Am I Not Your Girl?

The pressures of unforeseen fame, mostly courtesy of her chart-topping cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” and her unstoppable mouth, threw the mercurial O’Connor into great artistic question. Perhaps unsure of how to respond to the massive success of her previous album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, O’Connor sidestepped the question by concentrating on an album of covers that highlight her vocal and interpretive abilities rather than her ultra-personal songwriting. Commercially, the album didn’t do well—partially, perhaps, in reaction to what was becoming a controversial and outspoken career but also because it was an album difficult to program to radio’s tight formats. (The songs featured big-band arrangements and, alternately a quiet, sophistication also at odds with public preferences at the time.) That said, the album has quite a bit to recommend of it. “Success Has Made A Failure of Our Home” is heart gripping. “I Want To Be Loved By You” could have come across as ironic considering O’Connor’s refusal to play by the traditional rules of femininity. But where her public persona and approach is often brash and uncompromising, her strengths as a singer are based primarily on her ability to be empathetic and vulnerable.