...:-p

  • @rosmary101 I couldn't agree with you more. She's amazing!! I don't know how more people don't know about her. I have 2 friends who love her music....everyone else says who? I'm always pimping out her videos on my FB though to try and get more of my friends to listen to her music. I swear, this world would have a LOT less pissed off people walking around if everyone listened to Immi's music.

  • @rosmary101

    it is not sad, it is how you get famous. Which she has to be to be able to continue what she is doing.

  • So gorgeous.

  • Magic <3

  • i see some comments on here saying that this was a "crappy performance" i say unto those people, Fuck you.

  • @wangchangyang

    I say unto them, "I'd hate to know what your concept of a great performance is ~ must be dreadful!"

    Could this really be more beautiful?

  • musical genius....SERIOUSLY

  • My my, maybe not as good vocals as maybe 2 years ago but by no means crap. Song is very well written and sung, and Imogen always brings something more to her performances that other more mainstream artists now-adays lack, a sense of genuine emotion. Loved it :)

  • i dont even no who she is

    but i agree about the emotion

  • a modern poet speaking what we all feel in short, painful bursts

  • damn she is sooo beautiful inside and out.

  • saw this song live tonight in utah, it was so amazing. she is truely gifted.

  • hey stop being so mean... treat others they u want to be treated, sexual preference doesnt matter im gay my bestfriend is the str8est guy ever u stupid prick

  • You have Busta Rhymes favorited.

    Shut the fuck up.

  • and way to block your cuss words, real gangsta'

  • Leave sexuality alone. We are all who we are, so please try to be more understanding. Imogen writes the poetry she writes because she knows it's right for her and that it's her original creation. We have the sexuality that we have not because we choose to, but because it's an intrinsic part of who we are. Please consider the perspective of other people than yourself before you begin to throw so much hatred out there.

  • Low, just because you don't have anything else to say.

  • @2cayenne lol

  • @2cayenne and it seems your a crappy person, with crappy music taste. Whats the point in insulting people just because they don't agree with you. Your view is the only view.

  • Imogen has been recording her album for years, her voice is a little shot. I admit, this was a crappy performance, but if you'd been singing you ass off the past few years, your voice would be too.

    and I'm gay, douchebag. don't really care if you care.

  • i think she did good. atleast she dosent lip-sync like a shitload of other people. but yeah she has been recording for the past two years give her a break.

  • I won music awards throughout my years at school. I'm gay. Just appreciate words and poetry for what it is, and please, please realize how much hatred you are exuding. Just notice that. The world doesn't need any more cruelty. Find something else to do.

  • @2cayenne and liking janet jackson isn't remotely camp at all. at least imogen writes her own material.

  • haha bullshit

  • What is Reflarenonon ? (2:35) lol

  • I love it when people make up new songs when singing. I do it too! :) Try it!

    Dust reflareronon old magazines...:D

  • dust will layer on old magazines..

  • @rasmus1tokiohotel "dust we've layered on"

  • @rasmus1tokiohotel HAHAHA~!

  • I'm amazed by her!

  • I love this song! This is a AMAZING version of it..

  • This woman is amazing. She should record an album with her songs naked; with just her voice and the piano, like this one.

  • I agree, she should record an album with just voice and piano. This performance is just beautiful! :)

  • you resized before deinterlacing!

  • Yeah ... the wretched hollow. Vacant space reserved for only this one. A void nothing else will ever fit into.

  • Hits me right where I live.

    Love at an intersection. Simple people say, give it time and space. You see time worn patterns of less interaction and dialog finally ending in total loss. Meanwhile you consider a backup life.

    Cries for a divine intervention. A little miracle to transform skeptic into a firm believer.

  • Living on little crumbs you beg for and seem few and far between compared to what you once knew.

    It happened to us - didn't we have more? Have we become cliché.

    Now what to do?. Where action can be misinterpreted. Tempted to do nothing but wait silently and sweat in the cold. Dwelling on those unanswered questions.

  • For any of us who have dealt with a crumbling relationship can relate to this so very personally. "Pain on pain on play repeating." OMG what extraordinary words!

  • i really want the score for this piece, does anyone has it??

  • brought tears to my eyes too Just going to sweet it out

  • oh wow Imogen, that was so beautiful! it brought tears to my eyes lolz!

    Immi!!!

  • clambering

  • it's clambering dumbass..guess u feel like a douche now.ha.

  • WRONG WRONG.u wish u were right but youre not.accept it douche.

  • well i know all the words and these are different words to the recording, and the words that are different to the recording are clearly amalgamations of two words later in the song resulting in a made up word. she probably just did it out of nerves. its hard when your performing live. just cos she wrote the song doesnt mean she cant sing it wrong occasionally. and i dont wish i was right i just thing you should pay attention to the english language and maybe listen to the original.

