457. Sinéad O’Connor, "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got"

 


Like all/most of you, all I knew from this album was "Nothing Compares 2 U," which was just omnipresent in the background in the early '90s but which I never thought about much or paid much attention to.  So I was mildly surprised to find that there are a lot of interesting and good songs on this album!  The extremely gothily named "I Am Stretched on Your Grave" has a great dirgey vocal over a club beat.  It's a really pretty, if disturbingly dark, song.  "The Emperor's New Clothes" is, I think, a self-empowerment anthem and really has that fist-in-the-air vibe.  And I think "Last Day of Our Acquaintance" is as good a divorce song as I've heard.

It's interesting that this album comes so soon in the list after Lorde's Melodama, since this was obviously a big influence on Lorde.  You can hear it all over Lorde's stuff - the sparse, chilly production, the aching vocals, the personal revealing that's almost too much.  

Incredibly, Sinead apparently got beat up by Prince.

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