It’s not every songwriter who can write matter-of-factly about their personal problems and spin it into addictive pop music. Sinead O’Connor pulled that off in spades on her breakthrough album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, with no better example than her hit ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’

The first line is a beauty: “It seems years since you held the baby while I wrecked the bedroom.” Such an evocative image, and it feels so real. And these lines, from the chorus, feel less like lyrics and more like something from an apology letter: “If I treated you mean, I really didn’t mean to. But you know how it is and how a pregnancy can change you.”

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