Sinéad O’Connor, the powerful Irish singer-songwriter who passed away at 56, left behind a remarkable musical legacy. Among her many achievements, she is perhaps best known for taking a Prince-penned song and transforming it into a timeless classic: “Nothing Compares 2 U.” This is the story of how Sinéad O’Connor made “Nothing Compares 2 U” her own, exploring the song’s origins, its profound impact, and the complex relationship between O’Connor and Prince.
While many associate “Nothing Compares 2 U” solely with Sinéad O’Connor, the song was originally written by Prince. Prince was a prolific songwriter, famously creating countless songs, many of which he shared with other artists. Several of these songs, when performed by female artists, achieved iconic status. Think of The Bangles’ “Manic Monday,” Chaka Khan’s “I Feel for You,” and Sheila E.’s “The Glamorous Life.” Even Cyndi Lauper’s rendition of “When U Were Mine” is often considered superior to Prince’s own version of “When You Were Mine.” These examples highlight Prince’s songwriting talent and the unique interpretations female artists brought to his work.
However, Sinéad O’Connor’s take on “Nothing Compares 2 U,” released on her 1990 album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, is different. It transcends a simple cover version; it’s a complete artistic reinterpretation. O’Connor didn’t just sing Prince’s song; she embodied it, imbued it with her own experiences, and made it undeniably hers. It was, in essence, a musical “hostile takeover,” as if she declared, “I’m going to steal a song from Prince,” with the same audacity as someone attempting to steal a national treasure.
But who was Sinéad O’Connor, the artist who dared to claim ownership of a Prince song? Her 2021 memoir, Rememberings, offers a raw and unflinching look into her life. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1966, Sinéad’s childhood was marked by trauma. Her parents separated when she was nine, and she experienced severe abuse at the hands of her mother. She recounts horrific details, such as being beaten with a carpet-sweeper pole and forced to repeat “I am nothing.” Her mother’s death in a car accident when Sinéad was 18 occurred shortly before her music career began. This difficult upbringing profoundly shaped Sinéad, influencing both the vulnerability and the fierce strength evident in her singing and her public persona.
The typical pop star narrative often involves a period of ascent, where fame and success are enjoyed, even overindulged in. However, Sinéad’s experience was starkly different. In her memoir, she describes the moment she learned that “Nothing Compares 2 U” and I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got had simultaneously reached number one in America. Sitting on a toilet, she reacted not with joy, but with tears, “crying like a child at the gates of hell.” This reaction reveals a deep-seated discomfort with fame and perhaps a sense of foreboding about the challenges that lay ahead.
Her debut album, 1987’s The Lion and the Cobra, signaled her arrival as an artist with depth and intensity. The title itself, taken from Psalm 91, “You will tread on the lion and the cobra,” hints at themes of protection and defiance. The album cover, featuring Sinéad with a shaved head and open mouth, was deemed too aggressive by her record label. They preferred a softer image. But Sinéad refused to compromise her artistic vision. The lead single, “Mandinka,” inspired by the TV series Roots, reflected her early awareness of social injustice and oppression, drawing parallels between slavery and the theocracy she felt she lived under in Ireland and the oppression within her own home. While perhaps a controversial comparison, it underscores her commitment to speaking her truth, regardless of societal expectations.
I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, her sophomore album featuring “Nothing Compares 2 U,” was released in 1990. The album title emerged from a dream following a medium session where she felt she communicated with her deceased mother. In the dream, her mother, seeking forgiveness, stated, “I do not want what I haven’t got,” acknowledging her perceived lack of deserving forgiveness. This title encapsulates a sense of acceptance and perhaps a poignant understanding of her mother’s own struggles. The album’s opening track, “Feels So Different,” also directly addresses her complex relationship with her mother.
The emotional core of the album, and arguably Sinéad’s entire artistic output, is the nuanced understanding of forgiveness. She explores the idea that forgiving can be more burdensome than withholding forgiveness, or at least, that the act of forgiveness carries a heavy weight for the forgiver.
The album showcases her musical versatility. “I Am Stretched on Your Grave” samples James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” blending traditional Irish lament with contemporary beats, and continues to evoke thoughts of her mother when performed live. “Three Babies” touches on the pain of miscarriage, while also celebrating her eventual motherhood. In contrast, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a more upbeat, pop-infused track, yet still retains her characteristic lyrical sharpness, demonstrating that even at her most accessible, she could “drag you to the gates of hell” with her words.
“Black Boys on Mopeds” tackles social commentary head-on, addressing the deaths of two Black teenagers in London during a police chase, directly criticizing societal injustices with lines like, “England’s not the mythical land of Madame George and roses / It’s the home of police who kill Black boys on mopeds.” This song exemplifies the album’s unflinching approach to difficult subjects.
