MADE IN DENMARK is an intimate testament to the power of music to heal and turn the page.
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- NEW ALBUMOUT NOW
- THOMAS BARSOEDENMARK MADE IN
- Page 3Twenty 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.
- 6TH STEP TO SERENITYThis 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.
- LYRICSJust when I thought that I had reached rock bottom I unlock another level of low
- HOW DO YOU WATER A HEARTThis 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.
- LYRICSHere I am at the piano Trying to write a happy song
- Page 8FAITH “You’ll find love when you least expect it.”
- LYRICSI saw a life I’d built for decades Fall to pieces one room at a time
- I'VE LIVEDThis song is a big fat line in the sand. It’s who I am and where I am today.
- LYRICSI spent half my life chasing down horizons With a suitcase and a restless heart
- LEARN TO LOVE AGAINIs 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’
- LYRICSTear my confidence to pieces Mistake my kindness for weakness
- THE IN BETWEENThis 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…
- LYRICSI wake up with the weight of the world Sitting on my chest
- JEG ELSKER DIGThis 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.
- LYRICSWest coast life, it’s all too clean Nothing here remembers me
- THEN THERE IS YOUNow 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.
- LYRICSThere’s the sun there’s the moon, then there is you There’s the lies and my truth, then there is you
- I FORGIVE MYSELFThis 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.
- LYRICSIf I’m gonna tell you my story I’m gonna have to unbury a body from a childhood
- DEAR YOUNG METo 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.
- LYRICSAnd music Man, we really did it
- Page 24PLAY ON SPOTIFY
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JEG ELSKER DIG
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.