"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, who covered the song and released it as the second single from her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. However, not until O'Connor recorded and produced the version along with Nellee Hooper did it become a worldwide hit in 1990. An iconic music video was shot and received heavy rotation on MTV.
Background [edit]
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.
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!
Chart performance [edit]
The song became a worldwide hit, topping charts in O'Connor's native Ireland, Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. 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 [edit]
The lone face of O'Connor made the video one of the most recognisable of the 1990s.
Development [edit]
Mainly shot in Paris, the music video for "Nothing Compares 2 U" was directed by John Maybury. O'Connor's tears toward the end were unplanned. She stated on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s that it was caused by the lyric "All the flowers that you planted, Mother/in the back yard/All died when you went away," because she had a very complex relationship with her late mother, who used to abuse her in childhood.
Concept [edit]
The clip consists almost solely of a closeup on Sinead O'Connor's face as she sings the lyrics, sometimes with angry expression; 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 per 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 [edit]
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.
Legacy [edit]
- 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".[1]
- 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.[2]
- The song was listed at number 77 on Billboard's "Greatest Songs of All Time".[3]
- TIME magazine included "Nothing Compares 2 U" in its 2011 (unranked) list of "All-TIME 100 Songs".[4]
- On 28 May 2012 on the 'Magic' channel this song was ranked No1 of the 90's Popbox Mega Power Ballads.
Track listings [edit]
- 7" single
- "Nothing Compares 2 U" – 5:09
- "Jump in the River" – 4:13
|
- CD maxi
- "Nothing Compares 2 U" – 5:09
- "Jump in the River" – 4:13
- "Jump in the River" (instrumental) – 4:04
|
Credits and personnel [edit]
|
Nothing Compares 2 U
|
Jump in the River
- Sinéad O'Connor – music and lyrics, lead vocals, producer, mixing
- Marco Pirroni – music and lyrics
- Chris Birkett – engineering, mixing
- Fachtna O' Ceallaigh – mixing
|
Release history [edit]
| Country |
Release date |
| United Kingdom |
8 January 1990 (1990-01-08) |
| Worldwide |
4 February 1990 (1990-02-04) |
| United States |
11 February 1990 (1990-02-11) |
Charts and sales [edit]
Peak positions [edit]
|
Year-end charts [edit]
| Chart (1990) |
Position |
| Australian Singles Chart[18] |
1 |
| Austrian Singles Chart[19] |
2 |
| Dutch Top 40[20] |
1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[21] |
6 |
| UK Singles Chart[22] |
2 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[23] |
3 |
End-of-decade charts [edit]
| Chart (1990–1999) |
Position |
| UK Singles Chart |
61 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[24] |
82 |
Certifications [edit]
| Country |
Certification |
Date |
Sales certified |
| Austria[25] |
Platinum |
15 May 1990 |
30,000 |
| Germany[26] |
Gold |
1990 |
250,000 |
| Sweden[27] |
Platinum |
1 March 1990 |
50,000 |
| UK[28] |
Platinum |
1 March 1990 |
600,000 |
| US[29] |
Platinum |
April 20, 1990 |
1,000,000 |
|
Cover versions [edit]
- Mr. Bungle performed the song during one of their live shows.
- German Eurodance group Chyp-Notic covered the song in 1990.
- Dune covered the song on their 1997 album Forever, which was recorded with the London Session Orchestra.
- A faster Eurodance remix of the song, "Nothing Compares", was made by DJ Fuze for Dancemania SPEED 2 issued in 1999.
- The song was covered by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their 2003 album Take a Break.
- The song was covered by Northern Kings on their 2008 album Rethroned.
- It was covered by Shiny Toy Guns for the Goth Electro Tribute to Prince compilation in 2005.
- The Welsh band Stereophonics performed a cover version of the song for the album 1 Love for the charity War Child Music.
- South African indie pop rock group Fire Through the Window covered the song on their self-titled debut album.
