To help craft Believe, Cher enlisted a stellar cast of enablers, most notably the U.K. studio team of Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling. Despite her oft-stated claim that she doesn't like her singing voice, Cher has never sounded more confident and at ease than she does inside these assiduously produced grooves. Though it's probably an overstatement to call this collection of songs inspired, as pure escapist pleasure, Believe soars.
— Russell Hall (Wall Of Sound)
ay what you will about Cher, when it comes to understanding both her strengths and her limitations as a musical artist, the lady has few equals. Possessed of a vocal range about as wide as Calista Flockhart's waist line, the veteran singer nonetheless has always managed to radiate the brash confidence and pizzazz of an ageless chanteuse. Neither trendsetter nor trend jumper, Cher simply is what she is, a straight-shooter who harbors no grand illusions regarding the relevance or significance of the music she makes. Like David Bowie, who admitted as much in a recent interview, Cher believes in the value of entertainment for its own sake, and sees nothing shallow about subscribing to that old school philosophy.
If Cher's goal on Believe was to cast herself in the role of dance diva extraordinaire, then the album is a triumph. Songs like the mirror-ball gazing title track and "Runaway" employ the sort of synthetic rhythms, layered percussion, and Euro-style sheen that Giorgio Moroder brought to bear on Donna Summer's albums in the '70s. "Takin' Back My Heart" (one of two songs penned by Diane Warren) and "Strong Enough" proffer string-laced, funk-lite excursions into territories evocative of early Isaac Hayes, albeit without the dark undertones. And even the more pedestrian fodder, such as the insidiously catchy "Love Is the Groove" and the flamenco-tinged "Dov'e L'Amore," manage an airy simplicity that charms while offering brief respites from the syncopated churn.