"Believe" is a song by the American singerCher from her 22nd studio album,Believe (1998). It was released as thelead single on October 19, 1998, byWarner Bros. Records. After circulating for months, ademo written byBrian Higgins, Matthew Gray, Stuart McLennen andTimothy 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 andPaul Barry, to complete it. Cher contributed some lyrics but did not receive any songwriting credit. Recording took place at Dreamhouse Studio inWest London, while production was handled byMark Taylor andBrian Rawling.
"Believe" is an upbeatdance-pop andelectropop song and departed from Cher's previous music. It featured a pioneering use of the audio processing softwareAuto-Tune to distort her vocals, which was widely imitated and became known as the "Cher effect". The lyrics describe empowerment and self-sufficiency after a painful breakup. "Believe" received positive reviews; critics praised its production and catchiness, with some deeming it a highlight from the album. The song has been listed as one of Cher's most important releases. At the42nd Annual Grammy Awards, it was nominated forRecord of the Year and wonBest Dance Recording, the first and only Grammy Award that Cher has won.
Cher has performed the song on many occasions, including the1999 Brit Awards, theSanremo 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 herconcert tours. "Believe" has beencovered 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 apop culture icon. "Believe" earned Cher a place in theGuinness Book of World Records, andRolling Stone listed it among the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
A demo of "Believe", written byBrian Higgins, Matthew Gray, Stuart McLennen andTimothy Powell, circulated atWarner Records for months. Higgins offered the demo to the English indie dance bandSaint Etienne, who turned it down.[1] According to the producerMark Taylor, "everyone loved the chorus" but not the rest.[2] The Warner chairman,Rob Dickins, asked the production house Dreamhouse to work on it; their goal was to make adance record that would not alienate Cher fans.[2] Two more writers, Steve Torch andPaul Barry, completed a version that Dickins and Cher were happy with.[2]
Cher rewrote the lyrics in the second verse to make the character more assertive: '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".[3][4][5] Cher felt the song was "too whiny" and wanted to "toughen it up a bit".[6] She said: "A girl can be sad in one verse, but she can't be sad in two verses." In 2023, she said she regretted not asking for a songwriting credit.[3]
Cher's vocals were processed using thepitch correction softwareAuto-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 removingportamento, the natural slide between pitches in singing.[8] Taylor said it was "the most nerve-wracking part of the project", as he was not sure how Cher would react.[2] She insisted the effect remain when Warner wanted it removed.[7] In an attempt to protect their method, the producers initially claimed it was achieved using avocoder.[citation needed] BeforeBelieve, Auto-Tune use was a closely held secret.[8] The manual accompanying Auto-Tune's fifth-release version describes the zero speed setting asthe Cher Effect.[8]
A 15-second sample of "Believe". It is noted for its use of a sound effect on the vocals (using the then newly inventedAuto-Tune software), which became known as the "Cher effect".
