SonicNet
      June 9, 2000

      Sinead O'Connor Reaches Out To Mainstream On New LP

      Singer assembles all-star team of producers, co-writers for Faith and 
      Courage. 

      Staff Writer Brian Hiatt reports: 
      NEW YORK  - With her shaved head, spiritual lyrics and history of 
      provocative political statements, Sinead O'Connor doesn't exactly fit in 
      among today's belly-baring crop of pop stars, but she nonetheless decided 
      to reach out to a mainstream audience on her new album, Faith and Courage.
      "The people I was working with, the producers and musicians [and] my 
      record company ... encouraged me to do something I am good at, which is 
      write pop songs which are not about what pop songs are normally about," 
      O'Connor said on Tuesday in a roundtable press conference held at Atlantic 
      Records' offices. 
            
      O'Connor assembled an all-star group of producers and co-writers for the 
      album, due June 13. The team included Fugees member Wyclef Jean, R&B 
      producer Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Eurythmics keyboardist Dave Stewart 
      and members of defunct rock band Ednaswap, who wrote the Natalie Imbruglia 
      hit "Torn" (RealAudio excerpt).
      "Wyclef and She'kspere and Dave Stewart were very mischievous characters, 
      so they were great in terms of pulling out that side of me on this record 
      there's more of a poppy, light-hearted kind of thing," O'Connor said.
      Ednaswap's Scott Cutler and Anne Preven, meanwhile, helped O'Connor write 
      the album's first single, "No Man's Woman" (RealAudio excerpt), a melodic 
      anthem driven by a hip-hop beat.
      "I never wanna be no man's woman/ I only wanna be my own woman," O'Connor 
      sings on the track.
      Despite such lyrics, the song is not intended to be anti-male, O'Connor 
      said. " 'No Man's Woman' is a song that has to be looked at carefully. ... 
      [It's about] a woman talking about being very much in love with the spirit 
      of man ... but who desires to have a more spiritual relationship with men, 
      not a sexual relationship."
      O'Connor reveals that she is a lesbian in an upcoming cover story in the 
      magazine Curve, according to a statement released by the publication.
      'In A Prove-Yourself Mode'
      "No Man's Woman," which is at #15 on industry magazine Radio & Records' 
      Adult Alternative airplay chart, has the potential to cross over to pop 
      radio, though it's no sure thing, according to Matthew Reid, music 
      director of the San Francisco pop station KZQZ-FM.
      "We're not playing it, [even though] it's a good song," Reid said. "She's 
      in a prove-yourself mode, If the record jumped out [at other formats] as 
      a clear-cut smash, people will play it."
      O'Connor hasn't had a major pop hit since her breakthrough cover of 
      Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" (RealAudio excerpt), from her second 
      album, 1990's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.
      The Irish singer/songwriter, who recently was ordained as a priest by a 
      breakaway Roman Catholic sect, declined to discuss how her new status 
      affects her life or her songwriting, saying that she didn't want to make 
      her ordination seem like a publicity stunt.
      In a pink shirt and loose-fitting jacket, O'Connor looked younger than her 
      33 years. She maintained a confident tone throughout the roundtable, 
      politely disputing the premise of most of the questions she was asked.
      She did acknowledge that her new album was infused with spirituality. On 
      the track "The Lamb's Book of Life," O'Connor sings of "a feeling that 
      everything in the world would be OK/ If people just believed enough in God 
      to pray."
      The same track includes what appears to be an apology for such acts as 
      tearing up a photo of the pope during a 1992 "Saturday Night Live" 
      appearance on NBC-TV.
      "I know that I have done many things/ To give you reason not to listen to 
      me," she sings. "Words can't express how sorry I am/ If I ever caused pain 
      to anybody."
      Singer Laments Misunderstandings
      But O'Connor said that her only regret was that some of her actions had 
      been misunderstood. "I'm not sorry I did things, but I am sorry if those 
      things hurt other people. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."
      The singer provides what may be a more revealing explanation of her 
      actions and their motivation on the guitar-driven, autobiographical "Daddy 
      I'm Fine" (RealAudio excerpt), which was co-written by Stewart.
      "I'm going away to London/ I got myself a big fat plan/ Gonna be a singer 
      in a rock 'n' roll band/ And I'm gonna change everything I can," she 
      sings.
      Given the album's pop-friendly direction, O'Connor could wind up with a 
      comeback hit on her hands, said Rob Sturma, a manager at a Los Angeles 
      Wherehouse Records store.
      "No one expected Santana to ever become the pop icon he became, so if the 
      album is put together in a similar way with a number of younger, savvy 
      producers working with her, you never know what might happen," he said.