Torn

“Torn” was written in 1991 by Scott Cutler and Anne Preven as a solo vehicle for Preven, and its first release wasn’t in English at all – Danish singer Lis Sørensen recorded it in 1993 as “Brændt” (“Burnt”), a hit in Denmark and nowhere else. Cutler and Preven then formed the alternative rock band Ednaswap and gave the song its first English-language release on their 1995 self-titled debut, where it registered as exactly what it was: one competent album track on a record that didn’t break through. A 1996 cover by Norwegian-American singer Trine Rein came and went with similarly little notice.

Natalie Imbruglia’s 1997 version, the fourth attempt at the same set of chords, is the one that finally matched the song to the performance it needed. Where Ednaswap’s original leans into mid-’90s alt-rock grit, Imbruglia strips the production back to something colder and more controlled – a tighter vocal, a cleaner guitar tone, a chorus that sounds exhausted rather than angry – and the combination made “Torn” a worldwide hit, topping charts across multiple countries and becoming the signature song of Imbruglia’s career, a debut single she’s never quite matched since.

Four recordings, two languages, two genres, and six years passed before “Torn” found the exact combination of voice and arrangement the song had apparently been waiting for the whole time.

Greatest of All Time. Proof that a song’s biggest hit version can be its fourth attempt, not its first.

Hero image: “Torn” single cover art, RCA Records / BMG. Used under fair use for editorial commentary.