Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U

This music video was mainly shot in Paris, and was directed by John Maybury. The music video was released on the 8th January 1990 in the UK, and the 11th of January 1990 in the US. This music video by Sinead O'Connor is seen to be iconic, due to the fact that 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. Also, because the video is so simple, it forces the listener to listen carefully at the lyrics. This often increased the popularity because the lyrics were so meaningful and something that the artist herself could relate too.

It’s one of the simplest music-video concepts ever: a closeup of  Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor, sporting a crew cut and a black turtleneck, singing directly to the camera. This image is not the stereotypical "feminine" look, wearing a pink blouse. This somewhat contradicts codes and conventions of certain music videos. It’s also the most heartbreaking. The music video begins with her walking through a part of Paris called Parc de Saint-Cloud, but the rest of the music video is made up of close up's on the singer herself. The director of this music video would have decided this on purpose, as it fits into the lyrics of the song. The whole song is to do with a break up that she has gone through, and therefore she may feel isolated from everyone else. The close up shots enable to viewers to look squarely into her eyes and feel her raw emotion. The first line of the song counts down how long she has been alone, and this is where the first close up begins.Her face is very pale, which could connote that she is pure, and she is not the one that has caused the break up. This means that the viewers could therefore be on her side, just after the first line. When we see some statues that are located in France, the editing techniques enable Sinead O' Connor to still be in the background. This could mean that the statues have something to do with the relationship and she is still part of the relationship, as well as the shot. Due to the fact that she is alone in this shot, this could reflect her feelings, which means that she now feels lonely after the break up. This is simple, but an effective way to portray this to the audience. O'Connor's crying toward the end wasn't accidental: she stated on 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. The shot where we can see her crying shows the emotion that she is going through, and again the audience tend to "be on her side". I feel that the use of the close ups, and showing her pale white face reflects the emotions that she is going through. This was obviously as successful idea for a music video because of the following reasons:


Critical Reception that it received:


In 2004, Rolling Stone placed Sinead 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 "Britains Favourite Break-up Songs", Sinead O'Connors version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" was voted fifth.

VH1 Classic listed Sinead O'Connors version as the second greatest classic love song.

In 2002, VH1 ranked the song the 18th greatest one-hit wonder.

In 2008, VH1 ranked the song the number 1 on "Final Countdown - Top 50 Heartbreakers"

When we get back..

When we're back at school next week, we will upload our thriller opening and our evaluation to show our progression through our time so far in media.

We as a group were very happy with our end product and we feel everything went to plan and the opening and evaluation went well!