MADE IN DENMARK by Thomas Barsoe

• OUT
• NOW
• THOMAS BARSOE
• MADE IN DENMARK
• BRUTALLY HONEST, RAW AND TOTALLY UNFILTERED.

• DENMARK
• MADE IN
• 6TH STEP TO SERENITY

MUSIC USED TO SAVE ME. MANY YEARS AGO….

• HOW DO YOU
• WATER A HEART
• FAITH
• I'VE LIVED
• LEARN TO LOVE AGAIN
• THE IN BETWEEN
• JEG ELSKER DIG
• THEN THERE IS YOU
• I FORGIVE MYSELF
• DEAR YOUNG ME

Twenty years after releasing my debut album—and following more than a decade away from writing and recording music for myself—I’m returning with MADE IN DENMARK.

The album emerged from one of the most difficult periods of my life. In the aftermath of a painful divorce and trial, I found myself at rock bottom and turned back to the one thing that had saved me many years before: music. What began as therapy soon became an intensely personal collection of songs exploring childhood trauma, mental health, fatherhood, forgiveness, love, identity and the difficult journey toward accepting—and finding—myself again.

I wrote, produced and mixed MADE IN DENMARK myself, and the album is both a return to my roots and an honest portrait of the man I’ve become. Ultimately, it’s a record about surviving what breaks us, rediscovering what truly matters and finding the courage to choose happiness and begin again.

This is the first song on the album — and the song that started it all.

I wrote 6th Step To Serenity after receiving the worst news of my life, on the back of what had already been the hardest two years of my life.

I completely broke down. Mentally, I didn’t know how to deal with everything that was happening, and it sent me into a really dark place.

That morning, holding back tears, I dropped my sons off at school. As I drove away, this line came into my head:

“Just when I thought I had reached rock bottom, I unlock another level of low.”

It became the opening line of the song.

By the time I got home 25 minutes later, I had written the entire thing.

Probably the fastest — and most surreal — songwriting experience of my life. Especially considering I hadn’t written a song for myself in well over a decade.

6th Step To Serenity is about realizing I needed help and feeling like I could no longer hold on. It’s about my mental health getting the better of me and being:

“Too anxious to sleep, but too depressed to be awake.”

It’s about feeling stuck in life. Being:

“Scared of my future and scarred from my past.”

And desperately longing for one more chance at life — and for something to make me believe there’s a meaning to all of it.

I didn’t know it at the time, but this song would spark the other nine songs on the album.

More importantly, it became the beginning of me taking my power back and turning the page and beginning a new chapter of my life.

It reminded me of something I had somehow forgotten along the way:

Music was once my greatest therapy.

And now it is again.

It heals me. It completes me. It makes me feel alive.

So this song means more to me than I can really put into words.

I hope you like it.

But even more importantly, if you’ve ever found yourself in that kind of dark place, I hope maybe you can relate to it — and feel a little less alone.

Just when I thought that I had reached rock bottom

I unlock another level of low

And the voices in my head are screaming out so loud

That I’m scared of being on my own

I’m bitter and I’m angry and I’m going thru hell

The hate for my ex turn to hate for myself

Too anxious to sleep but too depressed to be awake

And I’ve no friends left to tell

• Guess I could really use, use
• Somebody please help me
• Thru, thru

I can’t hold on any more, I need

One last song to sing

One last war to win

One last chance to start all over again

One reason to believe there’s a meaning

And my story doesn’t end

Stuck somewhere in between

Who I was and who I’ll be

• I’m begging on my knees
• Dear universe don’t leave me
• On the 6th step to serenity

I’ve never been afraid of anything til I lost everything

And trying to pick myself off the ground

Knowing that all I ever earned and spent my whole damn life to build

Has all come crumbling down

I’m scared of my future I’m scarred from my past

I try to be present but it never lasts

• All my meditation, medication and therapy
• Still all I feel is sad
• Guess I could really use, use
• Somebody please help me
• Thru, thru

I can’t hold on anymore, I need

One last song to sing

One last war to win

One last chance to start over again

One reason to believe there’s a meaning

And my story doesn’t end

Stuck somewhere in between

Who I was and who I’ll be

• I’m begging on my knees
• Dear universe don’t leave me
• Yes I could really use, use
• Somebody please help me
• Thru, thru
• I can’t hold on anymore

This song exists because my mom called me.

