Natalie Imbruglia has said she wore a hoodie and baggy pants in the video for her breakthrough 1997 hit “Torn” because she was “so body dysmorphic and insecure.”
“The army pants weren’t even cool army pants – they weren’t in fashion or anything,” she recalled, in an interview with The Independent. “My intention in wearing that was so that you couldn’t see my silhouette, because I didn’t want anyone to see. But it ended up that there was a power in that because it was like [seen as] androgyny cool. But it really came from a place of ‘thank god I don’t have to wear a dress!’”
Imbruglia's "Torn" celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. The video, directed by Alison Maclean and starring British actor Jeremy Sheffield, has been viewed more than 255 million times on YouTube since being uploaded in 2009.
Imbruglia’s version of “Torn,” which was previously recorded by Danish singer Lis Sørensen, U.S. rock band Ednaswap and American-Norwegian singer Trine Rein, was a huge hit and earned the Australian artist a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (she lost to Canada’s Céline Dion).
Imbruglia told The Independent about how it felt to be labelled a one-hit wonder. “That was something I had to live with for quite a few years, regardless of what successes I had,” she said. “When you’re involved with a song that’s so monumental, that’s just kind of part and parcel.”
She also downplayed criticism of being best known for a cover song.
“For me, being an artist is about being a good communicator. So I find it really funny and annoying that people trip out on this particular point with me,” Imbruglia said. “Some songs marry with the person. And it’s my truth and how I related to what’s in the lyrics and how I communicate that – the authenticity of that – that people connect with. And that’s valid.”