Normally I would say Cher can do no wrong. However, it has come to my attention that Cher has come out and said her Grammy-winning-hit “Believe” turning 25 isn’t that great, and so today, we are here to defend Cher against herself.
That’s right: The auto-tune club classic “Believe” is now old enough to rent a car without restrictions, and Cher simply hates that fact. I get it; aging isn’t for the faint of heart. However, I think everything Cher does should be awarded and celebrated, this milestone included, even if she would rather it go unnoticed. Can you tell I’m a super fan? Mermaids is one of my favorite movies, and sometimes, I’ll reenact the dramatic fight between her and Winona Ryder towards the end of the movie, apropos of nothing, in social settings:
I’m great at parties. Why do you ask?
Back on track, you’re probably wondering what she had to say about life after love, sorry, “Believe,” and, well, here it is:
“It’s not that amazing [turning 25], OK? It pisses the f— out of me,” she said with a laugh on the Today show Tuesday. “No, it just is like… what is this?”
Despite its success, Cher made it clear that her relationship with aging isn’t exactly positive, giving an emphatic “No!” when asked by journalist Harry Smith if she and aging were “friends.”
People
Look, it’s Cher. Obviously, she is eternal. However, she herself doesn’t feel that way:
“My mother didn’t mind [aging], but I do. I hate it,” she said, joking that she’d “give anything to be 70 again.”
People
Gee, it’s almost as if she wishes she could turn back … nope. Not going to do it. Not going to go for a cheap joke when we’re talking about Cher. I have to be better than that when discussing this Queen.
As someone whose joints now creek when they get out of bed or walk up too many stairs in a day, I get it. Being younger has some definite advantages over getting older. However, this is Cher we’re talking about! She won her first Grammy in her fifties! She is the living embodiment of the best is yet to come!
Speaking of which, she just released a Christmas album called “Christmas,” which surprisingly is her first Christmas album. This is a woman whose career has spanned from the sixties on; it seems like she would have done this already, but no. She’s still coming up with new things to do in her career. I love it.
Back to “Believe,” how many songs released in 1998 are still bangers 25 years on? On the rare occasion I’m out dancing, “Believe” will inevitably come on (because I clearly request it) and everyone loves it. This was the top-selling single of 1998! Now, I was going to compare that to the 1999 top-selling single, but, well, it’s Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time,” so all this is really doing is reminding everyone that the late ’90s had some great pop music to enjoy.
So to Cher I say, ma’am, you are an iconic legend, but on this you are wrong. Believe has given joy and an unwavering optimism that there is indeed life after love, and that is something to celebrate. One hundred years from now, people will still be dancing to that classic, in addition to living on the Moon. (Probably. I don’t know. I’m not a scientist, just a Cher fan.) So I say we all celebrate the fact that 25 years later, when other songs have been forgotten by the zeitgeist, “Believe” lives on. It, like Cher, is eternal.
(featured image: Matt Winkelmeyer/Staff)
