"Believe in Me" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Bonnie Tyler | ||||
from the album Rocks and Honey | ||||
Released | 13 March 2013 | |||
Recorded | 2012 | |||
Studio | Blackbird (Nashville, Tennessee) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:57 (album version) 3:03 (radio edit) | |||
Label | Celtic Swan Recordings, ZYX Music | |||
Songwriter(s) | Desmond Child, Lauren Christy, Christopher Braide | |||
Producer(s) | David Huff | |||
Bonnie Tyler singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Believe in Me" on YouTube | ||||
Audio sample | ||||
Eurovision Song Contest 2013 entry | ||||
Country | ||||
Artist(s) | ||||
Language | English | |||
Composer(s) | ||||
Lyricist(s) | ||||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 19th | |||
Final points | 23 | |||
Entry chronology | ||||
◄"Love Will Set You Free" (2012) | ||||
"Children of the Universe" (2014) ► |
"Believe in Me" is a song by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler from her sixteenth studio album Rocks and Honey (2013). American songwriter Desmond Child composed the song with British songwriters Lauren Christy and Christopher Braide. It was released as the album's lead single on 13 March 2013. The song was written to "uplift the world",and was completed by Child whilst having dinner with Tyler.
The song was recorded at Blackbird Studio,in Nashville,Tennessee. The lyrics depict Tyler telling a lover who does not believe in love or religion to just believe in her. "Believe in Me" was selected as the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest entry for the United Kingdom. To comply with the song duration rules,the album version was cut to three minutes and three seconds for radio play and for live performance. [1] The photograph used for the cover art was taken by Tyler's nephew,Andrew Hopkins. [2] Following the Eurovision Song Contest,the song peaked at No. 93 in the United Kingdom,but did not chart elsewhere.
"Believe in Me" received mixed reviews from music critics,and the song was largely blamed for Tyler's mediocre final score in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final. Despite the single's chart placing and result at Eurovision,both Tyler and the single won categories in the Eurovision Song Contest Radio Awards;the first time a UK representative has won in a category in the ESC Radio's history.
Tyler had been working on her sixteenth studio album Rocks and Honey since 2008. [3] She recorded the album in the Blackbird Studios,Nashville,Tennessee, [4] and released the album on 8 March 2013 in Europe, [5] one day after Tyler was announced as the United Kingdom's representative at the Eurovision Song Contest. The official release of "Believe in Me" followed a week later,released on 13 March by Celtic Swan Recordings in the United Kingdom and Ireland, [6] and 15 March in Europe. [7] At her appearance on The One Show Tyler explained that the song had already been written before the BBC suggested it as the Eurovision entry when she sent a demo of Rocks and Honey to them. [8] The song has also been added to the SingStar store as a karaoke track. [9] A remix single of the song by Blutonium Boy &Matty Menk was released on 13 May by Celtic Swan Recordings. [10]
The music video was published on the BBC's official YouTube channel on 6 March 2013. [11] The video was shot in East Sussex in a beach hut and on a nearby beach. [12] Alongside the music video film crew there was a second crew that filmed a 'making-of' video. The BBC published the film in late March. [13]
Lauren Christy and Christopher Braide's involvement in composing "Believe in Me" is unknown,though when it was announced that the song would represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013,Bonnie Tyler told The Telegraph that Child finished composing the song at dinner.
"When I got to Nashville, I was looking for songs around the publishers, and got in touch with Desmond and he said "come up for dinner tomorrow night and I'll give you some songs." He'd already recorded some of these demos, but I said "I really love these two songs." And he said "But "Believe in Me" isn't finished yet. I tell you what, come back up for dinner tomorrow night and I'll finish writing it then," which is what he did. I'll never forget that night, we got there and Bob Ezrin was there, the producer of The Wall for Pink Floyd. After dinner [Child] wrote the second verse." [14]
— Bonnie Tyler interviewed on BBC Radio, May 2013.
