Morgan Meis at Slant Books:
I always thought that the song Troy by Sinéad O’Connor was a song about romantic love. But she explained, some years ago, that the song is really about her mother. Sinéad did not like her mother, who died in a car crash when Sinéad was eighteen and who she described as extremely physically and mentally abusive. I’m going to continue to refer to Sinéad O’Connor as simply Sinéad, by the way, since I feel that intimately about her and since she will always be Sinéad to me.
As most people know, Sinéad died this past July. I’m assuming that this was suicide, though I guess this has not been confirmed. She had certainly attempted suicide many times and was never in anything that could be described as good mental health. I don’t know what to say about any of this or about what the song Troy was actually trying to communicate, in her mind.
I simply know that this extremely complex person who was often in a high degree of pain and distress created some extremely beautiful and powerful music.
More here.