She was back home in Copenhagen, and I had sent her some of the songs I’d already finished for the album.

She told me she loved them, but as my mother, it was hard for her to hear her son struggling so much — and to hear me writing so openly about the pain and everything I’d been going through.

Then she said something only a mom would say:

“I just hope you write something happy soon.”

I tried to explain to her that I can’t write something I don’t feel.

I told her that trying to write something happy just because I thought I should would make me:

“Feel like an actor reading someone else’s lines.”

We hung up.

And that line stayed in my head so I walked straight over to the piano and started writing How Do You Water A Heart.

About half an hour later, the song was written, and I sent my mom the lyrics on Messenger.

And she was SO confused. 😂

She literally couldn’t understand how the conversation we had JUST had on the phone somehow, “magically,” had turned into a song.

It’s a moment with my beloved mother that I’ll never forget.

And I can categorically say that if she hadn’t called me that night, this song would never have existed.

I’ve always felt that every song you write — good or bad — is a small miracle and the process so fragile.

How Do You Water A Heart is about wanting to be happy again so badly but how do you force yourself to feel something you simply don’t feel?

“Sometimes happiness lands like a bird on my shoulder but before I can say hello it’s already gone…”

Yes, it’s melancholic. But there’s also poetic humor and self-irony in it — and underneath it all, a promise to myself that happiness can and will find its way back.

I think this may be one of my favorite songs — and favorite lyrics — on the entire album.

Not least because, whenever I hear it, I’ll remember the night I got to write a song “with my mom.” ❤️

Here I am at the piano

Trying to write a happy song

Cause I don’t want my sweet mom to worry

About her middle aged son

But no matter how hard I try

I keep pressing delete all the time

• Cause I feel like an actor
• Reading someone else’s lines
• And if I don’t feel it
• How could you believe it?

And then what is the point of what us songwriters do?

People don’t want to hear when somebody else is drowning

Except maybe other people who is drowning too

My heart beats but it forgot why

Like an empty old house with nobody home

Who’s forgotten to turn off the lights

I keep trying to jump-start it

And some days it almost turns over

Like a lukewarm shower right before it gets colder

• I’ve tried giving it
• More time, more love, more hope
• But it still won’t start
• You can water a plant

But how do you water a heart?

• Sometimes happiness lands
• Like a bird on my shoulder
• But before I can say hello
• It’s already gone
• Like that first sip of coffee
• My favorite song in the car

Like my sons running towards me with wide open arms

If I could bottle up those little moments of temporary highs

I’d drink them every morning just to make it through the night

My heart beats but it forgot why

Like an empty old house with nobody home

Who’s forgotten to turn off the lights

I keep trying to jump-start it

And some days it almost turns over

Like a lukewarm shower right before it gets colder

• I’ve tried giving it
• More time, more love, more hope
• But it still won’t start
• You can water a plant

But how do you water a heart?

The thing is, happiness it doesn’t leave all at once

It leaks little by little until it’s all gone

But my dear old mom don’t worry

There’s more to me than just a sad story

I’ll find happiness again and when I do I’ll put it in a song and dedicate it to you

And dedicate it to you

FAITH

“You’ll find love when you least expect it.”

That’s what we’ve all been told.

I just never really believed it — because I’d never experienced it.

And then, at a time when I categorically did NOT want to meet anyone, I met the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.

For a long time, I tried to fight it.

I tried to convince myself that being in a relationship was impossible. I was going through a trial, my life was absolute chaos, and I felt like I had nothing to give anyone.

But every time I was with her, something happened.

Everything became a little quieter. Calmer. Healthier. Easier.

Slowly, all the colors started coming back into my life again.

Eventually, I ran out of excuses.

