Sami’s Blog – Torn

Natalie Imbruglia and I go way back. Many of us loved her when she played Beth Brennan in Neighbours. That was in 1992. Unbelievable. And now Nat is back in my life and I am happy about this as the Australian singer has a new deal with Audible.

I have spent the last few nights snuggled down listening to the pop star’s international accent narrating ‘I Love A Sunburnt Country’ by one of our country’s most wonderful poets, Dorothea Mackeller. It is part of a new podcast series which pairs celebrity voices with guided mediations and bedtime tales. You see I suspect I am a vampire. Sleep has always eluded me. I have tried everything to get better sleep including magnesium tablets, melatonin, not looking at screens before bed, drinking warm milk, peppermint tea, and even Baileys.

Hey, you never know hat a splash of Irish love can do for a girl. My brain goes into overdrive the minute I hit the pillow or I find it impossible to go back to sleep when my kids or dogs wake me up in the middle of the night. Seven hours sleep seems but a dream in my world that is sleep deprived. But back to Natalie.

Remember her hit song, ‘Torn’? It was the soundtrack to my life in 1997. My best friend and I would blast it before we went out to Fridays at Mooloolaba and we would have it on repeat when a guy inevitably bruised our hearts. We belted out the lyrics full of angst and anger and gusto: “I’m all out of faith, This is how I feel. I’m cold and I am shamed, Lying naked on the floor. Illusion never changed into something real, I’m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn.” I dressed the same as Nat in her video clip and copied the crop top t-shirt and cargo pants.

Fast forward over 3 decades later and things turned out just fine and I did meet a guy who didn’t make me feel torn and we had some lovely children and bought a cute white house. But. I hear Torn and I am 20 years old and trying to navigate the confusing world of love and rejection and the challenge of finding someone who would like me just for me. Life was also great as I had no responsibilities except to do my job. The weeks consisted of swimming at every sunset in the ocean and going out every weekend and dancing until dawn to Natalie’s Torn. Oh, how times have changed for me and for the pop star.