Name the song “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and most people will immediately think of Sinead O’Connor‘s worldwide hit, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1990 and remained on the chart for 21 weeks. What some might not be aware of, however, is that the song is a cover, and was not penned by the Irish singer herself.
That honor goes to Prince, who wrote the emotional ballad in the ’80s for The Family, the short-lived group he put together in 1984 and signed to Paisley Park Records. The original recording of the song by The Family was included on their eponymous debut (and only) album.
Five years after that release, O’Connor dropped her popular cover, which went on to spawn even more covers, including one by Prince himself. Below, revisit their versions, along with other memorable takes on the song about the emotional aftermath of a breakup.
Prince
The Purple One offered a live cover of his own song in 1993, with New Power Generation’s Rosie Gaines joining him on vocals. This take features the late artist’s signature sexy and fun funk-rock sound, as well as lively “conversation” between the two vocalists. Prince included this version of the song on The Hits/The B-Sides.
Sinead O’Connor
The Irish artist’s melancholy cover is perhaps the most well-known arrangement of the song. The music video — which earned a 1990 Grammy nod for best music video short form — echoes the anguish of the lyrics by focusing on a close-up of O’Connor’s face as she looks into the camera, her eyes reflecting the pain in her vocals. This version of the song, the second single from her sophomore album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, also earned O’Connor Grammy nods for record of the year and best female pop vocal performance.
Chris Cornell
The late Soundgarden frontman — who had arguably one of the most powerful voices in rock — performed a stunning live rendition during his appearance on SiriusXM’s Lithium in September 2015. The acoustic take let the rocker’s voice shine, driving home the anthem’s gut-wrenching heartbreak.
H.E.R.
The singer-songwriter performed the somber tune at the Emmys in September 2020 to soundtrack the ceremony’s in memoriam segment. Her take began with a more retro feel before the artist started quietly playing the piano. Even when the guitar and drums kicked in, they remained soft, allowing H.E.R.’s vocals to take center stage. Midway into the performance, the artist got up from the piano to rock the electric guitar before she sweetly and softly ended the song with her voice.
Madonna
Her Madgesty paid tribute to Prince with her cover at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, which took place a month after his April 21 death. Dressed in a metallic lavender suit with a paisley print and a ruffle-collared shirt — an outfit that also gave a nod to the Purple One — Madonna delivered a respectful and quiet version of the song as black-and-white images of a cemetery appeared behind her. Halfway through the performance, she let images of Prince take center stage while she remained quietly standing, the string instruments highlighting the mood.
Aretha Franklin
The Queen of Soul gave the emotionally heavy song a significantly lighter feel with her upbeat cover on Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, released in 2014. Rather than only mourning a love lost, Franklin’s version offers a feeling of hope, and at points feels like she’s celebrating her newfound freedom.
Kelly Clarkson
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKFXdhj-tPk
The singer and talk-show host kept her cover short and sweet for her April 14, 2021, Kellyoke segment. Accompanied by only a piano, Clarkson let her voice convey the pain of the lyrics in a chill-inducing performance.
Capital Cities
The duo’s arrangement of the hit song is nearly unrecognizable as it kicks off, adding a super catchy synth-pop beat that’ll make you want to dance rather than cry, though the chorus retains the heartache. And like many romances, the tune ends abruptly, without warning.
Fatima Al Qadiri
Here’s a completely different take on the beloved song. The Kuwaiti musician offered a bare-bones version in 2014 titled “Shanzai,” featuring the haunting vocals of Helen Feng. And those lyrics? Performed in Mandarin, though those familiar with the dialect may point out that the lyrics sung aren’t a translation from English, with some phrases appearing to be slang and others from classic poems. It all ties in to the title of the song, which translates into “counterfeit.”
While most people have often associated “Nothing Compares 2 U” with a lover’s ballad. As far as Sineád O’Connor is concerned, the song evokes another relationship.
“Nothing Compares 2 U” was orginally released in 1985 on a self-titled album from Prince’s old band The Family. However, it was following Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor’s emotional cover of the track in 1990 that it became a massive hit.
When it was released by Prince’s band who were signed to Purple One’s Paisley Park records at the time, it was a deep album cut. But when it was covered by O’Connor, it earned huge attention worldwide.
“Singing to my mother”
As mentioned already, most people associate the track with a lover’s ballad. However, as Sinéad O’Connor wrote in her recently released memoir “Rememberings”, O’Connor said that whenever she sings that song, she is “singing to my mother”.
“My cover of Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ was something I was always – and am always – singing to my mother”, O’Connor wrote.
This is deeply personal to O’Connor who lost her mother when she was just 16 years old.
“Every time I perform it, I feel it’s the only time I get to spend with my mother and that I’m talking with her again”, she continued. “There’s a belief that she’s there, that she can hear me and I can connect with her”.
O’Connor also referred to one line from the song that encapsulates that feeling of loss that she felt at 16 years of age.
The line from the song reads, “All the flowers that you planted mama / In the backyard / All died when you went away”.
“I just sang the song along with the track, sitting in a chair wearing a black polo neck”, O’Connor said of the track’s music video.
“But in the part where it says, ‘All the flowers that you planted mama, in the backyard, all died when you went away,’ I cried for like twenty seconds”, she continued.
“I was crying about my mother being dead,” she said at the time. “I’m still really messed up about it, even though I’m twenty-four. A little embarrassing. But there you go. I’m a girl”.
Sinéad O’Connor cried “Like a child before the gates of hell”
O’Connor’s cover of the track reached number one across the globe, becoming a platinum selling hit. O’Connor also admitted crying like “a child before the gates of hell” when she heard that her rendition reached number one in the US.
O’Connor also added that this changed her life completely, overwhelming her at times especially on tour.
“I found it hard to get used to because I had a lot of stage fright and felt like a total impostor”, she said. “I really had no self-esteem when it came to songs or anything else”.
O’Connor has subsequently released ten studio albums across a 30 year career. However, unlike most artists who recorded tracks from Prince, O’Connor did not have a positive relationship with the 1999 singer.
O’Connor even claimed that Prince attacked her in his Hollywood home in 1991. Find out more on that story from Nova here.