Faith is about finding THAT person.

The person who truly sees you and somehow loves you exactly as you are. Someone who doesn’t look at your flaws, baggage and scars as weaknesses, but wisdom and part of the person you’ve become.

It’s about discovering how easy love can actually feel when it’s right.

There’s something incredibly humbling about having someone fall in love with you at a time when you, at least in your own eyes, feel like the lowest and least attractive version of yourself.

And then having that person ask for nothing except your time, your honesty and your love.

Someone who doesn’t care about money or material things. Who can turn any situation into a beautiful memory. Who loves you and stands beside you unconditionally — without keeping score and without asking you to change.

I had never experienced love like that before.

The end of the chorus goes:

“Some people search their whole life to find religion…

but I found Faith.”

I’ve always considered myself spiritual, but not religious.

I believe in love. I believe in energy. I believe in simply trying to be a good human being. And I believe you don’t necessarily need religion to have, lose or rediscover — your faith in life.

I certainly found mine again.

It just happens to help that Faith is also her name. ❤️

This song is for her.

For finding me when I wasn’t looking to be found. For seeing something in me when I was struggling to see it myself.

For rediscovering all the small and beautiful things in life. For inspiring and motivating me daily to complete this project and for knowing every word to every song on the album!

And for reminding me that sometimes the best things really do arrive when you least expect them.

I saw a life I’d built for decades

Fall to pieces one room at a time

• I was buried in the wreckage
• When she decided to arrive
• She never tried to save me

She just stayed when I was lost

• Turns out losing everything
• Was what made room for us
• She’d choose a sunset over diamonds

She’ll chose a beer over vintage wine

• She doesn’t need the whole world
• She just needs mine
• She is beauty, she is grace
• She’s the right time, right place

She’s as wild as she is free

• She’s the perfect home to me
• She’s my present, she’s my future
• Because she accepts my past

She’s the end of all my lost and lonely days

Some people search their whole life to find religion

But I found Faith

When she is barefoot on the dashboard

• Hands making waves out the window
• When she dances naked without makeup
• That’s when she knows I know

She’s what I want forever to look like

She’s the wildest girl I’ve ever met

But she’s the calmest part of my life

And the safest place I’ve ever slept

She doesn’t care what I can buy her

• She collects memories not things
• She’s the golden in the hour
• She’s the reason that I sing
• She is beauty, she is grace
• She’s the right time, right place

She’s as wild as she is free

• She’s the perfect home to me
• She’s my present, she’s my future
• Because she accepts my past

She’s the end of all my lost and lonely days

Some people search their whole life to find religion

But I found Faith

She sees the man beneath the damage

She sees the man that I can be

She loved me through the pages

I’d been too ashamed to let her read

She never asked me to be perfect

She just wants honesty

I know she’ll never make me forget

How to be the best version of me

She is beauty, she is grace

She’s the right time, right place

She’s as wild as she is free

• She’s the perfect home to me
• She’s my present she’s my future
• Because she accepts my past

She’s the end of all my lost and lonely days

Some people search their whole life to find religion

But I found Faith

This song is a big fat line in the sand.

It’s who I am and where I am today.

It’s a look back at the most incredible, chaotic, wild and beautiful life I’ve lived so far.

It’s about all the amazing memories I have from my life as an artist — traveling the world, standing on stages I once only dreamed of as a kid, and achieving things I used to think were impossible.

But it’s also about the other side of that story.

A life filled with regrets, loneliness, mistakes, wrong turns, and choices I wish I could redo if I had the chance.

And yet somehow, all of it matters.

Because “every scar became my story and every wrong turn led me here”.

At its core, this song is about acceptance.

About learning to look at your life — all of it — and being grateful for it. Even the parts that hurt. Even the parts you wouldn’t choose again.

It’s also about who I’ve always been at my core: an adventurer. Someone who wants to squeeze every last drop out of life. Someone who would rather chase something wild and meaningful and fail sometimes, than never try at all.

And that idea has always been at the center of everything I do.

