Believe (Cher song)
"Believe" is a song by American singer Cher from her 22nd studio album, Believe (1998). It was released as the album's lead single on October 19, 1998, by Warner Bros. Records. After circulating for months, a demo written by Brian Higgins, Matthew Gray, Stuart McLennen and Timothy Powell, was submitted to Warner's chairman Rob Dickins, while he was scouting for songs to include on Cher's new album. Aside from the chorus, Dickins was not impressed by the track so he enlisted two more writers, Steve Torch and Paul Barry in order to complete it. Cher also later did some adjustments herself to the lyrics but did not get a songwriting credit. Recording took place at Dreamhouse Studio in West London, while production was handled by Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling.
"Life After Love" redirects here. For other uses, see Life After Love (disambiguation)."Believe"
October 19, 1998
1998
Dreamhouse (West London)
3:59
- Brian Higgins
- Stuart McLennen
- Paul Barry
- Steven Torch
- Matthew Gray
- Timothy Powell
- Cher (uncredited)
"Believe" is an upbeat dance-pop and electropop song and represents a complete musical departure from Cher's previous efforts. It featured a pioneering use of the audio processing software Auto-Tune to distort the singer's vocals, which was widely imitated and became known as the "Cher effect". The song's lyrics describe empowerment and self-sufficiency after a painful breakup. "Believe" has been met with appreciation ever since its release; music critics have praised, in particular, its production and catchiness, with some having deemed it a highlight from the album. The song has been listed as one of Cher's most important releases. At the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards the song was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Dance Recording, winning the latter.
"Believe" was a commercial success worldwide, topping the record charts in over 23 countries and selling over 11 million copies; it is Cher's most successful single to date, and one of the best-selling singles in music history. "Believe" was the biggest-selling song of 1998 in the United Kingdom, and remains the highest-selling single by a solo female artist. In the United States, it was Cher's fifth number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it topped the Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1999. The accompanying music video (directed by Nigel Dick) was nominated for Best Dance Video at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.
Cher has performed the song on many occasions, including the 1999 Brit Awards, the Sanremo Music Festival, as well as on several talk shows and variety programs (in America and abroad). It has since become a fan favorite, and a staple in the setlist of her concert tours. "Believe" has been covered by numerous artists, and it's also been sung or referenced in several feature films and scripted TV shows. Scholars and academics noted the way in which Cher was able to re-invent herself, and yet stay true to her image, while still being able to release music that was fresh and contemporary amidst the more “teen pop”-based music of the period. They also credited the song for restoring Cher's social popularity and further cementing her position as a pop culture icon. "Believe" earned Cher a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, and Rolling Stone listed it among the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Writing[edit]
A demo of "Believe", written by Brian Higgins, Matthew Gray, Stuart McLennen and Timothy Powell, circulated at Warner Records for months. According to producer Mark Taylor, "everyone loved the chorus but not the rest of the song".[1] Warner chairman Rob Dickins asked the production house Dreamhouse to work on it; their goal was to make a dance record that would not alienate Cher fans.[1] Two more writers, Steve Torch and Paul Barry, joined and completed a version that Dickins and Cher were happy with."[1]
Though she is not credited as a songwriter,[2][3] Cher said she contributed the lines 'I need time to move on, I need love to feel strong / 'Cause I've had time to think it through and maybe I'm too good for you". According to Cher, "I was singing [the song] in the bathtub, and it seemed to me the second verse was too whiny. It kind of pissed me off, so I changed it. I toughened it up a bit."[4] In a 2023 interview, Cher later added on that, saying she wished she had asked for writing credits for the song.[5]
Recording[edit]
"Believe" was recorded in mid-1998 in Kingston upon Thames, London, at the Dreamhouse studio operated by Metro Productions. It was assembled with Cubase VST on an early model Power Macintosh G3, with synthesizers including a Clavia Nord Rack and an Oberheim Matrix 1000. Cher's vocals were recorded on three TASCAM DA-88 digital audio recorders with a Neumann U67 microphone.[1][6]
Cher's vocals were processed using the pitch correction software Auto-Tune. Auto-Tune was designed to be used subtly to correct sharp or flat notes in vocal performances; however, Taylor used extreme settings to create unnaturally rapid corrections, thereby removing portamento, the natural slide between pitches in singing.[7] Taylor said it was "the most nerve-wracking part of the project", as he was not sure how Cher would react.[1] She approved and insisted the effect remain when Warner wanted it removed.[6]
