Secrets On Parade - Background

Background

Christensen went through a difficult time in 1998–99, dealing with the break-ups with Dizzy Mizz Lizzy and with singer Pernille Rosendahl, with whom he had been in a relationship since 1995. He used songwriting as a form of therapy to overcome this, putting his feelings and thoughts to words as one normally would do in a diary, but in stead of lying hidden in a drawer somewhere, his secrets are literally on display. Since his songwriting was derived from these personal experiences, the lyrics are rather direct. Christensen says, "I simply think it was written in a simple and straightforward way, almost bordering to banal."

The songs are rather ambiguous as to whether they refer to Dizzy Mizz Lizzy or Pernille Rosendahl. However, the song "King's Garden", after a literal translation of Kongens Have, is known to refer to both as coincidentally both break-ups happened there and he admits to avoid going near the place. "Secrets on Parade", "Prime Time" and "Caterpillar" had already been written for a third album by Dizzy Mizz Lizzy, and are not related to these troubles.

The album was "decidedly a solo record" but the process was also markedly different, explained by Christensen as follows: "This was the first time I was without sparring partners, and I would definitely have bounced some things off of them. At the same time, I went into the studio without completed arrangements, unlike with Dizzy Mizz Lizzy where everything was pre-arranged and there was simply not a single strophe that we did not know of how they should be played." This also meant more time was spent in the studio, in total nearly four months.