Nothing compares 2 the classics.
Sinéad O’Connor, the unapologetic and uncompromising Irish singer who rose to fame in 1990 with her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” died at 56, according to a statement from her family on Wednesday.
O’Connor, like the Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman, and other alt-voices of the ’90s, certainly marched to her own drum. When she ripped a picture of Pope John Paul II during a 1992 Saturday Night Live performance, the trajectory of her career shifted entirely as she became the face of controversy.
Still, the fierce LGBTQ+ ally (who once declared herself “three-quarters heterosexual, a quarter gay”) always had found friends with the gays. And a quote about the performance from a 2021 interview with The Guardian, shared in her remembrance, has the internet reflecting on just how badass she was.
“[After SNL], there was no doubt about who this b*tch is,” she said. “There was no more mistaking this woman for a pop star … people say, ‘Oh, you f*cked up your career’ but they’re talking about the career they had in mind for me.”
As the internet remembers O’Connor, one of her most iconic performances from 1998 has been making the rounds. Alongside Kylie Minogue and Natalie Imbruglia, she slayed a cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” on TFI Friday.
The trio of artists joined forces to perform on the show alongside Dave Stewart, as a backing group that was cheekily announced as “A Tramp, A Drunk and An Unfit Mother.” And as Twitter user @yannhatchuel wrote, “Now this is star power.”
Not only did Minogue, Imbruglia, and O’Connor give us captivating vocals, but the lewks! Is this too niche to pitch as our group Halloween costume this year? (Probably, yes.)
Of course, it also helped that these ladies were covering The Eurythmics’ #1 hit from the ’80s –– and arguably one of the greatest songs of all time.
“Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” has been inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame and preserved by the US Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry. It’s even been sampled by Britney Spears.
The throbbing synths, haunting background vocals, and nihilistic lyrics made the track an instant bop. But it was the groundbreaking video, which featured front woman (and unabashed gay icon) Annie Lennox sporting a series of androgynous looks, that helped shatter gender norms and make The Eurythmics household names.
The dark makeup and cropped red hair! The suit! The quirky and spooky B-roll!
It’s only fitting that a video of O’Connor covering The Eurythmics is going viral; both acts will be remembered for showing us that it’s OK to stand out in your own (and maybe gay) way.
As The Eurythmics said, “Hold your head up!” and watch the video for “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).”
abfab
Just the start of the obituary from today’s NYT. I’m very saddened.
Megan Specia
By Megan Specia
Megan Specia traveled to Knockananna, in the Wicklow Mountains, to speak with those who had lived nearby to Sinéad O’Connor.
July 27, 2023, 6:24 p.m. ET
Few people come to Knockananna without good reason, the journey requiring a long, serpentine drive up the country roads that wind through Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains.
And the village itself is a simple place, little more than a crossroads with a pub, a smattering of pretty white stone houses — some with thatched roofs — and a shop with a single gas pump out front. Cellphone service is patchy, adding to the world-apart feeling.
But some people do find their way to Knockananna, among them Sinéad O’Connor, who enjoyed a sanctuary of sorts in the village during some of the final years of her life.
“Down the mountain, as I call it, nobody can forget about Sinéad O’Connor,” the musician said in a 2021 interview. In the village, she said, nobody much cared — “which is beautiful for me.”
bachy
Too cool for school, unfortunately.