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Song of the Day #5,507: ‘John I Love You’ – Sinéad O’Connor

Sinéad O’Connor’s fourth studio album came on the heels of her disappointing third effort and the firestorm of controversy surrounding her pope-bashing Saturday Night Live appearance. And while 1994’s Universal Mother didn’t do well enough commercially to make it a proper comeback, it was certainly an artistic triumph.

A subdued and intimate collection of mostly piano-based ballads, Universal Mother was O’Connor’s most personal album to date. As she told the music magazine Mojo, the album “was the first attempt to try to expose what was really underneath a lot of the anger of the other records.”

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Song of the Day #5,506: ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” – Sinéad O’Connor

Two years after the massive success of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, Sinéad O’Connor blew up her career in spectacular fashion.

Critics and audiences were perplexed by her third album, 1992’s Am I Not Your Girl?, a collection of cover versions of standards. This is the sort of album artists usually put out deep into their careers, often to satisfy a contractual obligation. It’s certainly not what you expect from the follow-up to a ground-breaking and star-making release.

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Song of the Day #5,505: ‘You Cause as Much Sorrow’ – Sinéad O’Connor

Three years after her debut, Sinéad O’Connor was catapulted to a level of success she never expected or wanted. Her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, went multi-platinum on the strength of hit single ‘Nothing Compares 2 U.’

That song, a cover of a Prince tune written for his side project The Family, spent four weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and made O’Connor a household name. Her gorgeous rendition, accompanied by an inescapable video depicting her beautiful, crying face against a black background, was the top song in the world through the winter of 1990.

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Song of the Day #5,504: ‘Drink Before the War’ – Sinéad O’Connor

Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor passed away last week, ending a chaotic, troubled life and robbing us of one of popular music’s most distinctive and beautiful voices.

I’ve given O’Connor a decent amount of coverage on the blog in the past, but now is a sadly appropriate time to give her a proper deep dive, featuring songs from each of her 10 studio albums. Consider the next two weeks my tribute to a unique and special talent we lost way too soon.

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Song of the Day #5,503: ‘Treasure’ – Bruno Mars

I’m developing a theory that the Hot 100 over the last two decades has been a lot more stagnant than in previous years. In other words, fewer songs are spending a longer amount of time in the upper echelons of the chart.

I’m basing this admittedly half-baked idea on the fact that the 2013 edition of Throwback Thursdays has produced the most repeats by far. Just take a look at the chart on the week of July 27, 2013.

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