"Believe" received positive reviews upon release.[15][16] Upon release,Chuck Taylor fromBillboard 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."[17] Music criticRobert Christgau highlighted "Believe" as the best song on the album.[18] A reviewer fromEntertainment Weekly described the song as "poptronica glaze, the soon-to-be club fave..." and called Cher's voice "unmistakable".[19] Deborah Wilker fromKnight Ridder said that "her electronically altered vocal" on "Believe" "is like nothing she's ever done."[20]
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."[21] They also noted the song's "killer hook and amazing beat."[22]Neil Strauss fromThe 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".[23] Another editor, Jim Sullivan, called the track a "hooky, defiant, beat-fest of a song".[24]
In 2019, Bill Lamb fromAbout.com declared it as a "perfect piece of dance-pop", including it in his list of "Top 10 Pop Songs of 1999".[12]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."[25] Another editor, Michael Gallucci, gave a lukewarm review, writing that theBelieve album is an "endless, and personality-free, thump session".[26]Stopera and Galindo fromBuzzFeed noted it as "iconic", featuring it in their "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s" in 2017.[27]Damon Albarn, frontman of the bandsBlur andGorillaz, called the song "brilliant".[28]
In 2014, Tom Ewing fromFreaky 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'tJim Steinman, but the genius of the song is how aggressive and righteous Cher makes it sound."[29] Bob Waliszewski ofPlugged In said that Cher "musters self-confidence to deal with a failed romance".[30] In 2018, Dave Fawbert fromShortList described "Believe" as a "really great pop song with, as ever, an absolute powerhouse vocal performance from Cher".[31]
Cher performing "Believe" on theWKTU's "Miracle on 34th Street" show inNew York City on December 11, 1998
The song, released as the album'slead single on October 19, 1998,[32] peaked at number one in 23 countries worldwide.[33] It debuted at number 99 on the USBillboard Hot 100 on December 19, 1998.[34] On January 23, 1999, it reached the top 40, and then topped the chart on March 13, making Cher—aged 52 at the time–the oldest solo female artist to achieve this feat, breaking the record set byTina Turner who was 44 when she reached No. 1 with "What's Love Got to Do With It" in 1984.[35][a] Cher also set the record for the longest span between number-one singles on the Hot 100: 33 years and 7 months between her first number-one single, "I Got You Babe", and her fifth and last, "Believe".[36] "Believe" was ranked as the number-one song of 1999 byBillboard on both theBillboard Hot 100 andHot Dance Club Play charts, becoming the biggest single of her entire career.[citation needed] "Believe" became Cher's 17th, and last, top-10 hit in the US.[citation needed]
In the United Kingdom, "Believe" debuted atop theUK Singles Chart on October 25, 1998—for the week ending October 31, 1998—during a week in which the top five singles were all new entries, a first for the chart (not counting the first ever chart).[37][38] The song became Cher's fourth number one in the UK, and remained at the top of the chart for seven consecutive weeks. "Believe" was Britain's biggest-selling song of 1998, and won its writers threeIvor Novello Awards: Best Selling UK Single,Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and International Hit of the Year, respectively, at the 1999 ceremony.[39] On January 31, 2025, "Believe" was certified 5× platinum by theBritish Phonographic Industry.[citation needed] As of October 2017, the song has sold 1,830,000 copies in Britain, making it the biggest-selling song by a female artist on the UK Singles Chart.[40] At 52 years old, Cher was the oldest female artist to top the UK charts, a record that has since been broken byKate Bush, who was 63 when "Running Up That Hill" re-entered the charts and reached number one.[41]
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 15 weeks on theBillboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, five of those weeks at number one, and 22 weeks on the European Hot Dance Charts. "Believe" also set a record in 1999 after spending 21 weeks atop theBillboardMaxi-Singles Sales chart—it was still in the top 10 one year after its entry on the chart.[42] On October 13, 2008, the song was voted number 10 on Australian VH1's Top 10 Number One Pop Songs countdown. "Believe" was nominated forRecord of the Year andBest Dance Recording at 42nd Grammy Awards, the latter of which it won.[43][44] Peter Rauhofer (Club 69) won theGrammy Award in 2000 forBest Remixer of the Year for his remix of Cher's "Believe".