  • i get what youre saying but im done arguing about it lol.idc if she said the words wrongs and im sure theres a reason for it if she did,whatever.

  • Great version

  • Having abit of trouble getting the same piano sound from 0:43- 0:54

  • this sends chills

  • Get MATTIAS IA EDLUNLK AND DEVIN TOWNSEND ON TED!

  • Thanks TED for your, SImple but Brilliant Approach to Life. TED Talks, We Listen. (or at least I DO)

  • There's more to life than mind

    There's more to life than body

    There's more to life than spirit

  • well mind is a product of body and spirit is just latin for breath which is impossible without body so really. Mind and spirit are biproducts but there is nothing more to life than body.

  • Body is impossible without breath, and I'm pretty sure brain dead individuals aren't living. ;)

  • Don't confuse mind and brain. Mind is software brain is hardware. People can lose their mind and still be alive. Like in cases of total reversion amnesia. Breath is just another body function. Whether through gills or tap roots or through lungs breath is just a word for what the body does. It doesn't deserve a special category seperate from the body anymore than heart beat or digestion would.

  • We repeat ourselfs, corruption perhabs it can't be in US, lol

  • shut up everyone, none of you are as smart as you think you are...

  • I love this song...admittedly the only contact i had previously with TED was various psychology lectures (Zimbardo et al's Stamford Prison Study stands out) but surely there's room for people to express feelings and ideas through song too? There's no harm in that, is there? And besides, how bored must the audience get after hours of lectures. No matter how interesting, listening to people enjoy the sounds of their own voices gets pretty dull after a while

    :)

  • Thanks !!

  • She needs two microphones?

  • Opens with one of the biggest lyrical clichés: "where do we go from here?" Kind of made me lose interest.

  • sucks balls

  • imma let you finish but I must say that Beyonce's video was better.

  • burn

  • LOL LOL

  • I dislike this music, bring back kaki king.

    and don't fucking say: "well if you didn't like it why did you watch it?"

    for any idiots who are thinking of saying that, I didn't know whether I would like it or not before I watched it. there.

    and beyonce sucks balls.

  • haha, i love how frank you are

  • that was really bad...Nepotism at it's best..

    "Hey my brother owns TED...maybe he can hook you up with a 5 minute ad spot"

    click and mute.

  • another attempt to add something 'artsy' to ted. Don't get me wrong I love music, but this is gay as hell. I come to TED for interesting new ideas, not melodramatic music...

  • i agree whole-heartedly. imogen heap makes straight up boring white kid music. i have learned nothing from her performance and she has shared no new ideas about music or art. she is stale. she is old wine in a new bottle.

  • Just in case you didn't know, old wine is usually much better than new wine.

    Try a different analogy.

    Just sayin...

  • you're right, all that pre-pasteurization wine was the hot jam.

  • Amen.

  • While I'm not a huge Imogen fan, I have seen some of her other performances and she typically has a much more "technological" and interesting performance using samplers and other toys and gadgets. From the look of the stage she probably performed some other songs and used some of her toys, but it looks like TED felt like posting this song.

  • SOMEONE needs to sing a song about how the bankers are anti-humanity and are setting the stage for global food problems... enough with left right.

  • This is awful. I like her older stuff much better. Also, what is she even doing on TED?

  • couldn't understand most of the lyrics but the point is clear - as is the question - are we just going to wait it our or ARE WE going To Act, take a stand, and defend our freedom and god given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Hmmm?

  • Oh girl!... Simon Cowell literally would rip you appart :)

  • I don't see the purpose in her having a head piece...and then a mic right in front of her face...It's not like she left the piano?

  • She may have talked before or after - so it's up to the sound engineer to switch mikes for speech or singing

  • True...But, if she was walking around using the other mic...Why couldn't she just sit and sing with the headset? Just weird...Not a big deal...But, weird.

  • wow Imogen heap on TED, that is something i would never expect to see, amazing =D

  • Congrats Imogen!

  • Brilliant :) loved it!

  • Some people seem to think TED is only about science and technology and new idea and stuff like that. They forget what the middle letter stands for. Also, an awful lot of people have no idea about the process undertaken by "proper musicians" during the construction of a song - regardless of whether anyone likes it or not. Song creators are often BIG thinkers, and perhaps more importantly, focused thinkers.

  • So what ideas is Miss Heap putting out there with this song. It's nice, but completely irrelevant.

  • Irrelevant to what?

  • Ideas... TED is a platform for people who have something to say. Some ideas to share. I think of it as primarily educational - distributing knowledge and awareness. Tell me, what is the use of having a performance like this. Is this musician a "BIG" thinker. Where are the BIG ideas?

  • Yeah, the definately play some shitty music at TED.

  • I'm sure the people enjoy a break from hour after hour of talking.

  • Well, that kinda surprised me to see Imogen Heap on TED.