Music Review: Sinéad O’Connor - How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?

Few artists have been as provocative as Sinéad O’Connor. The Irish singer will forever be remembered for the outrage she caused in 1992, when she used her appearance on TV’s Saturday Night Live to criticize sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. Singing an acapella version of Bob Marley’s “War,” she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II while singing the word “evil” and urging viewers to “fight the real enemy.” The backlash was swift and severe. Madonna publicly criticized her, while crowds roundly booed her when she performed at Bob Dylan’s 30^th Anniversary tribute concert.

O’Connor would be easy to dismiss if she wasn’t so fiercely outspoken or as musically gifted. Throughout her career, she has repeatedly taken strong stands, refusing to perform if the U.S. national anthem was played before her concerts and withdrawing from the Grammy Awards despite receiving multiple nominations. With her shaved head and striking blue eyes, she cut a dramatic figure in the video for her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which became a massive worldwide hit. Meanwhile, her voice has been hailed for its purity and power.

O’Connor’s latest CD, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, will likely offend some and thrill others. Coming after a series of health issues and her off-again, on-again commitment to therapist Barry Herridge, her fourth marriage, the album is a return to form for the singer who has made forays into reggae and traditional Irish music. Several numbers, including “4^th and Vine” and “The Wolf is Getting Married,” are exuberant love songs, while tracks like “I Had a Baby” and “Very Far from Home” deal poignantly with loss and loneliness. But two songs are bound to stir up more controversy. With “Take Off Your Shoes,” she once again takes aim at the Catholic Church, while the closing hymn-like “V.I.P.” critiques fellow Irish musicians who refuse to join her in challenging the Vatican. Resolutely defiant, O’Connor remains one of pop’s most polarizing figures.