The music video for "Believe" was directed byNigel Dick. It features Cher in a nightclub in a double role as both a singer on stage wearing a glowing headdress and a supernatural being in a cage surrounded by many people to whom she is giving advice. The video largely revolves around a woman (played by Katrine De Candole)[45] 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.[citation needed] The version onThe Very Best of Cher: The Video Hits Collection is slightly different from the previous version (which 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.[citation needed] 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".[citation needed]
TheBillboard music criticChuck Taylor in March 1999 graded the video a "C", praising Cher's appearance but criticizing "an unnecessary subplot about a few kids stalking each other."[46] InPitchfork,Simon Reynolds wrote that through the combination of cosmetic surgery, makeup and bright lights, "Cher actuallylooks how Auto-Tune sounds ... Her face and her voice seem to be made out of the same immaterial substance."[47]
VH1 placed "Believe" at number 60 in their list of 100 Greatest Dance Songs in 2000[49] and at number 74 in their list of 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s in 2007.[50] In 2007,Rolling Stone placed "Believe" at number 10 in their list of the "20 Most Annoying Songs".[51] In 2020,The Guardian ranked "Believe" as the 83rd greatest UK number one.[52] "Believe" was placed at number 337 on the 2021 revised list ofRolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[5]
In July 2020, a digital publicationThe Pudding carried out a study on the most widely-known songs from the '90s and songs that are most known byMillennials and the people ofGeneration Z. "Believe" was the sixth song with the highest recognisability rate.[53] In October 2023,Billboard ranked it among the "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time".[54] In 2024,Esquire andForbes ranked "Believe" at numbers 32 and 20 in their lists of the 50 best songs of the '90s, respectively.[55][56]
In May 2012, after successfully auditioning forThe X Factor (UK),Ella Henderson, then 16 years old, performed a ballad arrangement of "Believe" after the Bootcamp round, reducing guest judgeNicole Scherzinger to tears.[75] The cover, which was based onAdam Lambert's version performed onAmerican Idol in 2009,[76] was so popular for its slow tempo, emotional interpretation that Henderson released an acoustic performance in 2013 onYouTube[77] and performed it at theNational Television Awards on January 23, 2013.[78] Henderson also included a studio version of the cover on a deluxe edition of her debut albumChapter One as part of a pre-order EP calledChapter One Sessions.[citation needed]
In October 2016, the Australian rock bandDMA's performed "Believe" forTriple J'sLike 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 aHottest 100 countdown, landing at number 6 in the2016 edition of the countdown (this was later surpassed byThe Wiggles in2021). In 2020 it was the only Like A Version to feature in theHottest 100 of the 2010s countdown landing at No. 41. In 2023, it topped theTriple J Hottest 100 of Like a Version countdown.[79]
In December 2018, Lambert performed his ballad version of "Believe" again in honor of Cher during the 41st annualKennedy Center Honors; the performance was highly acclaimed, with Cher stating that she was "at a loss for words" and was moved to tears.[80][81] On December 6, 2019, Lambert released a studio version of his version of "Believe", which reached number 23 on theBillboardDigital Song Sales chart on December 21, 2019.[82][83]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
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^"Believe".www.musicnotes.com. February 14, 2005. RetrievedJanuary 2, 2016.
^Catchpole, Kevin (October 9, 2013)."Cher: Closer to the Truth".PopMatters. RetrievedFebruary 5, 2026.Cher rocketed back to universal acclaim and No. 1 success in 1998 with "Believe"
^"REBIRTH".Bartow Press. May 1, 2002. RetrievedMarch 15, 2020.
^"WHO'D EVER 'BELIEVE' IT? CHER IS A HIT AGAIN AGING DIVA SHOWS SHE CAN TURN BACK TIME WITH DISCO TUNE".New York Daily News. February 1, 1999. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
^"מדיה פורסט – המצעד הבינלאומי השבועי – Week 39 – 21/09 – September 27, 2025" [Media Forest – International Weekly Chart – Week 39 – 21/09 – September 27, 2025] (Select 2025, choose "39 21-09-25 27-09-25" from the dropdown, then click "שירים מובילים - רדיו - בינלאומי" to view the chart.) (in Hebrew).Media Forest. September 27, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 27, 2025.
^"New Releases".Radio & Records. No. 1273. November 6, 1998. pp. 39, 45.
^Mayfield, Geoff; Caulfield, Keith; Graybow, Steve (March 13, 1999). "Hot 100 Spotlight".Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 11. p. 111....with standard-length singles added to the retail mix in late January.
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