25 Albums Every Gay Guy Should Hear

From: Next Magazine

Cher

Believe

Key tracks

"Believe" 

"Strong Enough"

Believe is the twenty-second studio album by American singer-actress Cher, first released on October 22, 1998 by Wea Records and distributed in North America by Warner Bros. Records. Following the failure of her previous studio album It's a Man's World, her record company encouraged her to return to the studio to pursue a new musical direction. Recording took place over the summer at the Dreamhouse Studios in London and the Soundworks Studios in New York under the guidance of English producers Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling. The album was dedicated to her ex-husband Sonny Bono, who died earlier that year.

Believe represents a complete musical departure from her previous works, consisting of dance-pop and eurodance oriented styles, yet it includes a broader range of various musical genres such as techno, house, disco and Latin while its lyrical topics include freedom, individualism and relationships. The album features some of the new technology of the time, like the usage of Auto-tune, which would eventually become known as the "Cher effect". Upon release, the album received mixed reviews from music critics, who commended Cher's vocal performance, while others criticized the highly amount of vocoder and its overall production. It won one Grammy for "Best Dance Recording" from a total of three nominations.

Commercially, Believe proved to be extremely successful, peaking at number four on the Billboard 200 and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipment of four million copies across the United States. The record reached the peak position in Canada, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Denmark and Portugal and charted within' the top ten in United Kingdom, France, Spain and several other international territories. It was certified gold or platinum in then record-breaking 41 countries across the world and remains one of the best-selling albums of all time, having accumulated worldwide sales of 20 million copies.

Four singles were released from the album. The first, the "title track" became one of the biggest-selling single ever by topping the charts in a total of 23 countries with sales of 11 million copies worldwide. It was followed by "Strong Enough" which was another chart topping success. "All or Nothing" and "Dov'è l'amore" were released as the third and fourth singles respectively, both becoming moderately successful. In order to support Believe, Cher embarked on her sixth concert tour entitled the Do You Believe? Tour which became one of the highest grossing tour ever for a female artist at that time. Critics and scholars have noted the album's influence on popular music, especially how it helped bring dance music and Auto-tune into mainstream pop culture; they also noted the way in which Cher was able to re-invent herself and remain fresh and contemporary a midst the more teen pop-based music of the time.