Sinéad O’Connor, the singular Irish singer-songwriter who passed away at 56, left behind a powerful and enduring musical legacy. Among her many achievements, she is perhaps best remembered for taking a Prince composition, “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and transforming it into a timeless classic, arguably surpassing the original in impact and emotional resonance.
This is the story of how Sinéad O’Connor made “Nothing Compares 2 U” her own. While Prince penned the lyrics and music, it was O’Connor’s raw vulnerability and fierce delivery that catapulted the song to global recognition and cemented its place in music history. It’s a tale of artistic interpretation, personal ownership, and the complex relationship between a song and the artist who embodies it.
Prince, a prolific songwriter, gifted numerous songs to other artists throughout his career. Many of these compositions, when performed by others, revealed new facets and achieved success in their own right. Think of The Bangles’ hit “Manic Monday,” Chaka Khan’s electrifying “I Feel for You,” or Sheila E.’s vibrant “The Glamorous Life.” Even Cyndi Lauper’s rendition of “When U Were Mine” is considered by some to eclipse Prince’s original. These examples highlight Prince’s songwriting genius and the versatility of his music, but Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” stands apart.
Sinéad O’Connor didn’t just cover “Nothing Compares 2 U”; she claimed it. Her rendition, featured on her groundbreaking 1990 album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, wasn’t merely an interpretation; it was a complete emotional and artistic takeover. She infused the song with a depth of personal experience and pain that resonated universally. It was as if she declared, with unwavering conviction, “This song, though written by another, now speaks my truth.” This audacious act of artistic ownership required immense courage and vision, akin to Nicolas Cage proclaiming his intent to liberate the Declaration of Independence.
But who was this artist who dared to make a Prince song her own? What experiences shaped her unique voice and allowed her to connect so profoundly with audiences worldwide?
Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1966, Sinéad O’Connor’s early life was marked by turmoil and trauma. Her memoir, Rememberings, published in June 2021, offers a raw and unflinching account of her upbringing. She was the third of four children, and her parents’ separation when she was nine years old was the beginning of a difficult period. Custody was initially granted to her father, but Sinéad spent time with her mother, whom she described as physically and emotionally abusive. O’Connor recounted harrowing experiences, including instances where she would feign losing her field hockey stick to avoid beatings, only to be subjected to worse abuse with a carpet-sweeper pole. She revealed that her mother would force her to repeat “I am nothing” during these punishments. These fragments of her childhood trauma offer a glimpse into the pain that informed her artistry. Her mother’s death in a car accident when Sinéad was 18, shortly before her music career began to take off, adds another layer of complexity to her personal narrative. Understanding this background is crucial to grasping the vulnerability and strength, the fragility and ferocity, that defined Sinéad O’Connor’s vocal delivery and her unwavering self-assurance.
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The typical trajectory of a pop star memoir often follows a familiar arc: rise to fame, indulgence in excess, and eventual fall from grace. However, Sinéad O’Connor’s experience deviated significantly from this narrative, even at the peak of her success. In Rememberings, she recounts the moment she learned that both “Nothing Compares 2 U” and I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got had reached the coveted number one spot on the American singles and albums charts simultaneously. Instead of elation, she experienced profound distress. Sitting on a toilet, overwhelmed by the news, she writes, “Whoever it was who told me got cross with me because I didn’t take the news happily. Instead, I cried like a child at the gates of hell.” This reaction underscores her complex relationship with fame and the music industry, a relationship far removed from the celebratory narratives often associated with pop stardom.
Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, released in 1987, carried a title steeped in biblical imagery, drawn from Psalm 91. The psalm speaks of refuge, protection, and triumph over adversity:
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge”
And you make the Most High your dwelling
No harm will overtake you
No disaster will come near your tent
And the powerful line, You will tread on the lion and the cobra. This title, and the album’s artwork, reflected Sinéad’s defiant spirit. The record label, however, was uneasy with the album cover, which featured O’Connor with her mouth open, head shaved, projecting an image they perceived as angry and confrontational. They favored an alternative photo where she looked demure, mouth closed, and eyes downcast. Their preference clashed directly with O’Connor’s artistic vision. She wasn’t screaming; she was singing, channeling raw emotion and truth through her voice. The lead single from this album, “Mandinka,” was inspired by the groundbreaking 1977 TV series Roots, based on Alex Haley’s novel about slavery. O’Connor explained, “I was a young girl when I saw it, and it moved something so deeply in me, I had a visceral response. I came to emotionally identify with the civil rights movement and slavery, especially given the theocracy I lived in and the oppression in my own home.” This comparison, though potentially controversial, reveals O’Connor’s deep-seated empathy and her willingness to address complex social and political themes in her music.
