Miley Cyrus teamed up with Brittany Howard to cover “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the Prince-written hit made famous by Sinéad O’Connor, on Sunday night’s (Feb. 16) SNL50: The Anniversary Special.
Cyrus and Howard belted the song, with the Alabama Shakes frontwoman offering some extra soulfulness on the guitar for the powerful cover. O’Connor famously brought her tender-but-strong vocal to the breakup ballad, and Cyrus added some rasp to the well-known melody.
While O’Connor was a two-time musical guest on SNL, the late Irish singer never performed her biggest hit on the sketch comedy show; “Nothing Compares 2 U” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990. O’Connor performed on SNL in 1992, when she covered Bob Marley’s song “War” a cappella and held up a photo of then-Pope John Paul II at the end and tore it in half after singing altered lyrics about child abuse. She announced, “Fight the real enemy!,” as she tore the picture. The performance faced backlash in the moment, and O’Connor never performed on the show again before her death in 2023.
Cyrus and Howard’s choice of song was likely a nod to O’Connor’s notorious-but-since-vindicated performance on the 50-year-old show.
Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon opened the SNL50 special Sunday night with a duet of “Homeward Bound.” That song reached No. 5 on the Hot 100 in 1966, when it was originally recorded by Simon & Garfunkel and released on the duo’s Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album — and Simon also once sang it with George Harrison on an episode of SNL.
SNL50: The Anniversary Special is airing Sunday night, following Friday’s SNL50: The Homecoming Concert on Friday night.
