Prince's Estate Denies Sinead O'Connor Doco Use of 'Nothing Compares 2 U'

The estate of late music superstar Prince has denied a request by the producers of a new Sinead O'Connor to use Nothing Compares 2 U. 

O'Connor had an enormous hit with a cover of the song in 1990, with her rendition charting at #1 in 19 countries. Despite this and the fact that the documentary in question, Nothing Compares, is partially named after the song, O'Connor's rendition of the song doesn't appear in the documentary, due to being denied the rights to the song by Prince's Estate. 

Speaking to Billboard via a statement, Prince's half-sister Sharon Nelson detailed why the Prince Estate denied use of the song. 

“Nothing compares to Prince’s live version with Rosie Gaines that is featured on the Hits 1 album and we are re-releasing that album on vinyl on November 4th,” Nelson said in a statement. “I didn’t feel [Sinéad] deserved to use the song my brother wrote in her documentary so we declined. His version is the best.”

Nothing Compares instead uses an instrumental version of the song, which plays under interview footage of O'Connor speaking about her interpretation of the song. 

The feature-length documentary Nothing Compares was directed by Kathryn Ferguson and focuses on the Irish musician's rapid rise to fame and equally rapid disappearance from the public eye, putting O'Connor's fascinating story and most importantly, her truth, on display for all to see. 

The film examines not just the music of O'Connor, but her role as a genuine political and feminist icon. A synopsis on the Melbourne International Film Festival website read

"Exploding into global superstardom and imploding back into near-obscurity within just a few years, Ireland’s most controversial pop icon should have been the voice of her generation. The outspoken passion that saw her immolated in the public imagination in the early 90s is far more accepted – expected, even – from women in the spotlight today, and with Nothing Compares, director Kathryn Ferguson offers a compelling case for O’Connor as a guiding light for the current generation."

"Primarily focusing on O’Connor’s volcanic rise following the release of The Lion and the Cobra in 1987 until her ignoble exile after that incident with the photo of the pope on SNL in 1992, Ferguson’s film unfurls via intimate and incendiary archival footage, with commentary from a reflective but unrepentant present-day O’Connor and insights offered by peers including Kathleen Hanna, Peaches and Public Enemy’s Chuck D. Significantly, it also delves into O’Connor’s troubled home life and adolescent experiences at one of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene laundries, both shaped by the same Church abuse that informed O’Connor’s defiant, and prescient, career-killing act. Nothing Compares is a generous portrait of the artist as a young woman and provocative pop martyr."

Speaking about Nothing Compares to The Guardian, Ferguson reveals part of the inspiration for making the movie was to reframe the perception of O'Connor and view her music and her message through the lens of modernity. 

"It wasn’t cool, on-trend activism." "A lot of it was very unpalatable. The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church? Jeez, Louise, it’s not something people wanted or were ready, to hear.” "I’ve always been interested in revisionist female histories, so many women are reduced to footnotes in history or seen through the ‘tragic heroine’ lens. I couldn’t bear that for Sinéad. In Ireland, the tide has been turning, but until the last maybe seven years, she was as ridiculed there as she was everywhere else.” 

Nothing Compares was released on Friday in the USA via Showtime. A local streaming deal is yet to be announced, however, the film did play at the Melbourne International Film Festival to rave reviews.