35 years ago: Sinéad O'Connor hit No.1 in the US with Nothing Compares 2 U
Over the years, Prince provided several memorable hits for other artists, including Manic Monday for The Bangles and Nasty Girl for Vanity 6. Perhaps the most iconic of all, however, was Nothing Compares 2 U, which became a career-defining smash for the extraordinary Sinéad O'Connor.
Originally an obscure soul ballad tucked away on an album by funk group The Family, O'Connor and Bristolian trip-hop pioneer Nellee Hooper gave the track a dramatic new arrangement, topped off by O'Connor's epic, heart-wrenching vocals.
Niall Stokes on 'Nothing Compares 2 U' published in Hot Press in July 2023, as part of a tribute to Sinad O'Connor:
1990. A week into the new year, Chrysalis released the headline single from Sinéad's second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, her version of Prince's song, 'Nothing Compares 2 U.' The accompanying video was a masterstroke. Shot by John Maybury, it consists almost entirely of a close-up ofSinéad'ss face. As she navigates the song and delivers the lyrics, the emotional shifts are visible in the young singer's baleful expression.
And then she hits the opening lines of the final verse.
All the flowers you planted, Mama, she sang, In the back yard / All died when you went away…Sinéad would later say that singing the word Mama had reminded her of her own mother, who had died in a car accident early in 1985. That caused a tear to flow down one cheek. The camera didn't flinch. As the song neared its climax, a second tear flowed down the other cheek. It was a moment of accidental pop profundity, a marriage of music and video that achieved a riveting impact on what was, suddenly, the ultimate break-up song.
The video captured the imagination, especially among the emerging generation of young women, catapulting the single to the top of the charts worldwide. Sinéad O'Connor was the hottest star on the planet. I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got followed, going to No.1 in almost 20 countries and selling over 2 million copies in the US alone.
Sinad O'Connor on 'Nothing Compares 2 U' originally published in Hot Press in 2000:
I still get told that the video for Nothing Compares 2 U is a landmark in videomaking, that it still stands up. Which is amazing and quite funny, because the concepts we had for it were not remotely what happened in the end.
What happened was that during one of the setups, we originally had about 15, and all the emotion of the song kind of came up for me. All the associations I had, and all the things I'd been thinking about, that linked me with the song, suddenly came together at once. Cos, you know, I guess I'm the sort of performer where the stuff I do is quite emotional and all. I only sing songs that mean something to me personally. I'm not really, if you like, an Ooh, baby baby kind of singer.
So I was sitting there, doing this one shot, and suddenly all the emotion of it occurred to me, and I couldn't help having a little cry for a minute. And in the end, when they looked at the rushes, they decided to just go with that one shot, which had never been done before. But it wasn't in the plan. Mind you, it wasn't in the plan to be crying, either.
An extract from the late Bill Graham's review of I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got for Hot Press (1990):
…the magnificent 'Nothing Compares 2 U' will endure long past most pop hits' natural radio shelf-life exactly because this song of supplication also so acutely conveys an undercurrent of sulky defiance in its confrontation of love love. I've already heard it sung on the last bus, and that's the ultimate compliment…
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