People Are Freaking Out After Learning Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" Is a Cover

Lying naked on the floor, illusion never changed into something real

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Aug 28, 2017

This past weekend, Twitter user @VilinskiKonjic reminded followers that "every '90s kid comes of age 3 times," pointing to the "18th birthday, 21st birthday," and "the day they find out natalie imbruglia's version of torn is a cover." Plenty online were surprised at the final point, and the song's original writers "can't believe anyone cares" two decades after Imbruglia's 1997 re-recording.

"Torn" was initially written in 1993 by Scott Cutler and Anne Preven. While it was first recorded by Danish singer Lis Sørensen as "Brændt" ("Burned") in 1993, the two co-authors eventually recorded the track with their band Ednaswap in 1995. 

Speaking with News.com.au, Preven recalled that the band's original demo for "Torn" was "pretty much exactly Natalie's version." 

"We didn't think anything of Natalie's version — [we thought] it's just another European cover. And we really didn't give it another thought," Preven said. "Until, all of a sudden, we get a call saying it's number one in the UK. For Scott and I it was obviously a mixed bag. We were thrilled to have a hit. But it was also bittersweet because it wasn't our band."

Of course, Cutler and Preven were compensated for their work, getting "a waterfall of money" within the first few years after the song's release.

"It comes in spits and spurts...but it starts out slow and then one day you get a cheque for like $300,000 or some crazy number," Cutler said. "And you think it's a mistake. Like, I have a cheque here for $297,000? [You think] someone added one zero too many and some day they're going to come ask for their money back. And then it starts doing this crazy thing for about a year or two. And then it just becomes this yearly thing where every year you get a cheque every quarter and it stays up in a decent number — it's not ending."

Find reaction of all kinds to the true origin of "Torn" below.

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