Famous American show Saturday Night Live saw itself celebrating its 50th anniversary over the weekend with a star-studded cast, familiar faces graced the screens such as Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Sabrina Carpenter, Tina Fey, Andy Samberg and more. The musical guests offered different performances and covers. One that came out of the lot was Miley Cyrus and Alabama Shake’s Brittany Howard’s cover of Sinéad O’Connors’ ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’.
The track, originally written by Prince in 1985, was made famous by the Irish singer when she recorded it for her second studio album ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’ in 1990. 2 years later, whilst fans were expecting the song to be performed by O’Connor on SNL, the singer famously staged a protest against the Catholic Church where she performed Bob Marley’s 1976 track ‘War’ a cappella. She then held up a picture of Pope John Paul II that she ripped into pieces as she declared “Fight the real enemy”. She later on shared that the protest act was a move to call out sexual abuse happening in the Catholic Church. Neither Miley nor Brittany referenced the event at the celebration.
The Irish singer-songwriter converted to Islam in 2018. In her memoir Rememberings released in 2021, she shares: “I’ve done only one holy thing in my life and that was sing. The Koran is like a song” and God “an incredible songwriter. The language and intelligence of the call to prayer led me to listen to the Koran. The language and intelligence of the call to prayer led me to listen to the Koran”. She was well-known for her ever-present openness in activism and socio-cultural issues, throughout her career, she used her platform to draw awareness to HIV/AIDs, campaigned on pro-choice issues and abortion rights, and showed her support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Remembering the moment that would make history, record label executive Daniel Glass said: “when she did War, and she ripped the picture of the pope. I will never forget it. Everybody froze at SNL. The music producer Liz Welch went from jubilation to tears. No one stopped it, no one knew what to do. We walked back to the artist’s dressing room. I don’t think she knew what she just had just done. The magnitude of it. She was in a room by herself which was kind of sad and lonely, because it was a heavy moment in history.”
Cyrus and Howard belted the song whilst letting their voice melt into one another as the Alabama Shake front woman added soulfulness to the tune with her guitar riffs and the Tennessee born singer added some of her well-known rasp to the tune. The artists choice of song was a sweet nod to the notorious performance that got Sinéad O’Connor banned from the show.
Cyrus moved on to sing her famous hit ‘Flowers’ from her 2023 album ‘Endless Summer Vacation’ and a rendition of Queen’s song ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’.
You can catch all the skits and performances over at the official SNL YouTube Channel.