Then comes “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the sixth track. Originally released in 1985 by Prince’s side project, The Family, featuring lead vocals by Paul Peterson (St. Paul). While a strong rendition, it remained relatively unknown outside of Prince’s dedicated fanbase.
Prince’s own perspective on “Nothing Compares 2 U” is revealed in his posthumously published memoir, The Beautiful Ones. He connects the song to the trauma of his parents’ divorce, recalling how his mother would plead with his father to return home, involving young Prince and his sister in these painful late-night appeals. Prince believed this experience fueled his ability to write powerful breakup songs, stating, “I think that’s why I can write such good breakup songs, like ‘Nothing Compares 2 U.’ I ain’t heard no breakup song like I can write. The flowers are dead.” He possessed, in his words, “that knowledge” of heartbreak.
However, Sinéad O’Connor brought her own “knowledge” to the song, transforming it into a deeply personal expression of grief and loss, widely interpreted as being directed towards her mother.
The music video for “Nothing Compares 2 U,” released in 1990, became iconic for its simplicity and emotional rawness. Largely consisting of a close-up of Sinéad singing against a black background, culminating in a moment where tears well up in her eyes, it was revolutionary in its starkness. In an era of elaborate MTV productions, its stillness and emotional intensity were profoundly impactful. The shaved head, already her signature look since her debut album as a rebellion against record label pressures to conform to feminine stereotypes, further emphasized her unique identity. She recounted being asked to “stop cutting my hair short and start dressing like a girl,” and to wear “short skirts with boots and perhaps some feminine accessories.” Her shaved head was a direct act of defiance against these objectifying demands. Even the barber who shaved her head reportedly cried, highlighting the emotional weight of this act of self-assertion. The video, devoid of distractions, focused solely on Sinéad’s face, her voice, and the raw emotion of the song.
In 1991, Rolling Stone readers recognized Sinéad O’Connor’s profound impact, naming her Artist of the Year, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got Album of the Year, and “Nothing Compares 2 U” Song of the Year. She was also voted both Best and Worst Female Singer, reflecting her polarizing nature. Around this time, she faced controversy for refusing to have the national anthem played before a concert in New Jersey. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she discussed her musical influences and dislikes, and notably, her negative experience with Prince. She revealed that Prince had physically threatened her, an incident that soured her relationship with “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
By 2021, in her memoir Rememberings, she provided a more detailed and disturbing account of a specific encounter with Prince. Invited to his home in Los Angeles, she described a bizarre and unsettling evening. Prince, after criticizing her use of profanity, served her soup, became aggressive when she refused, and initiated a pillow fight that turned violent, with him seemingly using a weighted pillow. She fled his house, running through the dark unfamiliar streets to escape him. This account further complicated the narrative surrounding “Nothing Compares 2 U,” linking the song to a deeply negative personal experience with its writer.
It’s undeniable that separating the art from the artist is a complex, often impossible task. Art is imbued with the artist’s meaning and experience. While Prince’s legacy as a musical genius is undeniable, Sinéad O’Connor’s experience highlights a darker side and raises questions about the personal cost of artistic creation and interpretation. The release of Prince’s original 1984 studio version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” in 2018 offered another perspective, a chance to hear the song as Prince initially conceived it. While beautiful and moving, it lacks the raw, visceral power of Sinéad’s rendition.
Sinéad O’Connor’s unique gift, as she described in her memoir, was the ability to “see in my mind the inside of their houses” when meeting people, perceiving their inner lives and hidden depths. Her version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” feels like exactly that: Sinéad O’Connor seeing inside Prince’s “house,” his creative and emotional space, and uncovering layers of meaning that even he might not have fully realized. She extracted more from the song, particularly from the simple word “try” in the line “But I’m willing to give it another try,” than Prince himself seemed to.
I know that livin’ with you baby was sometimes hard
But I’m willing to give it another try
Sinéad O’Connor’s willingness to speak truth to power extended beyond her music. In a now-infamous 1992 Saturday Night Live performance, she sang Bob Marley’s “War” a cappella and then tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II in protest against child abuse in the Catholic Church. The photo was, poignantly, one she had taken from her mother’s bedroom wall on the day of her mother’s death. This act, while highly controversial, was a deeply Punk Rock gesture, a fearless challenge to a powerful institution. Despite the immediate backlash and being banned from NBC, she stated, “This hurts me a lot less than rapes hurt those Irish children.”
Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” remains a testament to her extraordinary talent. She took a song written by Prince and transformed it into an anthem of heartbreak and resilience, forever etching her name into music history. Her version is not just a cover; it is a profound reinterpretation, imbued with her personal pain and strength, making it a song that truly belongs to Sinéad O’Connor.
