Believe is the twenty-second studio album by American singer and actress Cher, released on October 22, 1998, by WEA and Warner Bros. Records.

Cher started working on the album in the spring of 1998 with British producers Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling at the Dreamhouse Studios in London.

Believe represents a complete musical departure from her previous works, consisting of Eurodisco-oriented styles,[1] while its lyrical topics include freedom, individualism and relationships.

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 (RIAA) for shipments of four million copies across the United States.

Initially, Cher expressed reluctance, stating that she no longer found dance music appealing, as she felt it lacked "real songs".

A remix of her 1996 single "One by One" by New York City DJ Junior Vasquez had found success in the club scene and highlighted a demand for Cher in the genre.

DMA magazine's Dean Ferguson observed that the remix left fans "starving for a dance mix from Cher", prompting Warner to push for a dance-oriented album.

[4] Around this time, Dickins came across songwriter Brian Higgins at Warner's London office and asked him to pitch songs for the project.

[6] Cher also worked with long-time collaborator Diane Warren (who wrote "Takin' Back My Heart") and covered two songs: "The Power" (Amy Grant) and "Love Is the Groove" (Betsy Cook).

The "Believe" single was originally written only by Brian Higgins, Matt Gray, Stuart McLennen and Tim Powell, and circulated at Warner Bros. as an unwanted demo for months.

Two of our writers, Steve Torch and Paul Barry, got involved and eventually came up with a complete song that Rob and Cher were happy with.

The tour received positive reviews,[7] was a commercial success and was sold out in every American city it was booked in,[citation needed] amassing a global audience of more than 1.5 million.

It peaked at number one in more than 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, where it became Cher's first single to debut at number one and spent seven weeks at the summit at the end of 1998, becoming the biggest-selling single by a female artist in UK history, selling over 1.84 million copies in the country.

It peaked at number one in Hungary and attained a top ten position in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Beth Johnson of Entertainment Weekly gave it a B− rating, stating, "Believe is erratic (and sometimes cheesy) as hell, but you gotta love how her Cher-ness shines.

On December 23, 1999, the album was certified four times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of four million units.

The album was present for a total of 26 weeks on the chart and was later certified six times platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) for shipment of 600,000 copies.

It remains Cher's best-selling album in Germany with two times platinum certification from Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) for shipment of one million copies.

"Believe" also won three British Ivor Novello Awards for International Hit of the Year, Best Song Musically and Lyrically and Best Selling UK Single.