Even so, it’s worth a final thought about what the pitchbending does for this singer, and this song, specifically. The distorting effect really suits Cher, whose strength as a performer is those deep, showy vowels – she’s already the kind of singer who puts thick comic-book emphasis on words, so going over the top on that is perfect for her. But it also really fits the song. “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. 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’t Jim Steinman, but the genius of the song is how aggressive and righteous Cher makes it sound. There are records sung by divas, and there are records that need divas to sing them: this is the latter – without Cher’s weight of performance and life experience behind it, the dread admonition of “I really don’t think you’re strong enough” might fall flat.
A couple of years before I was supposed to think the Autotune was Something to Notice, I loved “Believe.” With or without pitch control, I cannot imagine anybody but Cher and her molasses-thick, androgynous, and absurd vocal belting that chorus. Her best single since 1979’s “Take Me Home” and her first top ten since the forgotten “Just Like Jesse James” from 1989 (can anyone hum it?). The record company and pop radio, alas, treated “Believe” like a fluke, subsequently offering little support to the aptly named “Strong Enough” in the States (it did do remarkably well in clubs though). Consider this experiment: what if “Strong Enough” had preceded “Believe”? Could this deliberate homage to disco have done as well? Quizas, as the pop song goes. Think of it as the quiet winner whose qualities discriminating fans spot: “Strong Enough” is to “Believe” what “Love at First Sight” is to “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.” These days I prefer the former.
Humanizing The Vacuum 