Welsh singer Paul Child conducted an interview with Desmond Child in Nashville in April 2013 to discuss his work with Bonnie Tyler, both with "Believe in Me" and in the beginnings when he wrote her hit single "If You Were a Woman" in the 1980s. Paul Child drew similarities between the lyrical and rhythmic structure of "Believe in Me" and the Labelle song "Lady Marmalade", specifically with the lines "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?" and "[...] and you laugh at the thought of putting your faith in stuff, like love". Desmond stated that they (Child, Christy and Braide) wanted to write a song that would "uplift the world, and we're so thrilled that Bonnie sang it and that it got chosen to represent the UK." [15]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
UKMIX | [16] |
Daily Mirror | [17] |
Digital Spy | [18] |
Upon its initial release, the song received mixed reviews from music critics. UKMIX described the song as "quite blissful with a smooth vocal delivery and some pretty nice lyrics," but despite not being able to fault the song, the reviewer was unsure that the song was the right choice for the Eurovision Song Contest and predicted that Tyler would suffer the same criticism that Engelbert Humperdinck received the previous year. [16] Robert Copsey from Digital Spy gave the song two stars out of five, stating that the song is a "polar opposite to the slew of Euro-club bangers entering this year's contest," but applauded Tyler for entering the Eurovision Song Contest with the contrasting song. [18] The Guardian held a poll on their website asking the public if they expected Tyler to be successful at Eurovision. The results were fairly even with 46% predicting that Tyler would win and 54% voting that they didn't expect Tyler to win. [19] Ann Gripper from the Daily Mirror described the song as "heartfelt," and went on to say that Tyler "can still sing." She criticised the songwriters' choice of "above" and "stuff" as the first rhyming lyrics, but noted the line "you never see the rainbow, you just curse the rain" as an improvement, and an opportunity to "have some fun with the staging on finals night in Malmo." Gripper concluded by saying that it "doesn't get into your head like (2012 Sweden winning song) "Euphoria"," and stated that unless the staging is "spectacular", the song won't be remembered by voting time. [17]
Commercially, the song reached minor success on record charts. On 19 May 2013, "Believe in Me" scored the highest Eurovision-related new entry on that week's Top 100 UK Singles Chart, despite finishing 19th in the contest. [20] The song climbed up to No. 86 in the UK mid-week charts following its debut at No. 93, but dropped out of the Top 100 by the following week. [21]
Tyler was selected by the BBC to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The first rehearsal took place on 12 May, [22] the second on 15 May [23] and the performance in front of the jury on 17 May 2013. Tyler's final performance of "Believe in Me" took place on 18 May during the Grand Final, with Anthony Goldsbrough (guitar and backing vocals), Michael Gazzard (guitar and backing vocals), Hayley Sanderson (guitar and backing vocals), Kristen Cummings (keyboards and backing vocals) and Grant Mugent-Kershaw (drums). The song was staged with Tyler standing by a microphone stand with her backing group before walking down the catwalk onto a rising platform. [24]
The song finished in 19th place with points from Ireland (7), Malta (5), Spain (4), Romania (3), Switzerland (2), Sweden (1) and Slovenia (1), a total of 23 points.
Several journalists and singers have made public their views on the song and the result. Irish entrant and three-time winner of Eurovision Johnny Logan complimented Tyler, but argued that the song wasn't strong enough. He continued, "If you're going to win Eurovision, to go through some of the incredible voting I've noticed over the last few years, you have to have something that's going to stand out above everything else. Otherwise you're just going to hope to pick up 10 or 11 votes." Similarly, Nathan Moore agreed that the song was not strong enough, but said "It was a great idea to get Bonnie involved, there's a lot of love for Bonnie out there." [25] Mick Dalley (of Yahoo! News) agreed that "although Tyler herself was on form, singing beautifully and rousing the crowd with her podiumed finale, "Believe in Me" was simply not good enough as a song". [26]
1997 UK winner Katrina Leskanich (of Katrina and the Waves) stated that she was underwhelmed by Denmark's entry, and expected Tyler to have scored higher than she did. British journalist Dave Goodman acknowledged that Tyler's entry was an improvement on the previous year, though argued that it was a combination of a poor position in the running order and the song that kept the UK from scoring higher. [25]
During promotion for Rocks and Honey in France, Bonnie Tyler spoke out against the Eurovision Song Contest's incidents. After being asked if she believes the contest is rigged, she replied, "I think so." [27]
"The next day after the Eurovision, the Russians were complaining to Azerbaijan, "why didn't you give us the ten points we paid for?" Excuse me! "We paid for?" Is this a competition? ... I don't care about that. We [United Kingdom] haven't won for sixteen years, and I didn't expect to win. It's too bad that politics come in to it, it should be a songwriting competition, not who lives next door to you." [27]
— Bonnie Tyler interviewed by Le Parisien , May 2013.
