Nothing Compares 2 U

"Nothing Compares 2 U"
Single by Sinéad O'Connor
from the album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Released	8 January 1990 (1990-01-08)
Format	CD single 7" single 12" single
Genre	Pop
Length	5:10
Label	Chrysalis
Writer(s)	Prince
Producer(s)	Sinéad O'Connor Nellee Hooper
Sinéad O'Connor singles chronology
"Jump in the River" (1988) "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1990) "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1990) Music video "Nothing Compares 2 U" on YouTube Music sample "Nothing Compares 2 U" Sinéad O'Connor's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" from I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

"Nothing Compares 2 U" is a song originally written and composed by Prince for one of his side projects, The Family. It was later made famous by Irish recording artist Sinéad O'Connor, whose arrangement was released as the second single from her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. This version, which O'Connor co-produced with Nellee Hooper, became a worldwide hit in 1990. A music video, which has been described as iconic, was shot and received heavy rotation on MTV. Its lyrics explore feelings of longing from an abandoned lover's point of view.

Background

In 1985, The Family, a funk band created as an outlet to release more of Prince's music, released their first and only album, the self-titled The Family. "Nothing Compares 2 U" appeared on the album but it was not released as a single, and received little recognition.

O'Connor's rendition reflected on her mother's death, which coincidentally occurred the same year that The Family's lone album was released.

Prince performed the song as a live duet with Rosie Gaines, subsequently released on his 1993 compilations The Hits/The B-Sides and The Hits 1. Prince also recorded a solo version of the song for his concert film, Rave Un2 the Year 2000, as well as for his 2002 live album, One Nite Alone... Live!

Commercial performance

The song became a worldwide hit, topping charts in O'Connor's native Ireland, Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It also became a top-five single in France and a top-20 in Denmark. The single was certified platinum in Austria and the United Kingdom, and gold in Germany and Sweden.

In the United States it spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100; in addition, it was a number-one in Billboard Alternative Songs chart and reached number two on Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. It became the third best-selling single of 1990, the 82nd best-selling single of the 1990s, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 1990. The song's popularity sent I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got to the top of the Billboard 200 where it stayed for six consecutive weeks.

Music video

The lone face of O'Connor made the video one of the most recognisable of the 1990s.

Concept

The clip consists mostly of a closeup on Sinead O'Connor's face and her different stages of sadness as she sings the lyrics; the rest consists of her walking through an area of Paris, known as the Parc de Saint-Cloud. Toward the end of the video, two tears roll down her face, one on each cheek. In the middle and at the very end of the video there is a shot from O'Connor's photo session for the I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got album cover.

Reception

The clip won three moonmen at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards: Video of the Year (O'Connor became the first female artist to be awarded with it), Best Female Video and Best Post-Modern Video. It was nominated for Breakthrough Video, Viewer's Choice and International Viewer's Choice during the ceremony. The video also became the subject for many parodies and spoofs, such as Gina Riley's parody "Nothing Is There" on Fast Forward, referring to the fact that O'Connor tended to shave her head bald.

Relationship with Prince

Speaking about her relationship with Prince in an interview with Norwegian station NRK in November 2014 Sinéad said, "I did meet him a couple of times. We didn't get on at all. In fact we had a punch-up." She continued: "He summoned me to his house after 'Nothing Compares 2U'. I made it without him. I'd never met him. He summoned me to his house - and it's foolish to do this to an Irish woman - he said he didn't like me saying bad words in interviews. So I told him to f*** off." Sinead alleged the row became physical: "He got quite violent. I had to escape out of his house at 5 in the morning. He packed a bigger punch than mine."^[1]

Legacy

• In 2004, Rolling Stone placed the Sinéad O'Connor single at number 162 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, which contains only two songs of the 1990s ranked higher.
• In a 2006 poll for a Channel 5 program "Britain's Favourite Break-up Songs", Sinéad O'Connor's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" was voted fifth.
• VH1 Classic listed Sinead O'Connor's version as the second greatest classic love song, behind Al Green's "Let's Stay Together."
• In 2002, VH1 ranked the song the 18th greatest one-hit wonder.
• In 2007, VH1 ranked O'Connor's rendition number 10 of the "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s".^[2]
• In 2008, VH1 ranked the song the number 1 on "Final Countdown - Top 50 Heartbreakers".
• On July 4, 2009, VH1 Classic ranked #12 on "Top 20 Flashback from the 90s".
• In September 2010 Pitchfork Media included the song at number 37 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.^[3]
• The song was listed at number 77 on Billboard's "Greatest Songs of All Time".^[4]
• TIME magazine included "Nothing Compares 2 U" in its 2011 (unranked) list of "All-TIME 100 Songs".^[5]
• On 28 May 2012 on the 'Magic' channel, the song was ranked No1 of the 90's Popbox Mega Power Ballads.
• In the American Dad! episode "Finger Lenting Good", Hayley performs this song to her brother Steve to try and get him to cry, with Steve calling it "the saddest song ever."

Track listings

Credits and personnel

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References