Her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, arrived in 1990, bearing a title that emerged from a dream. The album title stemmed from a poignant dream encounter with her deceased mother. Sinéad had consulted a medium and connected with her mother, who sought forgiveness for the pain she had inflicted upon her children. While Sinéad’s older sister, Éimear, found it difficult to forgive, Sinéad dreamt of her mother saying, “I do not want what I haven’t got,” signifying an understanding of her own unworthiness of forgiveness. This powerful statement became the album’s title and the name of its closing track. The album’s opening song, “Feels So Different,” also directly addressed her relationship with her mother, setting the stage for an intensely personal and introspective listening experience.
The driving force behind I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, and arguably Sinéad O’Connor’s entire artistic journey, was the profound realization that forgiveness can be a heavier burden than resentment. Or perhaps, that her act of forgiveness would carry a greater weight for herself than for the forgiven. The album’s tracklist is a testament to this emotional depth and complexity. “I Am Stretched on Your Grave,” the second track, samples James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” and continues to evoke thoughts of her mother during live performances. “Three Babies” reflects on her experiences with miscarriages and celebrates the children she eventually had. “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” arguably the album’s most upbeat track, still carries a signature O’Connor edge. Even in her lighter moments, her music could lead you to “the gates of hell,” confronting uncomfortable truths and raw emotions. “Black Boys on Mopeds” tackled social injustice directly, referencing the tragic deaths of two Black teenagers in London during a police chase, with lyrics 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 unflinching social commentary was characteristic of her work.
Then came “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the sixth track on the album. While indelibly linked to Sinéad O’Connor, the song was originally penned by Prince and released in 1985 by his side project, The Family. Paul Joseph Peterson, known as St. Paul, a Prince associate and former member of The Time, provided vocals for the original version. While St. Paul delivered a compelling performance, the song remained relatively obscure, appreciated mainly by Prince’s dedicated fanbase.
Prince’s untimely death from an accidental fentanyl overdose on April 16, 2016, left a void in the music world. He had begun working on a memoir, The Beautiful Ones, co-authored with journalist Dan Piepenbring, which was published posthumously in 2019. In the book, Prince briefly mentions “Nothing Compares 2 U” when discussing his parents’ divorce, a deeply traumatic event in his childhood. He recounted how his mother would call his father late at night, pleading for his return, even involving young Prince and his sister in these heartbreaking appeals. Prince reflected, “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 then humorously added, “Sir, the garden’s dead,” summarizing his profound understanding of heartbreak and loss, stating simply, “I have that knowledge.”
However, when Sinéad O’Connor embraced “Nothing Compares 2 U,” she brought her own “knowledge” to the song, transforming its meaning and emotional core. As many listeners intuitively sensed, she sang it not as a conventional love song, but as a lament for her mother.
The music video for Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” released in 1990, became a cultural phenomenon. Its power lay in its stark simplicity. Directed by John Maybury, the video primarily features a close-up of Sinéad, her shaved head stark against a black backdrop, singing with intense emotion, culminating in visible tears. This raw vulnerability, broadcast in heavy rotation on MTV, was revolutionary in an era of often overproduced and visually cluttered music videos. The black turtleneck and background created an effect of her head floating in space, drawing all attention to her face and performance. Her shaved head, a defining visual element, was a deliberate act of rebellion against industry pressures. Prior to her first album, label executives had urged her to grow her hair, wear short skirts, and adopt a more conventionally feminine image, complete with jewelry. O’Connor interpreted this as an attempt to mold her into their mistresses’ image and promptly shaved her head. The Greek barber who performed the shaving was reportedly moved to tears by her act of defiance. In the “Nothing Compares 2 U” video, there were no explosions, no rapid cuts, none of the typical MTV editing tropes. Just stillness, gravity, and profound emotional severity. In a landscape saturated with visual noise and manufactured shock value, O’Connor’s raw honesty was genuinely shocking and deeply impactful. Her performance conveyed a profound sense of contempt, evident in lines like,
He said “Girl you better try to have fun no matter what you do”
But he’s a fool
This line, delivered with palpable disdain, encapsulated her fiercely independent spirit. Nobody dictated Sinéad O’Connor’s actions or artistic choices, not even Prince. In 1991, Rolling Stone readers recognized her transformative 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 Best Female Singer and, paradoxically, Worst Female Singer, highlighting her polarizing nature. Her refusal to have the national anthem played before a New Jersey concert further fueled controversy. In a Rolling Stone interview, she expressed her admiration for artists like Van Morrison, Roseanne Barr, and Andy Garcia while voicing her disdain for Frank Sinatra, Andrew Dice Clay, Vanilla Ice, and MC Hammer. She also openly discussed a negative encounter with Prince, revealing that he had physically threatened her. By this point, she had grown weary of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” feeling that her experience with Prince had soured her relationship with the song.
She stated, “It spoiled the song completely for me. I feel a connection with the song, but the experience was a very disturbing one. At the moment I really don’t like the idea of singing the song. I need to get to the stage where I can separate the writer from the song—which I suppose I always did before. But I’m just very angry with him. Anyway, it’s not like I’m going to spend the rest of my life singing the song that I had that went to Number One. That’s not what I’m all about. I do other stuff, too. I mean, I’ve sung the song so many times that I’m bored with the song at this stage.”