In an attempt to protect their method, the producers initially claimed it was achieved using a vocoder.[7] The effect was widely imitated and became known as the "Cher effect".[7]
Composition[edit]
"Believe" is a eurodance,[8] eurohouse,[8] dance-pop and electropop song.[9][10][11] It contains uncredited samples of "Prologue" & "Epilogue" performed by the Electric Light Orchestra.[12] The track was recorded in the key of F♯ major with a tempo of 133 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of F♯–C♯–G♯m–B–F♯–A♯m7–G♯m–D♯m, and Cher's vocal range spans from the low note of F♯3 to the high note of C♯5.[13]
Critical reception[edit]
Upon the release, Chuck Taylor from Billboard said that it is "the best darn thing that Cher has recorded in years". He added, "Some songs are so natural, so comfortably sung, that you wonder that somebody didn't think them up decades before. With this, you'll be whirling around the floor, tapping hard on the accelerator to "Believe," a simple ode to those feelings that we all search out and cling to. Cher is just a prize here; even her hardy detractors will be fighting the beat on this one."[14] Music critic Robert Christgau highlighted "Believe" as the best song on the album.[15] A reviewer from Entertainment Weekly described the song as "poptronica glaze, the soon-to-be club fave..." and noted Cher's voice as "unmistakable".[16] Deborah Wilker from Knight Ridder said that "her electronically altered vocal" on "Believe" "is like nothing she's ever done."[17]
Knight Ridder also described the song as "present-tense disco, with Cher an anthemic, Madonna manqué."[18] New York Daily News described the song as a "club track so caffeinated, it not only microwaved her cold career to scorching-hot but gave dance music its biggest hit since the days of disco."[19] They also noted the song's "killer hook and amazing beat."[20] Neil Strauss from The New York Times wrote that "the verses are rich and bittersweet, with the added gimmick of breaking up Cher's voice through an effect that makes her sound robotic. And the choruses are catchy and uplifting, with Cher wailing, "Do you believe in life after love?" All of it bounces over a bed of 80s-style electronic pop. It is a song with a universal theme—a woman trying to convince herself that she can survive a breakup".[21] Another editor, Jim Sullivan, noted the track as a "hooky, defiant, beat-fest of a song".[22]
Retrospective response[edit]
In 2019, Bill Lamb from About.com declared it as a "perfect piece of dance-pop", including it in his list of "Top 10 Pop Songs of 1999".[10] AllMusic editor Joe Viglione called "Believe" a "pop masterpiece, one of the few songs to be able to break through the impenetrable wall of late 1990s fragmented radio to permeate the consciousness of the world at large."[23] Another editor, Michael Gallucci, gave a lukewarm review, writing that the Believe album is an "endless, and personality-free, thump session".[24] Stopera and Galindo from BuzzFeed noted it as "iconic", featuring it in their "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s" in 2017.[25] Damon Albarn, frontman of the bands Blur and Gorillaz, called the song "brilliant".[26]
In 2014, Tom Ewing from Freaky Trigger wrote that "Believe" "is a record in the "I Will Survive" mode of embattled romantic defiance – a song to make people who've lost out in love feel like they're the winners." He added that "it's remarkable that it took someone until 1998 to come up with "do you believe in life after love?", and perhaps even more remarkable that it wasn't Jim Steinman, but the genius of the song is how aggressive and righteous Cher makes it sound."[27] Bob Waliszewski of Plugged In said that Cher "musters self-confidence to deal with a failed romance".[28] In 2018, Dave Fawbert from ShortList described "Believe" as a "really great pop song with, as ever, an absolute powerhouse vocal performance from Cher".[29]
Music video[edit]
The official music video for "Believe", directed by Nigel Dick, features Cher in a nightclub in a double role as a singer on stage while wearing a glowing headdress and as a supernatural being in a cage (with auto-tuned voice) surrounded by many people to whom she is giving advice. The video largely revolves around a woman who is in the club with her friends and sees her ex-boyfriend. Scenes are shown of her clearly disappointed when he walks away from her and then proceeds to dance and make out with another woman in her presence. The version on The Very Best of Cher: The Video Hits Collection is slightly different from the previous version (the version that is also included on the Mallay Believe Bonus VCD) with additional scenes towards the end that were not in the original video. There are also two 'rough' versions of the video as the song was released in Europe before a video was completed. The first is a compilation of scenes from the videos of Cher's previous singles "One by One" and "Walking in Memphis" and the second includes a brief scene of the "Believe" video where Cher sings the chorus while the rest of the video is composed of scenes from "One by One".
