A stirring defense of
Sinéad O’Connor’s music and activism, and an indictment of the
culture that cancelled her.
In
1990, Sinéad O’Connor’s video for “Nothing Compares 2 U”
turned her into a superstar. Two years later, an appearance on
Saturday Night Live turned her into a scandal. For many
people—including, for years, the author—what they knew of
O’Connor stopped there. Allyson McCabe believes it’s time to
reassess our old judgments about Sinéad O’Connor and to expose the
machinery that built her up and knocked her down.
Addressing
triumph and struggle, sound and story, Why Sinéad O’Connor
Matters argues that its subject has been repeatedly manipulated
and misunderstood by a culture that is often hostile to women who
speak their minds (in O’Connor’s case, by shaving her head,
championing rappers, and tearing up a picture of the pope on live
television). McCabe details O’Connor’s childhood abuse, her
initial success, and the backlash against her radical politics
without shying away from the difficult issues her career raises. She
compares O’Connor to Madonna, another superstar who challenged the
Catholic Church, and Prince, who wrote her biggest hit and allegedly
assaulted her. A journalist herself, McCabe exposes how the media
distorts not only how we see O’Connor but how we see ourselves, and
she weighs the risks of telling a story that hits close to home.
In
an era when popular understanding of mental health has improved and
the public eagerly celebrates feminist struggles of the past, it can
be easy to forget how O’Connor suffered for being herself. This is
the book her admirers and defenders have been waiting for.