American toy brand and media franchise Bratz has unveiled its latest doll, Sinéad O’Connor, to celebrate the Irish singer’s legacy during Women’s History Month. Sinéad O’Connor passed away last July, aged 56.
The Bratz doll shows O’Connor sporting her signature buzzcut. She wears a t-shirt that reads “Jesus Is Coming,” flare jeans, high-heeled boots, and black sunglasses. She also holds a handbag with a rosary beads strap. You can check out the doll below.
Bratz described O’Connor as an “Irish singer, songwriter, and activist with a passion for 90z grunge fashion”, calling her buzzcut hairstyle “scorchin’” and praised her success in music.
“Welcome back, Bratz Pack! Women’s Month continues with Sinéad O’Connor, an Irish singer, songwriter, and activist with a passion for 90z grunge fashion,” the caption for the new doll reads.
The statement continues, “O’Connor, who passed away in 2023, first debuted her scorchin’ buzzcut in 1987 when she was just 20 years old — two years after she signed her record deal. Her debut studio album, ‘The Lion and the Cobra’, was released in 1987 and achieved international chart success!!
“Sinéad’s 1990 album, ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’, was her biggest commercial success, selling over seven million copies worldwide. Its lead single, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, was honoured as the top world single of the year at the Billboard Music Awards alongside her iconic 90s grunge looks!”
Of course, the doll has been met with mixed feedback, with some fans on Instagram calling it “iconic” and “literally everything”. “Ahhh an Irish Bratz doll,” another fan wrote, and “who better than Sinèad herself?”
Meanwhile, another fan had an idea to improve the doll: “Bratz please make a post of Bratz Sinead ripping up a picture of the pope”. A “fellow bald lady” wrote that she “love[s] this so much”.
Other fans weren’t so happy, calling the advertising campaign for the Bratz doll “deranged” and “insidious”, with another person writing that O’Connor wouldn’t be happy with the doll.
“Wow she would not be happy about this,” one fan wrote, while another exclaimed, “This is so exploitative and against everything Sinéad stood for!”
“This is so insidious and I can’t stop thinking about it,” another added; another wrote, “This is deranged”. Two other fans said less but still voiced their disapproval, writing, “Ummmm” and “Hm…. no.”
Sinéad O’Connor released ten studio albums throughout her musical career, with her final record, I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss, released in August 2014.
Last September, the BBC series The Woman In The Wall aired a previously unreleased song by O’Connor.
