Showtime's Nothing Compares trailer chronicles Sinead O'Connors reluctant, defiant stardom
The Irish singer never intended to be a pop star, but took the opportunity to controversially platform the issues that meant most to her
What is a creator’s responsibility, truly, when a spotlight and the eyes of the world are upon them? Irish singer Sinead O’Connor is stalwart in her belief on the question: “An artist’s job is sometimes to create the difficult conversations that need to be had.” A new Showtime documentary, Nothing Compares, explores the question through the wildly outspoken and often maligned performer. Now 55, O’Connor used her reluctant pop stardom to platform issues like sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and police brutality in Britain, to a controversial and lasting effect.
In her deep and husky tenor, O’Connor recalls her experience being thrust into stardom with the success of her 1990 cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” “It was such a shock for me to become a pop star,” she muses. “It’s not what I wanted. I just wanted to scream.”
The trailer foreshadows some of the condemned activism O’Connor would go on to undertake with a quote from an early career interview. “Every person’s duty to themselves is to act on their feelings and to say when they think something’s wrong,” she shares. When the interviewer questions her further (“And take the consequences?”) she responds: “I imagine so.”