Coronavirus-themed parody of Natalie Imbruglia song ‘Torn’ goes viral – people need cheering up, says Hong Kong singer behind video
- Kathy Mak got laughs at a fundraiser for Australian bush fire relief with her take-off of Natalie Imbruglia’s song ‘Torn’, and a video of it is an online hit
- Mak has since had offers to do her first comedy gigs, and she says she hopes to create ‘more funny content’
A Hong Kong singer’s parody of the Natalie Imbruglia song Torn themed around the coronavirus outbreak has gone viral as the city ramps up measures to contain the disease.
The version by Kathy Mak opens with the lines: “Back during Sars I was just a child/Didn’t seem to know, didn’t seem to care about the virus running wild/ But now I’m freaking out all right/I sterilise, I sanitise/My hands are always frickin’ dry”.
The chorus of the original song made famous by Australian-British singer-songwriter Imbruglia had the lyrics “I’m all out of faith/This is how I feel, I’m cold and I am shamed/ Lying naked on the floor”. In Mak’s version she sings: “How do I use the lift/How do I get to the door/I hold on to my bags/’Cause all the germs fall to the floor”.
At the end of the performance – recorded live last Saturday during a fundraising event for Australian bush fire relief efforts at Central nightspot Social Room – Mak sings, “We need a little faith/ We’ll get through this Hong Kong”, and applies hand sanitiser, to the applause of the crowd.
Mak, who is also an actress and dancer and who has worked in productions such as the local Secret Theatre shows, told the Post she wasn’t surprised her cover version of the song had connected with people amid the outbreak. “I had a feeling it would go viral, to be honest – I made an effort to ensure I’d get a good video, so it would have a better chance of getting likes and shares.”
