The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recently nominated Sinéad O’Connor for potential induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 class. It’s bittersweet considering her death this past July. Knowing her skepticism about the music industry in general, who knows how she would have processed this honor? What we do know is that she earned that nomination on the strength of powerful, fearless songs like “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
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What did O’Connor have in mind when she wrote the song? Did it indeed have something to do with a certain massive Irish band? And how did it fit in with the other songs on her 1990 landmark album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got? Let’s answer those questions and more, as we explore this brilliant song from an unforgettable artist.
The Sophomore Jump
Sinéad O’ Connor announced herself as a striking new singer/songwriter on her 1987 album The Lion and the Cobra. She was only 20 at the time of that album’s release, but the songs displayed undeniable maturity, and O’Connor sang them with intense abandon. For the 1990 followup, O’Connor did as she always had before, in that she simply dug deep into her life experiences for the lyrics. That nearly scared off her label, as she explained in a 2009 interview:
“Records were always my life story, always like diaries,” she said. “Which is one thing I do remember about this record. When I went to Ensign with the finished record they said they didn’t want to put it out because it was like reading somebody’s diaries, and they didn’t think anyone would buy it. Their exact words were it would end up on the warehouse floor like Terence Trent D’arby’s second album.'”
The secret weapon contained on I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got was O’Connor’s searing cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Combining the power of O’Connor’s performance with the stark video proved an irresistible combination, and the song became a runaway chart-topper. Because its impact was so profound, it painted her as a kind of torch singer. But O’Connor had much more than that up her sleeve.
Case in point: the album’s second single “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Characterized by a churning beat and spunky guitars, it’s musically reminiscent of “Mandinka,” the biggest hit from The Lion and the Cobra. O’Connor sings the lyrics with an easygoing defiance. Even though it wouldn’t do much on the pop charts, the song certainly wowed on alternative radio at a time when that genre was extremely competitive.
As for the song’s inspiration, O’Connor admitted in the previously cited interview that she was taking a shot at none other than U2, her rocking superstar countrymen. “Well, I didn’t like their records,” she explained. “I used to make ashtrays out of them. You could melt the vinyl records over the cooker.”
The Meaning of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”
While U2 might have sent O’Connor off in a certain direction when writing the song, it seems like it expanded somewhere along the way into something else. In many ways, it’s reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s “Idiot Wind” in the way that O’Connor tries to wrangle a romantic relationship under control while dealing with the outsized expectations of her public (and perhaps Bono).
Within her personal relationship, the narrator’s significant other is the one being taken for granted. But O’Connor suggests that she needs to harden in order to meet professional demands. There’s millions of people who offer advice and say how I should be / But they’re twisted and they will never any influence on me, she sings.
Even as she apologizes to the guy who appears to be her baby’s father, she also expresses devotion to him. I would return to nothing without you / If I’m your girlfriend or not. She confides in him about her fear over the changes in her life. Perhaps gaining strength from him, she eventually takes a stand against her critics and doubters: I will live by my own policies / I will sleep with a clear conscience.
In the final verse, she insists that her enemies will get their comeuppance, likely due to their own egotism. Hence, the reference in the title to the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a king too proud to admit he’s been duped. It’s the ideal zinger to close out “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” which itself was the perfect vehicle for the feisty side of Sinéad O’Connor.
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