As the hook says — and as I’ve always felt deep down:

“The only thing that scares me more than dying, is to never live at all.”

I’ve Lived is that truth, put into a song.

I spent half my life chasing down horizons

With a suitcase and a restless heart

Tried to outrun everything and everyone behind me

But pain always knows where you are I’ve been on stages across the world feeling the proudest

Just to come home feeling lost and alone

Funny how the silence screams the loudest

• When noise is all you’ve known
• And every scar became my story
• Every wrong turn led me here
• Maybe the point was never glory
• But learning how to feel
• I’ve lived
• I’ve loved
• I’ve won
• I’ve lost

I’ve made more mistakes than I can count

I’m flawed, I’m human, I keep trying just to fall

Cause the only thing that scares me more than dying

Is to never live at all

I’ve held my sons in tears while they were sleeping

And hope somehow one day they’ll understand

That even dads and heroes have their demons

And a broken heart’s what turns a boy into a man

I’ve let love slip away

Burned bridges I should have built instead

And when I should’ve run I chose to stay

Guess I just don’t know how to quit

And every scar became my story

And every wrong turn led me here

• And maybe heaven isn’t somewhere
• Maybe heaven’s something real
• I’ve lived
• I’ve loved
• I’ve won
• I’ve lost

I’ve made more mistakes than I can count

I’m flawed, I’m human, I keep trying just to fall

Cause the only thing that scares me more than dying

Is to never live at all

If life’s just a collection of broken memories

Don’t blink cause then you’ll miss it

Trust me, it happened to me

So go follow the dream that you’ve been dreaming of And remember that everything worth having

• Is measured in love
• I’ve lived
• I’ve loved
• I’ve won
• I’ve lost

I’ve made more mistakes than I can count

I’m flawed, I’m human, I keep trying just to fall

Cause the only thing that scares me more than dying

Is to never live at all

Yes the only thing that scares me more than dying

Is to never live at all

Is me thanking my heart for withstanding all the many difficult and painful things I’ve put it thru and somehow still remained open for love.

‘You’ve been broken you’ve been bruised but no matter how much pain I put you thru. You always find a way to learn to love again’

For the production and melodies, I wanted to capture some of the bass-driven feel of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” while also drawing inspiration from ’80s synths. I love how it all came together and had so much fun creating it.

Tear my confidence to pieces

Mistake my kindness for weakness

Take my heart and bleed it dry

Wipe the last tear from my eyes

All my flaws and all my messes

All my mistakes and all my exes

They’re in my rearview mirror

But somehow they’re all still closer than they appear

Thank you heart for never giving up

Cause I wouldn’t blame you for deciding to stop

Believing in love

Cause you’ve been broken you’ve been bruised

But no matter how much pain I put you thru

You always find a way to learn to love again

So thank you heart

Thank you heart

Every time that I swore that you’d hardened

• Somehow you remained wide open
• Thru friends I’ve lost, love broken
• Bridges burned and words unspoken
• Gave you to love somebody else
• When I didn’t love myself
• But I’m learning to trust you

And not build up walls around you

Thank you heart for never giving up

Cause I wouldn’t blame you for deciding to stop

Believing in love

Cause you’ve been broken you’ve been bruised

But no matter how much pain I put you thru

You always find a way to learn to love again

So thank you heart

Thank you heart

Thank you heart for never giving up

Cause I wouldn’t blame you for deciding to stop

Believing in love

Cause you’ve been broken you’ve been bruised

But no matter how much pain I put you thru

You always find a way to learn to love again

So thank you heart

Thank you heart

This was probably the song I had the most fun making on the entire album.

I’d just been riding my motorcycle back from work, listening to a bunch of old Prince records and some Bruno Mars/ Silk Sonic, so I was very much in THAT kind of funky/soulful mood…

And that energy turned into The In Between.

I started the session with one thought:

“What if I’ve been waiting on life while life’s been waiting on me?”

Because for the past few years, I’d spent so much time waiting for life to give me a break.

Waiting for things to change.

Waiting for justice.

