Sinéad O’Connor (or Shuhada Sadaqat, the name she chose for herself a few years ago) died last week. Her death affected many of us — some were sad, some mourned, one friend who’d closely followed her career since the late 1980s was almost inconsolable. And as we shared memories or thoughts, one thing became clear: none of us received her in exactly the same way.
For most of us, she was the singer of one of the most gut-wrenching songs of loss in pop music. ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ is a classic example of when less is more (and enough): the music is spare, giving her ethereal voice the space to dip and soar; the video focuses on her face, elfin and expressive (the scorn when she repeats what the doctor told her to do!), powerful enough to fill the frame all the time she’s singing yet vulnerable enough to let two (reportedly unscripted) teardrops roll down her cheeks.
