Sinéad O’Connor’s open letter to a young Miley Cyrus is resurfacing after the acclaimed “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer died on Wednesday. She was 56.
A decade ago Cyrus released the music video for her hit single “Wrecking Ball,” crediting O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” music video for inspiring some of the artistic choices.
O’Connor caught wind of Cyrus’ comments and, after watching the “Wrecking Ball” video — which (unlike O’Connor’s video) features a nude Cyrus swinging on a wrecking ball and licking a sledgehammer — and penned an impassioned open letter.
It opened with a disclaimer that what she wrote was in the “spirit of motherliness and with love,” but she followed with a impassioned pleas for Cyrus not to “prostitute” herself.
Cyrus responded to the letter by tweeting mental health jabs at the Irish singer, and a screenshot from O’Connor’s “Saturday Night Live” performance when she tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II.
Cyrus and O’Connor continued a back-and-forth public feud but ultimately the vitriol seemed to settle by April 2022, when Cyrus released the album “Attention: Miley Live,” which featured a “Wrecking Ball X Nothing Compares 2 U” mashup.
Sinéad O’Connor’s letter warning Miley Cyrus that nudity would obscure her talent goes viral. Sinéad O’Connor’s letter warning Miley Cyrus that nudity would obscure her talent goes viral