Irish singer Sinead O’Connor was known for her nonconformity, but it was the power and emotion of her voice that earned her worldwide fame. The wild-voiced, breathless performer, whose sudden death at 56 was announced by her family on Wednesday, has sold millions of records since her debut album The Lion and the Cobra. Here is a selection of some of his most listened to songs.
It is her best-known song, a cover of a Prince title that she transformed into a ballad, the lyrics of which evoke the feeling of painful emptiness of the rejected lover. The track, released in 1990, quickly rose to the top of the world charts and reigned at the top of the charts in the United States for four weeks. The clip was also received royally by MTV, which played it widely. We remember the tight shots of Sinead O’Connor’s face, flawless profile and shaved head, as well as the tears streaming down his cheeks: an emblem of 1990s music. It remains ranked on the lists of the best songs of all the time. “You have to look really hard to find in pop music a better expression of the feeling of emptiness that comes over you when a relationship ends,” wrote the specialized media Pitchfork in 2009.
Mandinka is the second track from her debut album The Lion and the Cobra, released in 1987. The song became a favorite hit on college radio and the singer was even invited to sing it on David Letterman’s Late Night Show: these were his first steps on a national show. But it was probably her concert for the 1989 Grammy Awards, where she sang Mandinka, which made her known to the American public in 1989. She grabbed the microphone in a crop top, torn denim pants and Doc Martens, a romper hanging in the back.
The garment belonged to her son, and wearing it was like a snub to all the label managers who had predicted that motherhood would end her career. And on his shaved head, a logo of the rap group that sparked passions at the time: Public Enemy. This symbol was also a reference to the arrival of hip-hop as an official musical category of the Grammy Awards, and its censorship on television, which had provoked the boycott of several nominees.
The Emperor’s New Clothes, released on his second album, is his second most streamed song according to the Billboard chart. A rock confession and a declaration of independence from the singer, who did not hesitate to publicly tear up a photograph of Pope John Paul II after singing the title War by Bob Marley, triggering a worldwide controversy. “I will live by my own rules, I will sleep with a clear conscience,” she sang in The Emperor’s New Clothes.
You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart does not appear on any of Sinead O’Connor’s studio albums, yet it received critical acclaim after its release in the 1993 film In the Name of the Father, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson. She sings there “wonderfully”, according to the British daily The Guardian, which continues: “She puts her anger at the service of an intense piece of pop, mixed with Celtic accents.” Verdict: “Its best title since Nothing Compares 2 U.”
This 1992 song, the flagship single from her third album Am I Not Your Girl?, pays tribute to another music icon, country this time, the American Loretta Lynn, with a cover of her title Success. Success Has Made A Failure Of Our Home is her third most listened to song, the most personal on this album, according to her. Her title, which means “Success has turned our home into failure,” highlights the cost that success may have had for her.