Her 2021 memoir provided further, more disturbing details about her encounter with Prince. She recounted being summoned to his home in Los Angeles, where she was staying before the MTV Video Music Awards, a period of intense fame following the success of “Nothing Compares 2 U.” She described the house with a large glass window overlooking the city lights, which at night resembled “a black frame around the lights of living hell.” Prince contacted her, mispronouncing her name, and sent a car to collect her. This marked their first interaction in years. The encounter began awkwardly in his kitchen, where he criticized her use of profanity in interviews. Her defiant response, “I don’t work for you. If you don’t like it, you can fuck yourself,” escalated the tension. He led her to a dining room and offered her soup, becoming aggressive when she declined. He then confronted his assistant, who turned out to be his brother, Duane. The situation escalated further when Prince returned with pillows, initiating a pillow fight that quickly turned violent as he struck her with a pillow seemingly weighted with a hard object. O’Connor fled, running into the night, pursued by Prince. She sought refuge in the surrounding houses, eventually ringing a doorbell frantically until Prince finally drove away. She concluded the chapter, “I never want to see that devil again. But I think of Duane fondly, quite often.”
These accounts raise complex questions about separating the art from the artist. There is no easy, definitive way to compartmentalize these aspects. Art, inherently, is imbued with the artist’s meaning and experiences. While it’s possible to mourn the loss of Prince, the artist, and even the idealized image of him, confronting accounts of his darker behavior challenges that idealized perception. Being a musical genius doesn’t automatically equate to being a morally flawless individual.
In 2018, two years after Prince’s death, his original 1984 studio recording of “Nothing Compares 2 U” was released, offering a glimpse into his initial vision for the song. Hearing Prince’s version is undeniably moving, especially in the context of his passing.
However, ultimately, “Nothing Compares 2 U” belongs to Sinéad O’Connor. In her memoir, she describes a unique ability to visualize the interiors of people’s homes upon meeting them. “From the time I turned 18, if I was sitting with people I had met only once or twice, I would see in my mind the inside of their houses. I’d see the carpets, the walls, the paintings on the walls, the tiny trinkets on bedside cabinets, the colors of the pots and pans, the stash of private letters, everything. It was as if I were floating about in their rooms.”
Sinéad O’Connor’s rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U” is akin to her floating within Prince’s Paisley Park, understanding the song, and perhaps Prince himself, on a deeper, more intuitive level than anyone else. Prince, shrouded in mystique, was both godlike and human, eccentric and surprisingly ordinary. Countless profiles and interviews portray him as enigmatic yet disarmingly polite, capable of both demanding creative control and serving pancakes to guests after a basketball game. Separating the art from the artist, or the artist from the human being, remains a complex task. But in “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Sinéad O’Connor unearthed something profoundly personal and universal, extracting more emotional depth and meaning from the song than even its creator. She found the raw nerve within the lyric try, transforming a breakup song into an anthem of grief, loss, and enduring emotional impact.
I know that livin’ with you baby was sometimes hard
But I’m willing to give it another try
In 1992, during her second Saturday Night Live appearance, Sinéad O’Connor further cemented her reputation for fearless activism. For her second song, she performed an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s “War.” After singing the final line, “We have confidence in the victory of good over evil,” she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II and declared, “Fight the real enemy.” The photograph was her mother’s, taken from her bedroom wall on the day of her death. This act of protest, aimed at highlighting child abuse within the Catholic Church, was undeniably the most punk rock gesture of the 1990s. In her memoir, she recounted the aftermath: “The matter is being discussed on the news and we learn I am banned from NBC for life. This hurts me a lot less than rapes hurt those Irish children,” she wrote. Sinéad O’Connor consistently spoke her truth, regardless of the consequences.
Sinéad O’Connor’s legacy extends far beyond “Nothing Compares 2 U.” She was a singular artist who fearlessly challenged conventions, spoke truth to power, and poured her heart and soul into her music. Her rendition of Prince’s song remains a testament to her transformative artistry and enduring emotional impact.
To listen to the original podcast episode, [click here](https://open.spotify.com/episode/10JHYJ26ZKML2gp43MiuOM?si=a10623f721f24132). [Subscribe here](https://open.spotify.com/show/0njxeKJKFtoJhCRF1ShmL4?si=4f8f5ecb9d7a4389) for more in-depth music analysis. Preorder Rob Harvilla’s book, Songs That Explain the ’90s, at the [Hachette Book Group website](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/rob-harvilla/songs-that-explain-the-90s/9781538759462/?lens=twelve).*
By Rob Harvilla
Rob Harvilla is a senior staff writer at The Ringer and the host/author of ‘60 Songs That Explain the ’90s,’ now evolving into ‘60 Songs That Explain the ’90s: The 2000s.’ He currently resides in Columbus, Ohio.