Waiting for the next chapter to finally begin.

But what if life wasn’t supposed to make those changes for me?

What if life had been waiting for ME?

That became the heart of the song.

Because I truly believe you don’t wait for life to change. You make the change.

The In Between is about letting go. Accepting life for what it is. Trusting that maybe some things really are meant to happen the way they happen — and that what’s meant to be will eventually find its way to you.

But it’s also about taking responsibility for myself, my choices and what I decide to do with whatever time I have left.

Because ultimately:

“I know life don’t owe me anything and one blink and it’s all gone…

so I’m just gonna learn to love my life even when life don’t love me back.”

I think that pretty much sums up where I am today.

The end of the hook goes:

“I know we’re born and die alone so all that matters is the in between’

Because I can’t control the very beginning and end of my life but I CAN control what I do with The In Between.

And I intend to enjoy the hell out of it!

I wake up with the weight of the world

Sitting on my chest

There’s nowhere to escape the hurt

So I just stare at the ceiling instead

• I hit snooze just to borrow
• Ten more minutes from my fears
• I promise myself I’ll start tomorrow
• Then tomorrow turns into another year

It’s easy to forget what happiness feels like

When you’ve spent twenty years just trying to survive

When people ask me how I’m feeling I just say “I’m okay”

Cause I know they don’t really care anyway

What if I’ve been waiting on life

• While life’s been waiting on me
• Maybe I’ve been trying to fight
• What’s already meant to be

Time to let go of the ghosts

And the could’ve, should’ve been

I know we’re born and die alone

So all that matters is the in between

I’m done treating every sunrise

Like another life sentence done with wishing away my life

• So done with patiently waiting
• For the justice I deserve
• But probably never gonna get

Life ain’t fair that much I’ve learned

So I might as well laugh at it instead

• Cause I’ve cried enough
• I’ve hid enough
• I’ve drank enough
• I’ve quit enough

The only thing I haven’t tried is love

What if I’ve been waiting on life

• While life’s been waiting on me
• Maybe I’ve been trying to fight
• What’s already meant to be

Time to let go of the ghosts

And the could’ve, should’ve been

I know we’re born and die alone

So all that matters is the in between

I’m so sick of waiting for a better day

That never seem to come

I’ve been hiding in the rain

But now it’s time to face the sun

I know life don’t owe me anything

And one blink then it’s all gone

So I’m just gonna learn to love my life

Even when life don’t love me back

What if I’ve been waiting on life

• While life’s been waiting on me
• Maybe I’ve been trying to fight
• What’s already meant to be

Time to let go of the ghosts

And the could’ve, should’ve been

I know we’re born and die alone

So all that matters is the in between

This song holds a very special place in my heart. I wrote it on a day when I was missing my motherland Denmark so much it actually hurt.

I missed my family. My closest friends. The laid-back culture, the values, the humor, the intimacy, the bicycles, hey, even the pouring rainI! I missed my favorite city in the world, Copenhagen, and that unique mix of innovative and historic beauty that I’ve never found anywhere else.

And I missed the simplicity of the life I had there three decades ago.

Growing up in a small country like Denmark, when you’re an artist with big dreams, your instinct is often to leave. To go out into the world, move to the big cities where big things happen.

For me, that city was London.

And incredibly, some of my wildest dreams DID come true there — something I’ll be eternally grateful for.

But living your entire adult life away from your roots, your family and the place that made you who you are comes at a price.

There’s no doubt about that.

And the older I get, the stronger that pull becomes.

Of course, home will always be wherever my sons are. Right now, that’s California. We have a beautiful life here. I have a business and lots of wonderful people I love, and I’m deeply grateful for all of it.

But even as an American citizen, I will always and forever be Danish at my core.

The pre-chorus says:

“I thought I wanted something different

Now all I need is what I had.”

And that pretty much sums up the song.

So much of what I once thought I needed to leave behind in order to become the person I wanted to be… is exactly what I find myself longing for now.

My beloved father’s favorite quote has always been Hans Christian Andersen’s:

“At rejse er at leve.”

