It's been a long time since Natalie Imbruglia released her hit song 'Torn,' but fans definitely haven't forgotten it. In fact, in a Reddit AMA that Natalie did a few years back, some fans (or maybe trolls) only quoted her song while asking their questions.

Fans weren't impressed with that AMA for other reasons, but the fact is, that one hit is the reason most people still recognize Natalie's name. The thing is, few people dug deep enough to find out what the song was truly meant to be about. Plus, Imbruglia's music video for the song didn't exactly match up with the lyrics' intent, either.

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'Torn' has arguably earned Natalie Imbruglia a large chunk of her $14 million net worth. But the truth is, she didn't even write the song that made her famous. Plenty of fans have already heard that Natalie's rendition of 'Torn' was actually a cover. In fact, some fans were not impressed with her performance, just knowing that it wasn't her original song that led to so much fame and circumstance.

The fact is, Natalie was given the song to perform, so it's not like she stole it or was dishonest about its origins. Basically, back in the '90s, no one really asked about its origins. But what happened was this: two songwriters co-wrote 'Torn' with a third person, a producer. A Danish singer recorded the song in 1993, with Danish lyrics, notes Song Facts.

Then, in 1995, the two co-writers of the song recorded it in English and put it on their debut album. The song was released again by a Norwegian singer later on, but with English lyrics.

Finally, Imbruglia recorded the song with the original co-writer/producer, Phil Thornalley. She debuted it in 1998 to almost instantaneous fame.

But beyond the song being a redo of someone else's interpretation, what's the big deal? Well, the story behind 'Torn' is that one of the songwriters, Anne Preven, didn't really write the lyrics about a relationship. At least, not a romantic one.

When she was a teen, her psychiatrist father pushed her to work in a mental hospital, says Song Facts. Preven met a troubled young girl while she worked in the ward, and that girl ran away from the facility and got into some trouble.

That's where the "pathos" of 'Torn' came from, claims Song Facts, so Imbruglia's interpretation in her music video must have had some other source of inspiration. But it seemed that the intense emotion behind the song — coupled with Imbruglia's vocal chops — was a winning combination, whereas her other projects fell short, noted Billboard.

The publication quoted Natalie as saying she didn't want to "peak too soon" and "have the rest of [her career] in the shadow of one song." Unfortunately, that is how it seems to have played out. At least, maybe until her upcoming album drops — Imbruglia's been hinting at new tunes coming in 2021.

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