The smallest decisions can alter music history forever. Cher’s hit “Believe” includes a vocal effect that revolutionized the industry. Cher discussed the sound of the song and what she was thinking when she created it.
Cher said young people don’t understand the importance of ‘Believe’
“Believe” was one of the most prominent dance songs of the 1990s. Its main legacy was popularizing the pitch correction software Auto-Tune. During a 2023 interview with The New York Times, Cher was asked if she expected “Believe” to change music.
“No, of course not,” she said. “We were just trying to fix a problem. The other day, [singer] Alexander [Roachford] was telling me that sometimes, when someone can’t sing all that well, they use it. That was something I didn’t really know.”
Cher was asked if she liked being associated with Auto-Tune. “Are you kidding?” she replied. “I love it. I mean, young people don’t know it came from me, but it’s OK. Maybe old people don’t know either. You know what I believe? What comes to you, belongs to you. That’s my theory about life.”
Cher revealed another singer inspired her to use Auto-Tune
Cher revealed how she came to incorporate Auto-Tune into the song. “I’d seen this guy, this beautiful guy [Roachford] on a morning show, singing into a vocoder,” she recalled. “I called [producer] Mark [Taylor] — can we do it into a vocoder? He said, I just got this thing called a pitch machine, and I’m playing around with it.”
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The “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer recalled hearing her Auto-Tuned voice with her producer. “I went in later to listen and we both just jumped out of our chairs and high-fived,” she said. “I said, ‘You don’t even know it’s me!’ He said, ‘Well, that’s what I was afraid of.’ I said, ‘No, it’s perfect. I love this.’”
How ‘Believe’ performed on the pop charts in the United States
In the United States, “Believe” became Cher’s biggest hit. There, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, staying on the chart for 31 weeks in total. Cher produced three other solo No. 1 hits — “Dark Lady,” “Half-Breed,” and “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” — but none of those songs lasted as long on the Billboard Hot 100. Who would have expected Cher would release her most popular songs more than three decades into her career?
“Believe” appeared on the album of the same title. That record climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for 76 weeks. Shockingly, none of the Goddess of Pop’s albums have topped the Billboard 200. Regardless, Believe performed better than all of her other albums.
“Believe” became part of popular culture. The South Park episode “Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub” poked fun at the tune’s vocal effects. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the title character thinks her roommate, Kathy Newman, must be a demon because she enjoys “Believe” so much.
“Believe” changed the sound of popular music and cemented Cher’s icon status in the process.
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