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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DEAR YOUNG ME
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. ❤️