Since tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live some 20 years ago, Sinead O’Connor has been known as much for her divisive outspokenness as for the music she has made. Indeed, when last year’s spat with Miley Cyrus made headlines, few members of the general public probably realized the Irish singer was still making records. Of course, it doesn’t help that the seven albums she has made since I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got and its cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” propelled her into international stardom haven’t lived up to the singer’s promise. (Forays into jazz standards, traditional Irish music, and reggae also don’t do much for a career in pop music.)

But with the spotlight glow not having fully diminished, there is perhaps no better time for O’Connor to release what is most likely her finest—and surely her most “poppy”—collection of songs since her heyday, I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss (Nettwerk Records). Though the record leads off with the throwaway “How About I Be Me,” a mix of obvious lyrics and multi-tracked vocals that doesn’t play to Sinead’s strengths, it finds its footing soon enough. “Dense Water Deeper Down” combines a Stonesy vibe with horn accents while O’Connor sings at the higher end of her range to good effect. It is the softer hued “Your Green Jacket,” though, that is the highlight here. Sinead evokes a sense of longing and half-dreamt remembrances over a chiming guitar line and washes of synth, showing that she’s still capable of subtlety. Perhaps it is on that song or the more ethereal “The Vishnu Room” that Brian Eno, who is credited with playing keys nonspecifically in the liner notes, contributes. Whatever the case, on such cuts and the powerfully sparse closer, “Streetcars,” O’Connor reveals her voice to be as powerful as it was in her prime—and that is both literally and figuratively. Though O’Connor claims to rarely write from personal experience anymore, she hasn’t so sounded so true to herself in years. As LL Cool J once said, don’t call it a comeback, as she’s been here for years, but I’m Not Bossy is a decisive return to form.