Songfacts®:

• Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor closes her ninth full-length album, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, with this song which chides certain Irish rock stars who court the Vatican. The singer told Spin magazine that "V.I.P." was inspired by conversations that she'd had with Bono and Bob Geldof and isn't just about the U2 singer, who once famously had his picture taken with the Pope. Instead, O'Connor explained, "It's about artists, generally," adding, "It's just asking a series of questions about, you know, where are we at? Shaking tits and ass is important. But it used to be that artists had other roles as well as entertainers — we stood for things and we expressed things on behalf of people who had a hard time expressing them. In the '80s and the '90s, we all gave a s--t, and we put our careers on the line for s--t. But it's all about fame and fortune now."