- In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Imogen Heap discusses how she made the song “Clean” with Taylor Swift for 2014’s ‘1989’ album.
- She also opens up about performing at the ‘Garden State’ 20th anniversary concert
- Heap also discusses what her next music project will look like
For more than 27 years, Imogen Heap has remained on the cutting edge of music and technology. Not only has she been one of the most forward-thinking artists in the electro-pop space, but an ardent advocate of using technology for the better in the digital space — and to the benefit of artists themselves.
The Grammy-winning musician and producer’s cultural impact — from soundtracking one of the most memorable scenes in The O.C. to appearing on the Garden State soundtrack with her band Frou Frou to composing and producing for the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — has been indelible. Not to mention, she’s been highly influential to some of the world’s most massive superstars like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, FKA twigs and Billie Eilish.
Even now, Heap’s songs are finding new life. At the top of 2025, the 47-year-old artist’s “Headlock” went viral on TikTok and became her first-ever Billboard Hot 100 hit as a result, 20 years after the song was released.
Now, Heap is working with Jen, the ethically trained, next-generation AI music creation platform, to launch StyleFilter™. Using the technology, creators will be able to make their own music in the style of their favorite artists and producers — and will be compensated for their signature sound. To start, five of Imogen’s most well-known songs, including “Headlock,” will be available in the Jen marketplace as individual StyleFilters™.
“Both Imogen and I share the perspective that in building AI platforms, if the artists are at the center of it, then it creates exponential opportunity,” says Shara Senderoff, co-founder and CEO of Jen.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Heap opens up about working with Jen, crafting 2014’s “Clean” with Swift and the experience of performing at the Garden State 20th anniversary concert.
PEOPLE: What prompted you to get involved with Jen and StyleFilter™?
Imogen Heap: This began because I was looking to work with a company who was doing the right thing with [AI] training. So I asked my friend, Ed Newton-Rex, who runs this company called Fairly Trained. He said, “Well, there is one that I know of, and it’s Jen.” I was like, “Oh, Jen, Imogen, I like that, Jen.” I found Shara on Instagram, and I sent her a direct message. I was like, “Hi, I’d really like to get in touch with you and discuss Jen because I want to combine it with a project I have, which is called Auracles, about how we can make a song, what we call a living song, how can we create this song to be able to be so much more than what it is right now with these new tools so the public can basically have fun with the music, but I feel good knowing that the place of which that company has built its capabilities come from a good place.”
Ultimately we need to find a way to respect one another, to respect our planet and to build systems that are here forever. Finally, we have this moment where you can take five of my tracks, and the fans can have fun. There’s this closed loop of benefit in that all the permissions have been granted up ahead. What I’m doing with Auracles is essentially trying to alleviate this process for companies like Jen so that they don’t have to deal with the individuals, companies, et cetera. They can deal at the machine level with the songs themselves, and the songs are empowered by those who create the songs to be able to go and do business with the world.
PEOPLE: The Garden State 20th anniversary concert was a few weeks ago in Los Angeles. What was it like for you performing with the other artists from the soundtrack?
Heap: It was really lovely. I think for me the biggest win was that I performed “Let Go” with Guy [Sigsworth] and my friend Zoë Keating. It was good to see and lots of happy faces, and it was really nice to see old friends who I hadn’t seen for a while, like Cary Brothers and obviously Zach [Braff], who’s like one of the family. I [also] got to share an improvisation. I got to wear my gloves, be in the moment and [got] a little sound from the audience, which is almost like them generating me a little piece of music. Then, I took it in the moment and created [the music].
PEOPLE: When was the last time you performed with Frou Frou beforehand?
Heap: Exactly almost six years ago, at the same venue. We sold it out, and it was the last show of our tour.
PEOPLE: How did you prepare for the Garden State soundtrack concert?
Heap: I left everything to the last minute as usual. I didn’t have an outfit, so I just bought a t-shirt, and I thought, “Oh, I’m going to paint that in the dressing room before I got on stage.” I quickly got someone to spray paint my shoes, so it’s in the style of Garden State colors, and I dyed my hair. I was like, “I’ll figure it out.” And I did. I did test that at least the gloves work, and I put all the files needed, and then we spent a day in our hotel room practicing and managed to get it passable for the event.