- Daniel Ho (under the pseudonym The Coconutz) recorded a version of the song, translated into Hawaiian (titled ‘A’ohe like me ’oe) by Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman,[30] for the soundtrack to the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
- A version of the song by Dan Kelly was included in the 2007 compilation tribute No Man's Woman.
- The classical girlband All Angels covered the song on their 2007 album Into Paradise. The music video for their version of the song currently has over half a million views on YouTube.
- Covered by jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott on his album Holding Back the Years.
- In 2007, the song was performed on Australian Idol by eventual winner Natalie Gauci on the Top 6 Contestant's Choice night. Gauci also recorded a cover for her album, The Winner's Journey.
- Aiden Grimshaw covered the song on The X Factor series 7, which was highly praised.
- R&B vocalist Goapele recorded a cover using an instrumental version of the Kanye West song Runaway as the backing music.
- Norwegian duo Brødrene Löwenstierne recorded a cover of the song for the Prince tribute compilation Shockadelica in 2008
- Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy covered the song at his live solo shows.
- In 2012, the vocalist of Brazilian band Capital Inicial, Dinho Ouro Preto, covered the song, included in 3rd solo album, "Black Heart".
- Bo Bruce covered the song on The Voice UK (Series 1) as one of her final performances.
- American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson covered the song in 2012 when she performed a concert in Dublin as part of her Stronger Tour.
- Los Angeles based duo Capital Cities cover the song
- Novita Dewi covered the song on X Factor season 1 during the eleventh gala shows
References [edit]
- ^ Breaking Dawn Soundtrack: Posted (2007-12-13). "Top 100 Songs of the ’90s | VH1 Blog". Blog.vh1.com. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
- ^ Pitchfork Top 200 Tracks of the 90s
- ^ Billboard Hot 100 Chart 50th Anniversary
- ^ ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Medien, Hung. "SINÉAD O'CONNOR - NOTHING COMPARES 2 U" (in French). lescharts.com. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
- ^ Medien, Hung. "SINÉAD O'CONNOR - NOTHING COMPARES 2 U (NUMMER)" (in Dutch). ultratop.be. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
- ^ Medien, Hung. "SINÉAD O'CONNOR - NOTHING COMPARES 2 U (CHANSON)" (in French). ultratop.be. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
- ^ "Adult Contemporary - Volume 51, No. 25, May 05 1990". RPM. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
- ^ "Top Singles - Volume 51, No. 25, May 05 1990". RPM. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
- ^ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
- ^ "Top 100 single" (in German). charts.de. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
- ^ "Irish Singles Chart – Search for song". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
- ^ "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 5. ZPAV. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
- ^ "Archive Chart" UK Singles Chart. Official Charts Company.
- ^ "Sinead O'Connor Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Adult Contemporary Songs for Sinead O'Connor. Prometheus Global Media.
- ^ "Sinead O'Connor Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Alternative Songs for Sinead O'Connor. Prometheus Global Media.
- ^ "Sinead O'Connor Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot 100 for Sinead O'Connor. Prometheus Global Media.
- ^ 1990 Australian Singles Chart aria.com (Retrieved 3 September 2008)
- ^ 1990 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved 3 September 2008)
- ^ "Single top 100 over 1990" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
- ^ 1990 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved 3 September 2008)
- ^ Music Week End of year Charts, 1990. pub.January 1991
- ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1990". Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
- ^ Austrian certifications ifpi.at (Retrieved September 3, 2008)
- ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank ('Nothing+Compares+2+U')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
- ^ Swedish certifications Ifpi.se (Retrieved 11 September 2008)
- ^ UK certifications Bpi.co.uk (Retrieved 3 September 2008)
- ^ U.S. certifications riaa.com (Retrieved 3 September 2008)
- ^ Hawaiian lyrics on www.danielho.com
External links [edit]
|
|
|
| 1970s |
|
|
| 1980s |
|
|
| 1990s |
|
|
| 2000s |
|
|
| 2010s |
- "Extraloveable"
- "Dance 4 Me" (remixes)
- "Rock and Roll Love Affair"
|
|
Promotional
singles |
|
|
| Other songs |
|
|
