"The Emperor's New Clothes" is a song written and recorded by Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor for her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990). The song was released as the album's second single on 5 June 1990 by Ensign and Chrysalis Records and reached number three in Canada, number five in Ireland, and the top 20 in Australia, Italy and Switzerland. Composition Lyrically, the song is about personal tribulations amid the oppression of the world around her, while she sings: "I will live by my own policies/I will sleep with a clear conscience". Critical reception Jodi Cleesattle from American Eagle felt that "The Emperor's New Clothes" is "the album's closest thing to a typical rock song", and "an up-front autobiographical song with even, somewhat gritty vocals and strong backing on both electric and acoustic guitars." Bill Coleman from Billboard described it as a "jangly", "clever, guitar-laced rocker [which] is a fine choice as a follow-up". He also stated that it "should confirm O'Connor's status as a viable pop radio star." Tom Moon from Knight-Ridder declared it as a "show-stopping moment" and a "bitter what-I-learned-on-the-road song". Simon Reynolds from Melody Maker felt that "this shrill statement of independence (so radically minimalist it doesn't have a tune)", "could be directed either at a male lover ot at a public that keeps foisting their expectations on her slight shoulders." Pan-European magazine Music & Media viewed it as "hard-hitting pop". David Giles from Music Week remarked that it's "a rockier track", more like "Mandinka" than "Nothing Compares 2 U", "though without any of the former's quirkiness." William Shaw from Smash Hits stated that "this is the most confessional record ever", describing it as "goose-pimplingly honest". Retrospective response In an 2020 retrospective review, Matthew Hocter from Albumism said that the song "shows a conviction that is part anger and part middle finger to the never-ending judgement the singer faced at the time with her star sky rocketing, scrutiny around her Catholic faith, and her role as a newly single mother." AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine described it as one of several "moments of brilliance" in his review of the compilation album So Far... The Best Of. In 1998, David Quantick from NME wrote that it is a song "very heavy on specifics and is full of not very obscure lines like. "He thinks I just became famous and that's what