PEOPLE: What’s your favorite fan or celebrity memory involving the Garden State soundtrack and “Let Go”?
Heap: I suppose it’s just when you meet people individually and how they connected with that song wherever they were in life and time. So, “Oh, that song really helped me get through this thing.” “Let Go” is about letting go. It’s about, “just enjoy life at the moment. Don’t be so rigid. Get over this. Isn’t life beautiful in every single second if you could just see it?”
The more I discover in life, the more open I become. Like, “A New Kind of Love.” This literally went to the scrap room floor, didn’t know anybody had a copy, somebody remixed it and it’s the biggest hit that Frou Frou has ever seen. More money than we’d ever made in 20 years in this one song, which we didn’t even release.
PEOPLE: You worked with Taylor Swift on both the 2014 original and 2023 re-recording of “Clean.” How has Taylor changed in the interim?
Heap: I don’t know. I don’t know her very well. I just literally met her that one time here in this house. She turned up looking immaculate, and we didn’t really know what we were going to do. She had an idea on her phone, she played it to me, and I was like, “That’s good. Should we go and record it?” She was like, “Well….” I was like, “Yeah, down in the studio, let’s just go there now.” So we’re like, “Okay.” We went downstairs, we had our cup of tea by the fire, and she wrote the next verse. I started to make music around us. And then by the time she left, which was like just after dinner, we had managed to write the song, produce the song, record the song, chat, meet, have tea, sit by the fire, eat lunch, eat dinner, do an entire record all by ourselves.
PEOPLE: And then she went home in time for bed and did a show at London’s O2 Arena the next day.
Heap: The other only time I’ve met her was just a show in Lisbon, Portugal. I went to take my daughter. Scout was in my tummy. Anyway, Scout was on her one-day journey as a fertilized egg, and I didn’t know at the time, but that was the day I wrote that song with Taylor. And then 10 years later, the next time I met her, the one and only other time I met Taylor, was with Scout, who was 10 years old, and she knew the story. She was the first other human to interact with me as a pregnant woman. So yeah, it was pretty cool.
PEOPLE: Taylor was the first person to interact with you while pregnant with your daughter?
Heap: Yeah, well, apart from the people on the plane and stuff, but the first person to have a proper interaction.
PEOPLE: What would people be surprised to know about how Taylor is in the studio?
Heap: I don’t know if there’s any secrets. I mean, she knows what she wants, and I pretty much feel she’s probably always known what she wants. She is extremely efficient. I’ve never done that from start to finish with anyone. And I felt very excited. I really appreciated her. There was one moment when I was trying out something a bit different for the middle section, and I was like, “What about these chords?” Thinking that’s just so different. And she was like, “You know what? I think we’re going to lose them here, so let’s just do this.” I’m like, “Okay, that’s fine.” What I learned, I suppose, [is] just she’s very good in the studio, and she knows what works.
PEOPLE: Do you have plans to release Frou Frou or Imogen Heap albums anytime soon?
Heap: Really, my absolute goal for the rest of my life is to be as present as I can and to listen to my instincts. More than ever, I don’t want to plan. I want to find ways to communicate in truthful ways and to build things that I feel will last, even if it’s not about the technology, but if it’s just about the thoughts and about how we are building things, what matters.
Basically, I don’t really have any interest in releasing music any more like that. I have a real interest and desire to connect deeply in the moment to build technology. I just love being in the thick of making and shaping our present and our future. So, I’m sorry to say, but I don’t think that is in my future right now. But I don’t know for sure. I’ve actually launched another persona called Him Gone Ape, which is an anagram of my name, and I’ve had it since Megaphone, which was my first record, which is also an anagram of my name. Now, I feel like Him Gone Ape is ready to come out, explore and go crazy. That is this playful version of me, this spontaneous, wanting to collaborate, not worried about the red tape, not worried about the current industry and how it’s figured out and all that stuff.
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