The Actual Which means Behind Sinéad O'Connor's Hit Nothing Compares 2 U

Sinéad O’Connor felt like listeners of “Nothing Compares 2 U” may relate the track to completely different sorts of loss, not simply the lack of a romantic companion. Susan Rogers, a recording engineer for Prince, even believed the lyrics weren’t about an ex-lover in any respect however about Sandy Scipioni, Prince’s housekeeper who stop her job after her father handed away.

Though there is no such thing as a proof of Scipioni’s departure within the lyrics, there’s a reference to the lack of a mum or dad. The narrator sings within the bridge, “All of the flowers that you just planted, mama, within the yard all died once you went away.” O’Connor cries in her music video for the track, and she or he informed BBC that to muster up that form of emotional response when singing, she all the time considered the identical factor: “I all the time consider my mom … which is why I had the little tear within the video. My mom died after I was 17 and it wasn’t lengthy after that that I used to be making the video.”

“Nothing Compares 2 U” ends with the narrator asking for an additional likelihood, which may allude to asking their companion to strive once more or to wishing for the inconceivable — for a deceased liked one to return. Then, the outro repeats, “Nothing compares, nothing compares to you” thrice to drive the purpose house. 

Many individuals referenced the track after Prince’s dying in 2016, and they’re going to probably do the identical for O’Connor.