Sinéad O’Connor’s legendary hit “Nothing Compares 2 U” isn’t the kind of song you can wipe from your memory easily. Her vocals glitter and sparkle, and the pop-ballad vibe of the whole song resonates with just about anyone. And while that music video is incredibly simple, few can forget the image of the buzzcut-rocking young woman tearing up as she belts the chorus into the camera. The year 1990 was really O’Connor’s year.
On this very day, April 21, 1990, O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after debuting on the coveted chart on March 17, 1990. The song would remain at the top spot for an entire month and would remain on the chart in some fashion for 21 weeks.
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And some listeners might not know that “Nothing Compares 2 U” was actually a Prince cover.
The Origins of “Nothing Compares 2 U”
The original version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” was a Prince jam. The song can be found on his sole album under Prince and The Family’s name, a funk-oriented record simply titled The Family, released in 1985. That version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” was not released as a single and didn’t get much attention.
Sinéad O’Connor recorded her version for her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got. The arrangement was quite different, notably in a moodier key of F major. Prince’s version was a bit more upbeat and had a very different vibe from O’Connor’s.
Prince’s original tune was sung from the perspective of a desperate lover. O’Connor notably sang the song very differently, thinking of her late mother the entire time. That’s where the famous teardrop in the music video came from. It’s crazy to think that a song originally written about a lover could be channeled into a version about grief so beautifully.
O’Connor’s version would go on to be her most successful song. It was a No. 1 hit across the board, topping the charts in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, and countless European countries. She would go on to have other marginal hits, particularly in the UK and Ireland. “Nothing Compares 2 U”, though, remains her only Top 40 hit in the United States.
Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns
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