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"Sinead O\u2019Connor and Lil\u2019 Kim might not seem to have much in common, other than a flair for offending churchgoers. Which neither of them has done in awhile; one of the more recent things they share is a certain downward career trajectory. (You need to be simulating exorcisms on the Grammys to turn the Catholic League\u2019s head \u2014 more on Nicki Minaj later.) But both of them built those careers by defying expectations and using the full force of their often idiosyncratic personalities. And this week, they\u2019ve both hinted at comebacks. Lil\u2019 Kim very modestly, with the release of a new, Valentine\u2019s Day-themed song, \u201CIf You Love Me\u201D; and O\u2019Connor, boldly, with an NPR stream of her brilliant, gorgeous new album, \u201CHow About I Be Me (And You Be You)?\u201DIn her spot-on write-up of \u201CHow About I Be Me (And You Be You)?\u201D (out next week), Ann Powers borrows some academic thinking to help explain O\u2019Connor\u2019s special power:Here's a term that might not seem too musical:  immediacy behavior.  Educators use it to describe the way a teacher acts to gain the trust of his or her students. Open body language, an engaging way of speaking, a warm, direct gaze \u2014 these cues, as much as any words uttered, forge the connection that makes learning possible. Immediacy behavior is crucial to making great pop music, too. Artists rely on it to get their points across. For some, it's an occasional stance, taken when the spotlight narrows and the spectacle falls away, as when Lady Gaga performs at her piano. Others make it the center of their creative process. It doesn't matter whether they're genuinely confessional or just good at weaving a story. We trust what they tell us \u2026 Immediacy behavior is Sinead O'Connor's m\u00E9tier.Here we see O\u2019Connor and Lil\u2019 Kim in relief. Kim\u2019s never been about warmth. If we had to name her m\u00E9tier, it would be standoffish sexuality \u2014 she is direct and in some ways (absurdly) intimate, but you never anticipate her full embrace. We\u2019re thinking in particular of a song like \u201CNot Tonight,\u201D where she remembers \u201CJimmy, [who would] lay me on my back, bustin\u2019 nuts all in me,\u201D all as a way of setting up the chorus: \u201CI don\u2019t want dick tonight/Eat my pussy right.\u201D That\u2019s a rather literal example, but you get the idea.Kim\u2019s new song takes a softer tack, although the \u201Cif\u201D in the title is a big one: The man to whom she\u2019s offering her Valentine \u2014 and indeed, her dreams, of a family and a \u201Chouse on a hill\u201D \u2014 won\u2019t say he loves her in front of anyone else. But what makes this track isn\u2019t the conflict \u2014 that\u2019s merely of a piece with Kim\u2019s, you know, m\u00E9tier \u2014 or her rapping, which is muted, even half-hearted. The song is slick and compact, appealing in a \u201CDrive\u201D soundtrack sort of way, and while the rhymes may be lackluster, the whole package speaks of ease, even confidence. It helps \u2014 a lot \u2014 that she\u2019s not attacking Nicki Minaj, whose new song, \u201CStarships\u201D (also released on Valentine\u2019s Day), sounds almost desperately pop. (It changed our brain chemistry after the second listen, and now we love it.)If Lil\u2019 Kim has shown a little savvy, Sinead O\u2019Connor is fully in herself, and the moment. So much so that a song like \u201C4th and Vine,\u201D a wedding ditty, seems to dare the future to go pear-shaped: \u201CI\u2019m gonna marry my love, and we\u2019ll be happy for all time \u2026 we\u2019re gonna have six children, and enough love for them,\u201D she sings, effervescent world music cresting around her. If this is her way of positioning herself to once again offend those churchgoers, it\u2019s one hell of a feint. (Although as Powers tells us, \u201CTake Off Your Shoes\u201D is a sort of message to the Vatican.) But make of it what you will \u2014 honestly, stream the album now if you aren\u2019t already.[content:shareblock]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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