To travel is to live.

I’ve always loved that quote and lived my life by it.

But the strange thing is, after all these years and all these places I’ve lived, toured and traveled, I’ve never completely felt at home anywhere but Denmark.

Which became the opening of the chorus:

“To travel is to live, I know

But I’ve been everywhere but home…”

I wrote Jeg Elsker Dig as a love letter to Denmark — as if Denmark itself were a person I had left behind but never stopped loving.

Some of the greatest memories of my life with my boys have been made in Copenhagen. And as they get older, it’s incredible to see that somehow Denmark pulls at them too. It has become their favorite place to go.

Could there ever be a future where I move back?

Would my sons ever want to live there when they’re older?

Who knows.

But what I do know is that no matter where life takes me, I am — and always will be — an incredibly proud Dane who will never forget where he came from. And it was after writing this song I decided to name the album ‘MADE IN DENMARK’.

Jeg elsker dig means I love you.

And Denmark… I do. I really, really do.

West coast life, it’s all too clean

• Nothing here remembers me
• Even shadows fall too straight
• Everything and everyone is fake

I hear your name in passing cars

In a language from my heart

And all the distance I put between

You’re still in my dreams

I thought I wanted something different

Now all I need is what I had

To travel is to live, I know

But I’ve been everywhere but home

And I miss you, I wish you

Could bring me back to you

Jeg elsker dig, I’ll always do Through every mile life pulled me through

• I missed you, I wish you
• Could bring me back to you
• Cobblestones and fairytales
• Bicycles in the pouring rain

The simple days that just slipped away

Now they echo in everything

I always felt like the ugly duckling

Just didn’t quite turn into a swan

Oh what I’d do to go back

To make what I did undone

I thought I wanted something different

Now all I need is what I had

To travel is to live, I know

But I’ve been everywhere but home

And I miss you, I wish you

Could bring me back to you

Jeg elsker dig, I’ll always do Through every mile life pulled me through

I missed you, I wish you

Could bring me back to you

I wish my boys could get to know your streets

Not just stories told through me

I guess I had to leave to understand

• The meaning of your mother land
• I miss you, I miss you
• I wish I’d never left you

And when I say “jeg elsker dig”

I’ll love you Denmark, for the rest of my life

Now we’re entering the part of the album where some serious tears were shed and my heartstrings were stretched to their absolute limits.

This song was written to, for and about my sons, Noah and Jude.

My entire world. My heart and soul. And my reasons for literally everything.

When I started getting serious about making this album, I knew that of course I wanted — and needed — to write a song about them.

But I didn’t know what that song would be until perhaps the hardest day of my life.

That day, my mind went to a very dark place. A place I never, ever want to go again.

And yet, throughout the hardest periods of my life, whenever I’ve struggled mentally, whenever I’ve felt like I couldn’t take any more, and whenever a part of me has wanted to give up…

• Then there is you.
• My boys.
• My two rocks. My two anchors.

And as long as I have them in my life, I will always find a reason to keep fighting.

Every time I hear the opening of the chorus, it still gives me a little jolt through my heart:

“I hope you’ll never know how close I came to giving up but then I nearly did

I found the strength in your love…”

If you listen closely to the recording, you can literally hear the tears in my voice.

I remember doing that vocal take and being completely choked up because I felt every single word so deeply.

Technically, there were “better” takes.

Cleaner takes.

But none of them were more honest.

So I knew that was the one I had to use.

Life has most certainly thrown me some serious curveballs. And like all of us, I know there will be more trials, more obstacles and more difficult days ahead.

But no matter what happens, the final lines of this song will forever hold true:

“There’ll always be two reasons why I won’t ever stop fighting…

and that’s you, Noah and Jude.”

I’ve done a lot of things wrong in my life.

But I have most certainly done two things very RIGHT. 💙💙

This one is for my boys.

