[Dec 8, 2025] The Story Of "Speak For Yourself" By Imogen Heap

At the start of Speak For Yourself (Headlock), Imogen describes a boy with a heart who is expressive but in a body where the boy can't express it. With "Goodnight and Go", a lot of people would think that the narrator is stalking the boy. But I see it in the opposite way. In a way where, the boy has become so desperate that he tries to stalk the narrator in secret so that no one finds out. Moving onto "Have You Got It In You?", the narrator begins to have a weird feeling, as in she feels as if someone is with her almost all the time, but she tries to repress it. Starting with "Loose Ends", she finds out about her stalker, and I assume that he (the stalker) has manipulated her into being in a relationship with the narrator. "Loose Ends" explores how she doesn't want to stay with him, but has to pretend to love him back to try and shut down her fear of getting stalked by him again. However, in "Hide and Seek", his stalking behaviors pop up again and soon enough the narrator has the same feeling she had pre-relationship, but this time, she's certain that the stalker is her boyfriend. In "Clear The Area", the boyfriend has developed an alcohol addiction, making it hard for her to live in peace. "Clear The Area" is in the perspective of a (maybe best) friend, who helps her guide the narrator into surviving his destructive tendencies. "Daylight Robbery" tells the life of the narrator pre-stalking. It's all fun, ecstatic, and cheery. She can live her life to the fullest without any obstacles, mentally nor physically. 

"The Walk" shows that the narrator longs for a time where she wasn't with her stalker. 'Stop that now / 'Cause you and I were never meant to meet' explains that the girl is experiencing some form of abuse, minimal or major, and wishes they never met. Later on in the relationship, in "I Am in Love with You", the two have their first intimate moment; but the boyfriend has forced the moment unto the girlfriend. This results in the narrator feeling underwhelmed, expecting to enjoy it when she doesn't even enjoy her feelings with him. When she gets the chance to think without distraction, it lets "Closing In" show how unloyal she is to her current partner. The song touches on things like how the narrator is dreaming about her friend (probably the one introduced earlier) who is far away, or has moved away. It tells the emotions of a woman who wants to leave her current love to get with a new, more stable and healthier one but doesn't have the courage to. 

Finally, "The Moment I Said It" ends this story with the couple getting into an argument and the partner's destructive tendencies when drunk be more extreme than it was ever before. This causes the partner to try and leave using his car, but snaps out of it. In the outro, the narrator finally leaves him. It's unknown on what she's doing with her love life now, but it's clear that she's generally more healthier without him. (However, I couldn't really hear the outro, although it says "bye" repeatedly in it. I'm just trusting Genius on this one. So, alternatively, by going with my hearing, she never left the unstable man and stayed.)
 

Overall, this story is about a girl who gets stalked, manipulated into a relationship, gets caught up in her partner's alcohol addiction and wants to be set free. 10/10 album, my favorite was Daylight Robbery. 

Click me for individual song ratings

Headlock: 9.3/10

Goodnight and Go: 9.1/10

Have You Got It In You?: 9.4/10

Loose Ends: 10/10

Hide and Seek: 9/10

Clear the Area: 9.2/10

Daylight Robbery: 10/10

The Walk: 9.8/10

Just For Now: 9.4/10

I Am in Love with You: 9.1/10

Closing In: 9.6/10

The Moment I Said It: 9.6/10