What is this fantasy world, in which a fifty-two year old woman can score the biggest hit of her career, well over thirty years into it..?
Believe, by Cher (her 4th and final #1)
7 weeks, from 25th October – 13th December 1998
Well the autumn of 1998 was no fantasy. Was it the novelty factor? Was it the autotune? Or was it just the fact that ‘Believe’ is a simply great pop song? Yes, yes, and yes; but I also think that it’s the contrast between the low-key, melancholy verses, with lines like No matter how hard I try, You keep pushing me aside… And the soaring, positive chorus. Do you believe in life after love…? Well, do you?
It’s also a modern sounding pop song, with all the late nineties flourishes, sound effects and, yes, a version of that synthesised drum beat. Quite a departure from the MOR rock that Cher had been recording for much of the ‘80s and ‘90s; sounding like it could have been recorded by one of the much younger poppettes of the day.
But we do have to address the Auto-Tuned elephant in the room. ‘Believe’ is often credited with introducing the world to the tool, which had been invented just one year before. But it’s use here is gimmicky, and fun. Nobody doubts that Cher can sing, and the way she belts the middle-eight out here, all natural, leave us in no doubt. Other, less vocally capable, singers’ use of Auto-Tune is a subject we can save for another day…
‘Believe’ truly was a behemoth of a song. Seven weeks at number one in the late-nineties was a huge achievement, a run that will not be matched again until 2005. In some ways we could see it as the last of the 1990’s ‘event’ singles, songs that went beyond the chart and entered the lives of the general public, like Bryan Adams, Whitney Houston, Wet Wet Wet, and Elton John before. I certainly remember it being everywhere in the school playground that autumn, and it remains the biggest-selling single of all time by a solo female.
I wrote earlier about the novelty factor of having an old(er) pop star like Cher at number one, but the truth is that this was her third chart-topper of the decade, after ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’ and ‘Love Can Build a Bridge’. The ‘90s is by far her most successful chart era, after her initial ‘60s successes and a fairly barren twenty years in between. So perhaps it’s not too much of a surprise that she was capable of pulling a hit like this out of the bag in her fifties.
Since ‘Believe’ Cher hasn’t managed too many more hits, but she reached #18 last year – aged seventy-seven! – with her festive ‘DJ Play a Christmas Song’. She will probably outlive us all. An interesting footnote here is that the week in which ‘Believe’ made #1 – the final week in October – the Top 5 of the singles chart was famously superannuated. George Michael was #2 with ‘Outside’, U2 were at #3, and a recently reformed Culture Club sat at #4.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
A huge song for sure! She’s like the Energizer bunny
Yes, she is for sure!
Yeah, I hate this song. Always have. Cher’s autotuned vocals – not a big fan of her as a singer to begin with, especially after the mid-70s – are a big reason why. It just resonates at the exact right frequency to piss me off. I’ll take any Boyzone song over this – I know I’m in the minority on that one.
Well that is a bold statement! Any Boyzone song? Any…??
Unfournately, yes. I feel ashamed to admit it because I like Cher a lot more than Boyzone but I’ll take any Boyzone No. 1 over this. I dunno, this song just irritates me to no end. I also hate the song “If I Could Turn Back Time” by her as well, though her duet with Meat Loaf is freaking awesome.
Yes, what a song. I’m looking for anonymous and fleeting satisfaction, I wanna tell my daddy I’ll be missing in action… One of the best lines in rock n roll history, but Cher never got credited on the single 😦
I can’t criticise. I’m sure I’ve mentioned plenty of well loved and respected songs that I have an irrational hatred of.
I’ve always found Cher fascinating, much like Gen. Z does with Swift…but, for different reasons. She definitely had more interesting boyfriends/hubbies. She was cool before Madonna became cool. Definitely a pioneer. This song was the very first time I heard “auto-tune.” I knew something was weird about her voice but, I didn’t know why…at the time. I also liked her better before she had her teeth fixed. I have a paternal aunt-by-marriage that, at one time, had the same toothy configuration. She got braces, too. *sigh*
Her older music has more depth than her newer stuff.
I think this was the song where pretty much everyone discovered auto-tune! But the difference here is that Cher’s using it as a gimmick, not because she can’t hold the tune… I wouldn’t say I was a massive fan, but you have to respect her for hanging around for this long!
True.
Cher is an icon. She has a new career retrospective out and it’s sparked discussions over what is on it and what isn’t. Not surprising given the depth and variety of her ongoing career, not to mention errr TV variety show and oscar-winning movie career. She is a true icon in a world where that word is used for people that have had hits for 10 years…! I would have loved her previous fabulous change in style One By One to have been a chart-topper, she sings it in a totally different style, no blasting it out, subtlety instead, showing she really can sing, no need of autotune.
I love this record, yes it was everywhere for years afterwards, so much so that Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV show (awesome show that) had a demonic college room-mate of Buffy’s playing it over and over endlessly until it was torture – possibly some sort of comment on the autotune bits unleashing hell on the world. It seems like half of rap and dance records find it obligatory these days, and some have based an entire career on it (Hi Drake) but the original is not responsible for rip-offs, and Believe is still a brilliant pop song, and I love Cher. She can even do an entire album of not-needed ABBA covers and receive forgiveness from me – cue Cher flouncing into Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again at the end to serenade an older man named Fernando, and turning it into a hilarious scene-stealing moment. 🙂
In terms of career genres: hippie, folk, story-ballad sweeping melodrama, rock, disco, singalong, charity, synthpop dance, ballad, done it all, and I offer up Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves, Dark Ladt, I Got You Babe, Little Man, One By One, Believe, Just Like Jesse James, Deadringer For Love, All I Ever Need Is You, 2010’s flop I Walk Alone and many more as enough for her to finally get into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame (about time!). She’s also the only female singer to have made the UK top 40 in every decade from the 60’s to the 20’s with new material – indeed, the only act to do that, even the Stones fell short of that record in the 2010’s.
Did not know that last fact you mentioned – that is impressive! Despite her age, I could see her still having a hit in collaboration with a more current singer, like Madonna recently with the Weeknd
She can sing so I won’t hang the autotune on her but f**king hell I hate autotune. It has a lot to do why I dont’ like modern music. You are right…she used it as a gimmick but soon that was not to be the case.
My favourite bit is the middle-eight, where she comes out all guns blazing, no auto-tune in sight. Like she’s saying “Of course I can still sing…”
Yea…she used it as an instrument more than anything. I have heard Spears without autotune on a recording…Stewart…it was terrible! It may have just been a bad day for her…I hope.
To be fair to Britney (who I do like) she’s had her fair share of bad days over the years : ) But she’s never been the most talented vocalist…
Yea…I feel for the woman. I believe she was used a lot…no I don’t like her music but…I wish the best for her…I just hope we don’t hear bad news about her in the future.