I remember in 1990 when Sinéad O’Connor released her version of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Her unique shaven-headed appearance and emotionally cathartic cover of this song helped define that musical era.
Get the Sheet Music for “Nothing Compares To You” (piano accompaniment part) here: https://www.mymusicsheet.com/marisasmusicstudio/267926
Moving out of the pop, feel-good decade of the ‘80s and into the alternative, defiant scene of the’ 90s, Sinéad led the way by insubordinately speaking and acting out (refusing to sing the national anthem and tearing up a photo of the Pope). My generation certainly hadn’t seen many acts of rebellion in pop culture.
When I hear this song I’m taken back to eighth grade and all that was happening at that time. The Berlin Wall had recently fallen, Nelson Mandela had been freed from prison, and the Hubble Telescope had launched into space. It felt like a period of progress, hope, and prosperity. Of fresh starts and positive momentum forward.
Although Sinéad’s cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U” carried a sad tone, it reflected that freshness and redemptive quality that fit the time. Sinéad’s emotionally vulnerable expression, which felt truthful and hopeful in a way, allowed us to cathartically connect with any sorrow, grief or longing that might have been stuck. Her song also poignantly spoke to the more personal elements of loneliness, loss and how to move forward after heartbreak.
There’s the memorable scene in Sinéad’s video where she shed a tear. She later explained, “I didn’t intend for that moment to happen, but when it did, I thought, ‘I should let this happen.’” In her autobiography Rememberings, Sinéad goes on to say that it was memories of her mother that brought the tears while singing:
All the flowers that you planted mama
In the back yard
All died when you went away