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Cher's Believe
Series: 33 1/3
Brief Description
By 1998, Cher seemed fated to fade off into the pop sunset. Her time of being half of pop music’s “It couple,” of releasing chart-topping singles, of having her own TV show, and starring in box office-breaking movies, was coming to an end. But then Believe...
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See moreA celebration of the album where Cher challenged the pop industry and resolidified herself as a cultural force, an empowered experimenter, and a feminist and queer icon—and still somehow put out a chart-topping record just before the turn of the millennium.
A celebration of the album where Cher challenged the pop industry and resolidified herself as a cultural force, an empowered experimenter, and a feminist and queer icon—and still somehow put out a chart-topping record just before the turn of the millennium.
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Description
By 1998, Cher seemed fated to fade off into the pop sunset. Her time of being half of pop music’s “It couple,” of releasing chart-topping singles, of having her own TV show, and starring in box office-breaking movies, was coming to an end. But then Believe and a new invention called auto-tune changed everything.
Pop has always been a young person’s game, especially for women, and a new dawn of that obsessive youth was in full swing in the late ‘90s. But Cher’s return to inescapability at 52 years old—making her the oldest woman to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100—was a refusal to accept that model. Full of fire, cutting-edge choices, and a strong advocacy for one’s self, Believe was her giant musical middle finger to all those assumptions.
The album confirmed her place as a pop icon, a queer icon, and a feminist icon, reminding us that everyone should believe they can be strong enough.
Series: 33 1/3
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9798765132593
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 12 November 2026
Country: United States
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 121.0mm
Height: 165.0mm
Weight: 300g
Pages: 176
About the Author
Lior Phillips is a South African music and culture journalist originally from Cape Town, now based in Chicago, USA. She writes about music, film, art, and more for international publications, including Variety, The Guardian, Dazed and Confused Magazine, The Creative Independent, The Grammys, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Quietus, NPR, The New York Times, and GQ South Africa. In addition, she created, produced, and hosted This Must Be the Gig, a podcast dedicated to artists’ vital memories of their first gigs and passion for live music and performance. She is the author of South African Popular Music (Bloomsbury 2023).
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