Natalie Imbruglia Opens Up About Coming to Terms With Torn’s Success

Natalie Imbruglia chose to embrace Torn instead of feeling overwhelmed by the song’s enormous popularity.

The 51 year old performer rose to international fame with the 1997 single and initially worried that it might define her entire career. However, she eventually accepted the possibilities that came with its remarkable success.

Speaking to the Metro newspaper’s 60 Seconds column, she recalled: "When it first happened, I remember thinking, I'm going to win all my awards this year and then none for the rest of my career and I'm going to be singing this song forever.

"And I thought, I have a choice here. I can make friends with this song and stay in gratitude about it... I just decided to make friends with it."

Natalie explained that she continues to feel a strong emotional bond with the track, which was created by Phil Thornally, Anne Preven and Scott Cutler.

Danish vocalist Lis Sorensen originally recorded the song under the title Brændt, meaning 'burnt', in 1993. Preven and Cutler later released their own version with alternative rock group Ednaswap in 1995.

Natalie recorded her interpretation two years later, helping transform the song into a global sensation.

She continued: "Even now when I sing it, I'm thinking about different things but I have the same connection to it."

Her forthcoming record Algorithm will arrive on Friday (04.09.26), with artists such as Talking Heads and David Bowie influencing the project.

She explained: "Upside Down [the first single] is like... although it doesn't sound like Talking Heads, I was listening to a lot of Talking Heads when I wrote that song.

"There's another song, Bird of Paradise, where I was this David Bowie-esque character that had a particular walk.

"I guess we all interpret music differently and I'm very visual."

Elsewhere, Natalie playfully suggested that listeners appeared more surprised by her ability to "sing in tune" than by the level of creative control she has maintained throughout her musical journey.

She joked: "I think they were surprised I could sing in tune! My friends come to a gig and they're like, 'You're actually quite good!'

"But if I earned the right to demand people send me incredible tracks, I'd do it, too."