"Believe"
Single by Cher
from the album Believe
Released	October 18, 1998 (UK) October 19, 1998 (France) November 24, 1998 (US) April 20, 1999 (Canada) May 25, 1999 (Japan)
Format	CD single, CD maxi-single, 12" single, 7" single
Recorded	1998
Genre	Dance pop House[1]
Length	3:59
Label	Warner Bros., Wea
Writer(s)	Brian Higgins, Stuart McLennen, Paul Barry, Steven Torch, Matthew Gray, Timothy Powell
Producer	Mark Taylor, Brian Rawling
Cher singles chronology
"Paradise Is Here" (1996) "Believe" (1998) "Strong Enough" (1999)
Cher European singles chronology "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" (1996) "Believe" (1998) "Strong Enough" (1999) Audio sample file info · help

"Believe" is a Grammy Award-winning global number one, multi-platinum dance song which served as the worldwide lead single for American singer Cher's twenty-third studio album Believe. It is noted for its up-front use of Auto-Tune on the singer's vocals, which led some to refer to pitch-correction as the "Cher effect".

[edit] Song information

"Believe" was written by a group of writers including Paul Barry, Matt Gray, Brian Higgins, Stuart McLellan, Timothy Powell, and Steven Torch. "Believe" contains samples from the Electric Light Orchestra songs "Prologue" and "Epilogue." The song, released and recorded in 1998, peaked at number one in 23 countries worldwide^[2]. On January 12, 1999, it reached the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one in the Billboard Hot 100 on March 2, making Cher the oldest female artist (at the age of 52)^[3] to perform this feat. Cher also set the record for a solo artist with the longest span of time between #1 hits. Her previous #1 hit, "Dark Lady" had been in 1974. "Believe" also was ranked as the number-one song of 1999 by Billboard on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Dance Club Play charts, and became the biggest single in her entire career. "Believe" also spent seven weeks at number one in the UK singles chart and is still the best selling single by a female artist in the UK.^[4][5]

The success of the song not only expanded through each country's singles chart, but also most countries' dance charts. In the United States "Believe" spent 23 weeks on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, five of those weeks at #1, and 22 weeks on the European Hot Dance Charts. "Believe" also set a record in 1999 after spending 21 weeks in the top spot of the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales chart, it was still in the top ten even one year after its entry on the chart.^[6].

"Believe" was given the featured closing number spot for over 100 performances on Cher's 1999-2000 Do You Believe? Tour and then again the closing spot for over 300 performances on Cher's epic 2002-2005 Living Proof: The Farewell Tour.

On 13 October 2008, the song was voted #10 on Australian VH1's Top 10 Number One Pop Songs countdown.

"Believe" was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Dance Recording at 42nd Grammy Awards, it won the latter. It is the only Grammy that Cher has won in her entire music career.

[edit] Reviews

Billboard gave the song a positive review, saying that the song is "the best darn thing that Cher has recorded in years".^[7]

[edit] Production and the "Cher effect"

Cher's voice is altered by a pitch correction speed that is "set too fast for the audio that it is processing."^[8] Producer Mark Taylor added the effect to Cher's vocal simply as a lark. In interviews at the time, he claimed to be testing out his recently purchased DigiTech Talker. It later emerged that the effect was not created by a vocoder, but by using extreme (and then-unheard-of) settings on Antares Auto-Tune software.^[8] Cher was pleased with the results. When her record company requested that the effect be removed, she responded, "Over my dead body!".^[9]

[edit] World use and popularity

In the episode "Living Conditions" of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy's roommate listens to this song repeatedly.

The song is featured on the Karaoke Revolution video game.

A cover version of this song was used in the Nintendo DS game Elite Beat Agents in the first bonus level.

Indie rock bands Macha and Bedhead recorded a cover of the song on their 2000 joint EP Macha Loved Bedhead.

In 2001, "H" from the British pop group Steps performed this song during their Gold Greatest Hits Tour.

In the 2009 movie adaptation of Land of the Lost, two of the main characters, Dr. Rick Marshall and Will Stanton, sing the song while touching a vibrating "vortext triangle"

The South Park episode Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub lampoons the song. The kids in the episode hate the song; the adults love it.

In Brothers & Sisters episode 12 of season 2 titled "Compromises", the Sarah Walker character, played by Rachel Griffiths, sings a karaoke version of the song in the aftermath of the break-up with her husband Joe, played by John Pyper-Ferguson.

[edit] Music video

[edit] Original

The international music video for "Believe", directed by Nigel Dick, features Cher in a nightclub in a double role as singer on stage, and as supernatural being in a cage (with auto-tuned voice), surrounded by many people to whom she is giving advice. The video includes a woman who is broken hearted and feels that she can't go on when she sees her ex-boyfriend with a new spouse.

The Version on 'The Very Best Of Cher DVD Collection' is slightly different to the previous version (the version that is also included on the Mallay Believe Bonus VCD) with additional scenes/shots towards the end that were not in the original video.

There are also 2 'rough' versions of the video as the song was released in The UK and 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 'Walkin' 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'.

[edit] Remix videos

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.

[edit] Live performances

Cher performed the song on the following concert tours:

• Do You Believe? Tour
• The Farewell Tour (2002-2005)
• Cher at the Colosseum

While she would lip-synch the entire song on various television programs, she would only lip-synch the synthesized verses when performing on her Believe and Farewell tours and on the 2002 edition of VH1 Divas Live

Since 1999, the song has been the encore to all of Cher's concerts.

[edit] Formats and track listings

[edit] Official versions

• Main Version (3:58)
• Edit (3:45)
• Video Edit (3:55)
• Acapella (2:43)
• Almighty Definite Mix (7:35)
• Almighty Edit (5:11)
• Almighty Video Edit (4:46)
• Club 69 Future Anthem Mix (9:20)
• Club 69 Future Anthem Dub (7:35)
• Club 69 Future Anthem Dub Edit (7:13)
• Club 69 Future Dub (7:45)
• Club 69 Future Mix (9:14)
• Club 69 Future Mix Edit (6:50)
• Club 69 Phunk Club Mix (8:43)
• Club 69 Phunk Dub (7:04)
• Club 69 Phunk Video Mix (4:54)
• Grip's Heartbroken Mix (9:12)
• Grips Heaven Dub (6:50)
• Phat 'N' Phunky After luv Dub (6:22)
• Phat 'N' Phunky After luv Dub Edit (6:07)
• Phat 'N' Phunky Club Mix (7:42)
• Xenomania Mix (4:20)
• Xenomania Mad Tim And The Mekon Club Mix (9:15)

[edit] Charts