Three official remix videos exist for this song. Two of the remix videos were created by Dan-O-Rama in 1999. Both follow different concepts from the original unmixed video. Instead of showing the significance of the lyrics the videos mostly show Cher with different colored backgrounds and people dancing. The two remixes used for these videos were the Almighty Definitive Mix and the Club 69 Phunk Club Mix. The third video entitled Wayne G. Remix was released by Warner Bros. and the concept is similar to the Club 69 Phunk Club Mix video.
Billboard music critic Chuck Taylor in March 1999 graded the video a "C", praising Cher's appearance and hairstyle but criticizing "an unnecessary subplot about a few kids stalking each other."[43]
Live performances[edit]
Cher performed the song during the Do You Believe?, The Farewell Tour, Cher at the Colosseum and the Dressed to Kill Tour. While she would lip-sync the entire song on various television programs, she would only lip-sync the synthesized verses when performing on her Believe and Farewell tours, the Colosseum shows and on the 2002 edition of VH1 Divas Live. Since 1999, the song has been the encore to all of Cher's concerts until her 2014 Dressed to Kill Tour, where the encore is the ballad "I Hope You Find It", a second single from her 25th studio album Closer to the Truth.[44] It returned as the encore at her Classic Cher (2017-2020) shows and stayed in that place for the Here We Go Again Tour (2018-2020) as well.
Other versions[edit]
In May 2012 after successfully auditioning for The X Factor UK, Ella Henderson, then 16 years old, performed a ballad arrangement of "Believe" after the Bootcamp round, reducing guest judge Nicole Scherzinger to tears.[68] The cover, which was based on Adam Lambert's version performed on American Idol in 2009,[69] was so popular for its slow tempo, emotional interpretation that Henderson released an acoustic performance in 2013 on YouTube[70] and performed it at the National Television Awards on January 23, 2013.[71] Henderson also included a studio version of the cover on a deluxe edition of her debut album "Chapter One" as part of a pre-order EP "Chapter One Sessions".
In October 2016, the DMA's, an Australian rock band from Sydney performed "Believe" for Triple J's, Like A Version. It made such an impact on the Australian audience that in the year it was performed, the cover became the highest ranked Like A Version in a Hottest 100 countdown landing at #6. In 2020 it became the only Like A Version to feature in the Hottest 100 of the 2010s countdown landing at #41. In 2023 it took the crown for #1 in the Triple J Hottest 100 Like a Version of all time as voted by the public.[72]
In December 2018 Lambert performed his ballad version of "Believe" again in honor of Cher during the 41st annual Kennedy Center Honors; the performance was highly acclaimed, with Cher stating that she was "at a loss for words" and was moved to tears.[73][74] On December 6, 2019, Lambert released a studio version of his version of "Believe" which reached number 23 on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart on December 21, 2019.[75][76]