In the middle of a media blitz around her new memoir, Rememberings, Sinead O’Connor announced her retirement in a series of tweets. “I’ve gotten older and I’m tired,” the eminently quotable singer wrote. “So it’s time for me to hang up my nipple tassels, having truly given my all.”
This is to announce my retirement from touring and from working in the record business. I’ve gotten older and I’m tired. So it’s time for me to hang up my nipple tassels, having truly given my all. NVDA in 2022 will be my last release. And there’ll be no more touring or promo.
— Sinead O’Connor (Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) June 4, 2021
She added, “Apologies if any upset caused to booking agents or promoters or managers due to my tweeting about my retirement. I guess the book made me realise I’m my own boss. I didn’t wanna wait for permission from the men, as to when I could announce it. Also, I’d had a few whiskeys : ).”
O’Connor said that her forthcoming album, No Veteran Dies Alone, will be her last. She will perform the remainder of her rescheduled tour dates but said there won’t be any events to promote the next album. “It’s not sad news. It’s staggeringly beautiful news,” O’Connor continued. “A wise warrior knows when he or she should retreat … It’s been a forty-year journey. Time to put the feet up and make other dreams come true ; ).”
As O’Connor prepares to exit the industry, her musical contributions and legacy are getting a well-deserved reckoning. After releasing two landmark albums in the 1980s — plus the iconic, tear-strew “Nothing Compares 2 U” music video — O’Connor had a defining pop culture moment when she tore a picture of Pope John Paul II during her Saturday Night Live performance in 1992. The singer said it was an act of protest against the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church.