Music Video Analysis: Sinéad O'Connor's - "Nothing Compares 2U"

Music Video Analysis:
Sinéad O'Connor's - "Nothing Compares 2U"

The song "Nothing Compares 2U" was written by the artist Prince for a side project of his called "The Family". The track was then later made famous by the Isrish singer Sinéad O'Connor.

The first opening shot is a long shot of a pathway, with the lead singer - Sinéad O'Connor in the distance which cuts into a fade of a well/pond soon afterwards. The long shot could represent a troublesome journey Sinéad has to take within her music video, this shot is also in-relation to the opening lyrics:

"It's been seven hours and fifteen days,

Since you took your love away,"

The opening lyrics assumedly establish that this song is about a heart-broken harrowing tale of love and the loss over it. The genre of the track, alternative pop, is portrayed much slower and more meaningful than other pop songs. For example, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" - this track also has an emotional meanings attached to the lyrics, but the drumbeat throughout the track and quick edits of cuts between clips take away the emotional aspect of Adele's music video and transforms it into something else - a track which could be danced to in a lively manner.

The opening shot can represent how Sinéad is by herself, in the wilderness all alone and unloved by the wild, cold chilly surroundings within the mise-en-scene as she is seen alone, with no one around her for comfort.

The shot then cuts to a fade-in of an empty pond, this could be an intertextual reference to the Greek myth of Νάρκισσος (Narcissus), who looked into his own reflection and fell in-love with himself not realizing it was only an image of his own reflection. Due to not being able to leave his own reflection, Νάρκισσος eventually fell towards it drowning himself by his own beauty -  "Nothing compares to you".

"to you"

The close up of Sinéad's face between 1:15 to 1:20 has an emotional and meaningful relationship with the audience consuming the music video. Between 1:15 and 1:20 is the main lyric(s) of the chorus: "Nothing compares to you".  Sinéad expresses the lyrics by making the audience relate to her story, as in each and every chorus, as soon as she sings the lyric "you", it's as if she is connecting with the viewer - the viewer is the one who she is singing about, she's singing to you and not for you as a way of entertainment and pleasure to listen to.

The camera then cuts to an autumn setting with leafs falling onto the ground with Sinéad fading out to around a 50% opacity within the mise-en-scene to still remain visible to the viewer. The leafs falling to the ground could represent how at this point the music video changes emotionally and in musical pitch as the track is approaching the first half of the middle section within the song where Sinéad starts to "yell-out" towards the viewer, expressing her emotions more frequently by looking into the eyes of the consumer.

The falling lefts could also represent how what was, has now been lost. Leafs falling from trees are dying and will be replaced during the Summer due to the cold bitterness of the approaching winter season - a cold and chilling season, one which some may not like to spend alone.

to be continued.

NOTES:

Intertextual reference - QUEEN - Bohemian Rhapsody