There’s the sun there’s the moon, then there is you

There’s the lies and my truth, then there is you

Thru my highs and my lows, all the answers unknown

When I can’t seem to turn all the noises inside of my head down, then there is you

I know, one day you’ll see how your father can be

But til then you’re left picking up all of the broken pieces of me

I’m sorry but I will rise again

I promise I will shine again

I hope you’ll never know how close I came to giving up

But when I nearly did I found the strength in your love

And there’ll always be two reasons why I won’t ever stop fighting and that’s you

Noah and Jude

There’s my first, there’s my last, then there is you

Theres my future and there’s my past and then there is you

Thru my flaws and regrets, all my shame and mistakes

And thru all of the ways that my foolish loyal heart can break

Then there is you

I know, one day you’ll see how your father can be

But til then you’re left picking up all of the broken pieces of me

And I hope you’ll never know how close I came to giving up

But when I nearly did I found the strength in your love

And there’ll always be two reasons why I won’t ever stop fighting and that’s you

When I can’t seem to find all the beauty in life

And when all the small things go unnoticed

When the world beats me down and when hope can’t be found

And when all of my memories are stolen

Then there is you

Maybe I’ll never know the answers

Maybe I’ll never know the truth

But what I do know is, I never knew the meaning of love until I had you

Noah and Jude

This is by far the hardest song on the album for me to write about.

What I’m sharing here is something that, until now, I’ve only told a handful of people.

I was sexually assaulted as a young child.

Like so many survivors of childhood abuse, I carried that secret silently for many years — along with shame, misplaced guilt, and the fear of not being believed or of ruining lives by telling the truth.

It wasn’t until I had children of my own, and they reached the age I was when it happened, that something really clicked.

I looked at them and realized just how innocent we are as children — and how completely wrong and completely out of my control, what happened to me was. But I also now finally understood that I am a survivor, not a victim.

A lot of those feelings came back. But this time, instead of burying them, I faced them through therapy, hypnotherapy and finally speaking openly with my family.

For most of the process, I didn’t think I would ever share this song. Even at the last minute, uploading the songs to all the DSP’s, I questioned whether it belonged on the album.

But I kept coming back to the same question and same WHY:

What is the point of making an album this personal at this stage of my life if I’m not willing to tell the unfiltered truth?

This song isn’t written in a traditional songwriting formula. It’s almost free-form — part song, part therapy, part release.

“Speak it. Free it. Mean it. Receive it.”

There’s a reason I repeat that line four times in a row in this song. That line is my promise to myself.

What happened all those years ago left scars, and it affected parts of my life in ways I’m still understanding.

But it does not define me.

And it did not beat me.

I always tell my sons that if you speak straight from the heart, it can never be wrong.

So with this song, I’m taking my own advice.

For the intro, I recorded a glockenspiel because it reminds me of childhood and those old wind-up music boxes. I also brought in my dear friend, incredible artist and OC Hit colleague Jordyn Simone to do backing vocals together with me and helped create a gospel-like feeling to parts of the song. We shared a very special session together. Thank you, Jordyn. ❤️

We never truly know what stories, secrets or traumas the people around us are carrying.

So I’m sharing mine in the hope that maybe it helps even one person find the courage to speak about something they’ve carried silently for far too long.

Writing this song helped set me free.

Maybe hearing it can help someone else begin to do the same.

If I’m gonna tell you my story

I’m gonna have to unbury a body from a childhood

That I left behind forty years ago

The truth is my innocence was stolen

On a night in December

When I was only seven years old

On a cold, concrete bathroom floor

Behind closed doors

I’m not trying to ruin this sad persons life

He did that himself by living this lie

It’s about me now

Learning to love me now, somehow

Speak it, free it, mean it, receive it

Speak it, free it, mean it, receive it

Speak it, free it, mean it, receive it

Speak it, free it, mean it, receive it

• I forgive myself
• I forgive myself
• I forgive myself
• I forgive myself
• I let go of the blame
• I let go of the shame
• And never again
• Will I speak his name
• I let go of the blame

To close the album, I wanted to write a song from 47-year-old me to my younger self.

I absolutely loved writing Dear Young Me, and it felt right that it should come immediately after I Forgive Myself.

