Claim: Believe cemented Cher's position as a pop culture icon with its massive popularity.

`` Believe '' is a song recorded by American singer-actress Cher . It is the title track from her twenty-second album of the same name -LRB- 1998 -RRB- , and was released as the lead single from the album on October 19 , 1998 by Warner Bros. . Records . It was written by Brian Higgins , Stuart McLennen , Paul Barry , Steven Torch , Matthew Gray and Timothy Powell , although Cher claimed later in a 2000 interview that she also wrote part , and was produced by Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling . A considerable departure from Cher 's work at the time , `` Believe '' abandoned the singer 's then pop rock-based repertoire in favor of being more club-friendly , in order to engage a younger audience .   `` Believe '' is an upbeat dance-pop song . The song is one of the first commercial recordings to feature the audio processor software Auto-Tune as a vocal effect , used to produce the prominent altered effect on Cher 's vocals . This technique would eventually become known as the `` Cher effect '' . Lyrically , the song is about the personal empowerment and self-sufficiency after a painful break-up . Critically , `` Believe '' has been met with appreciation ever since its release ; reviewers have praised its production , catchiness and club-friendly nature , and listed it as one of the singer 's career highlights . The song was also nominated for two Grammy Awards ; for Record of the Year and Best Dance Recording , winning the latter .   Commercially , the song attained immense global success , reaching number one in almost every country it charted , including Australia , Canada , Ireland , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , Spain , France , Germany , Italy and the United States . It earned Cher a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest female solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart . It also became the highest-selling single by a solo female artist in the United Kingdom . `` Believe '' remains one of the best-selling singles of all time with sales of over 11 million copies worldwide .   The music video for `` Believe '' , directed by Nigel Dick , showed Cher in a nightclub performing the song in two different sequences : one in which she is seen performing the song on stage and the other as a supernatural being locked in a cage . Cher has performed the song in a number of live appearances , including in three of her concert tours , most recently the Dressed to Kill Tour in 2014 . It has been covered by a number of artists , and has been featured in several elements of popular culture . Scholars and academics noted the way in which Cher was able to re-invent herself and remain fresh and contemporary amidst the more teen pop-based music of the period . They also credited `` Believe '' as the song which restored the singer 's popularity and cemented her position as a pop culture icon .