Unreleased Sinéad O’Connor Song Debuts in BBC Show Months After Her Death: 'She Would Have Been Proud'

'The Magdalene Song' by the Irish singer, who died on July 26 at 56, was used in the psychological thriller 'The Woman in the Wall'

Two months after her death at the age of 56, Sinéad O’Connor’s unreleased track “The Magdalene Song” premiered during the series finale of the BBC psychological thriller The Woman in the Wall Sunday.

The Ruth Wilson-starring series, created by Joe Murtagh, tells the story of a woman dealing with the trauma that was inflicted upon her during her time spent as a ward of Ireland’s controversial Magdalene laundries, a home for unmarried, pregnant women and sex workers that was run by nuns. The series will debut in the U.S. on Paramount+ with Showtime on Nov. 1.

“The first half of the track is completely heartbreaking, and the second half is pure defiance," Northern Irish musician and composer David Holmes, who scored the series and who also produced O'Connor's music in recent years, told The Guardian before the finale aired.

“I stripped the song away to just Sinéad’s voice and then let the full power come in for the second half," Holmes continued. "It’s incredible how the meaning of the song came together with this story. It was just meant to be. There’s a certain magic when you bring music to an emotive story.”

According to Holmes, O'Connor gave the production her permission to use the track before filming had begun.

“Sinéad sanctioned the track for use before they had even started shooting, and when the producers heard it they were amazed to have something so strong,” recalled Holmes, who noted that the producers felt the track would be most fitting during the series' final moments. “We all felt the only place this can go is at the end.”

“In the lyrics Sinéad was trying to say, I think, that though she’d been through great turmoil, it would not stop her being who she wanted to be,” Holmes continued. “She never really spoke about the meaning of her songs. She used to joke that she would often tell people that her songs were about something completely different to what they were about. But this one – well, it’s called ‘The Magdalene Song.’ ”

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At age 15, O'Connor's history of teenage truancy and shoplifting resulted in her being sent to a Magdalene asylum in Dublin for “unruly” women for 18 months. Rules were strictly enforced, and she was forced to sleep at a nursing home next door for minor infractions.

“I will never experience such panic and terror and agony over anything like I did at that place,” she told SPIN in 1990.

Holmes claimed that prior to her death on July 26, he and O'Connor had been working on her 11th studio album. While making the record, The Woman in the Wall producer Susan Breen told him she was an O’Connor fan. This exchange prompted him to call the singer.

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“I told Sinéad the script was not like anything else anyone has done on the subject, and it had Ruth Wilson, one of the finest actors in the world.” Holmes told The Guardian. “Sinéad said: ‘I believe you. Give them ‘The Magdalene Song.’"

Holmes admitted his "big regret" is that the "Nothing Compares 2 U" singer never got to see the end results of The Woman in the Wall.

“She would have been proud," he told the publication. "Some people have criticized the black humor in the script, but growing up in Belfast I’ve seen the dark humor that people use to get through.”

“It’s crazy that the last laundry only closed in the 90s,” Holmes added. “Those girls were being tortured. I’ve never been able to get my head around the collective evil of those nuns.”

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