In many ways, the first verse is a response to that song — adult me talking directly to the little boy who went through something he never should have had to go through.

But the song quickly becomes about much more than that.

It’s me looking back at my entire life and apologizing to my younger self that:

“Our life not turning out to be the fairytale that we thought it would be…”

Because it didn’t.

There were dreams that came true beyond anything that little boy could have imagined. Music took us around the world. We stood on stages we used to dream about. We achieved things that once seemed impossible.

We also have an incredible family and, most importantly, two amazing boys who I know my younger self would be very proud of.

But there was also heartbreak, loss, trauma, wrong turns, a failed marriage and chapters that certainly weren’t part of the fairytale.

And somehow, Dear Young Me is about making peace with all of it.

It’s about trusting that maybe everything happened for a reason

And it’s about reminding myself that losing everything doesn’t mean your story is over.

Because:

“We’ve rebuilt from ashes before and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

There’s something else very special to me about this recording.

Sometimes you can spend forever producing a song, trying different directions and chasing something that never quite arrives.

This was the complete opposite.

Everything just fell into place.

It was probably the song I spent the least amount of time creating on the entire album. It’s also the only song where I sang every vocal take from beginning to end rather than recording it in sections.

And I’d say probably 75% of the final vocal is from take one.

I’ve always loved first takes.

When I work with young artists at OC Hit, I always make sure that first take is recorded properly because quite often there’s an honesty in the very first time you sing something that you can never recreate.

Before you start thinking too much.

Before it becomes polished.

Before you stop telling the story and start simply “singing the song.”

I think that’s what happened with Dear Young Me. It all just made sense!

When I finished it, I also somehow knew that the album was done.

I had said everything I needed to say about this chapter of my life.

Ten songs about where I’ve been, what I’ve lost, who I love, what I’ve survived, what I’ve learned — and where I hope I’m going next.

So there was really only one way MADE IN DENMARK could end.

• A song from me…
• To me.
• And now, to you.
• Thank you for listening. ❤️

And music

Man, we really did it

We wrote songs and played sold out shows

And made it farther than we ever dreamed we’d go

But sometimes I wonder if we quit too early

Cause we still had more to say

So I’m writing songs again now

Can’t wait to play them for you someday

Dear young me please forgive me

For our life not turning out to be

The fairytale that we thought it would be

But everything happened for a reason

All I want is for you to be proud of me

For who we are and for who we’re supposed to be

And one day I know you will see

That everything happened for a reason

I know you’d be sad to hear our marriage ended

Trust me, so am I

We’ve always loved with all our heart

It’s been our blessing and our curse our whole life

And yeah, we lost everything

The house, the dreams, the life we knew

But we’ve rebuilt from ashes before

And that’s exactly what we’ll do Dear young me please forgive me

For our life not turning out to be

The fairytale that we thought it would be

But everything happened for a reason

All I want is for you to be proud of me

For who we are and for who we’re supposed to be

And one day I know you will see

That everything happened for a reason

If you’re worried how the story ends

Don’t be

I know the best chapter’s still to come

For you and me

If we stick together I know one day you will see

That everything happened for a reason

Dear young me

Sorry we haven’t spoken in a while

But life’s been heavy, so complicated

That’s it’s hard to explain to a child

First things first

I’m so sorry for what happened

Back when we were only seven years old

With a secret way too heavy to hold

For all those lonely nights, crying yourself to sleep

Too scared to tell in case no one believed

But we’re not victims we’re survivors you, and me

Cause the abuse that tried to break us

Didn’t get the final word

And now we tell the truth out loud

• To help somebody else feel heard
• Kid, we’re stronger than we think
• Dear young me please forgive me

For our life not turning out to be

The fairytale that we thought it would be

But everything happened for a reason

All I want is for you to be proud of me

For who we are and for who we’re supposed to be

And one day I know you will see

• That everything happened for a reason
• Mom and dad are good
• Still as wonderful as you remember

And watching them with Noah and Jude

Is one of the greatest gifts ever

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