How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?
By Jason Webber
With the release of the wonderfully raw and confessional album How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, Sinéad O’Connor proves that tearing up a picture of the Pope back in ’90 was just a small sample of her chutzpah. It’s impossible to imagine anyone besides O’Connor who can sing lyrics like “I hope you know that all I want from you is sex/To be with someone who looks smashing in athleticwear,” with a straight face and somehow make them poignant and heartfelt (actually, on second thought, Liz Phair probably could too. But anyway…) On her first album since 2007’s bland Theology, O’Connor has reignited the inner flames that made albums like The Lion and the Cobra and Universal Mother such feminist classics. There’s a lot to love on this musically solid, 10-track album, including the buoyant opening track “4th and Vine,” about Sinéad’s then impending marriage and “Reason With Me,” a harrowing, eerily realistic chronicle of a junkie’s struggle to get clean. When she’s fired up and angry, there’s no musical force that can rival Sinéad O’Connor and How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? proves this theory. Welcome back, Sinéad. Thanks for kicking so much ass.
