Believe By Cher had a remarkable journey
Believe By Cher – The track Believe that Cher released in 1998, under WEA and Warner Bros. Records, had a colorful story before it became a hit song.
It started as a demo created by four songwriters at Cher’s record label, Warner Brothers, and was brought to producers Nick Van Eede of Cutting Crew. Then it reached a small studio in London, where Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling worked on the track, based on the article in Songfacts.
The song became a massive hit in the UK before it was even released in America. It debuted #1 on Halloween and spent seven weeks on top. With this, Cher’s song became the biggest UK hit by a solo female artist, selling about 1.7 million copies.
The songwriters and producers who worked on this track were all men and they did a good job to make it appealing to a female audience. The song is about moving on with confidence after a failed relationship.
The intentionally distorted Auto-Tuned vocals brought life to what is called the “Cher effect.” This has become the biggest comeback for Cher. The singer-actress was 52 years old when this song became a hit. She was among the biggest stars of the ’60s and ’70s. She revived her career in 1989 with the MTV hits “If I Could Turn Back Time” and “Just Like Jesse James.”
Once again, she made a comeback in 1998 with “Believe.” The song marked the longest period between Hot 100 chart-toppers for any act when it became a hit in the US.
“While we were recording ‘Believe’ in the UK, I saw Roachford on a morning TV show. He was singing with a vocoder and guitar, and it sounded so great. My producer said, ‘You can’t do that after you’ve recorded the song. But I was playing around with the pitch machine and I think I can get something interesting from that…’ So he played it and we just smiled at each other. It was exactly what we needed to make the really boring verse… sing,” Cher shared in an interview with Q magazine in December 2013.
The song was featured in the 2001 Friends episode “The One With Chandler’s Dad.” When Chandler and Monica arrive in Vegas to meet Chandler’s estranged father, this song is played. It was also included in other TV shows such as Splitting Up Together, Mr. Sunshine, Will & Grace, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Another amazing song that will continue to be part of the music history is We Are The World.