MADE IN DENMARK is an intimate testament to the power of music to heal and turn the page.
More in this magazine
- 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
Text of this page
I FORGIVE MYSELF
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.