The Daily Mail claimed that Tyler overheard the conversation of Russians complaining to Azerbaijanis and spread the rumour; Tyler challenged this and said that she had seen it on Sky News. [28] [29]
Tyler first performed the song in Berlin, Germany where she featured as a guest on the Rock Meets Classic Tour in February to March 2013. [30] Tyler was still involved with the tour when it was announced that she would be representing the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in May, and after appearing on The One Show in London, she returned to Germany to begin promoting "Believe in Me". [31] [32] On 19 April, she stopped off at the Cologne Cathedral and the Madame Tussauds wax museum in Berlin for a photo shoot and unveiled wax figurines of the members of ABBA. [33] On 28 April, the Leute Heute (German TV show) film team published a video from visiting Tyler's house a few weeks before to interview her on her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. [34] At mid-day, Tyler was interviewed and then performed an acoustic version of the song on BBC Radio 2's Weekend Wogan with her Eurovision group. [35] Her final television appearance in the UK was on 3 May, when she performed "Believe in Me" on The Graham Norton Show. [36]
After arriving in Malmö on 10 May, Tyler was received positively by the press and by the other Eurovision entrants. Particular support came from Finland's entrant Krista Siegfrids and Malta's entrant Gianluca Bezzina. [37] [38] [39] Before the voting concluded, the UK received 2 more points from Switzerland and the Lithuanian spokesperson spoke "I love you, Bonnie Tyler" despite the UK not scoring any Lithuanian votes. [40]
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of the CD single. [41]
|
|
Chart (2013) | Peak position |
---|---|
Scotland (OCC) [44] | 83 |
UK Indie (OCC) [45] | 10 |
UK Radio Airplay Chart ( Music Week ) [46] | 18 |
UK Singles (OCC) [47] | 93 |
UK Singles Downloads (OCC) [48] | 98 |
Region | Date | Format | Record label |
---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 13 March 2013 [43] | Digital download | Celtic Swan Recordings |
Germany | 15 March 2013 [49] | Maxi single | ZYX Music |
Eurovision Song Contest Radio Awards
Bonnie Tyler won Best Song (with 12.6% of the vote) and Best Female Singer (with 16.9% of the vote) at the Eurovision Song Contest Radio Awards, and became the first representative of the United Kingdom to receive an award from ESC Radio since its initiation in 2006. [50]
Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | "Believe in Me" | Best Song | Won [51] |
Herself | Best Female Singer | Won [51] |
Gaynor Sullivan, known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer. Known for her distinctive husky voice, Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album The World Starts Tonight and its singles "Lost in France" and "More Than a Lover". Her 1977 single "It's a Heartache" reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with the song "Save Your Kisses For Me", written by Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden, and Martin Lee, and performed by Brotherhood of Man. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final titled A Song for Europe 1976. The entry eventually won the Eurovision Song Contest.
"Love Shine a Light" is a song by British rock band Katrina and the Waves written by Kimberley Rew. It represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 held in Dublin, resulting in the country's fifth and most recent win at the contest. It was released as a single on 28 April 1997 and later included on the band's ninth studio album, Walk on Water (1997), serving as the album's lead single.
John Charles Barrett, known professionally as Desmond Child, is an American songwriter and producer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. He has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and has won a Latin Grammy Award.
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is the lead single by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler from her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983) written and produced by Jim Steinman and recorded in 1982, released as a single by CBS/Columbia in 1983.
Eurovision: You Decide is the most recent name of a BBC television programme that was broadcast annually to select the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show had previously gone under several other names, including Festival of British Popular Songs (1957), Eurovision Song Contest British Final (1959–1960), The Great British Song Contest (1996–1999), Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up (2004–2007), Eurovision: Your Decision (2008), and Eurovision: Your Country Needs You (2009–2010), but was known, for most of its history, as A Song for Europe.
Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire is the sixth studio album by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, released in April 1986 by CBS/Columbia Records as the follow-up to her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983). Three years in the making, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire was executive-produced by Jim Steinman, who had produced Tyler's previous album. Seven singles were released from the album, with "Holding Out for a Hero" originally being released two years in advance on the movie soundtrack album Footloose. Tyler's album features collaborations with songwriters and guest artists including Desmond Child and Todd Rundgren.
Amy Victoria Wadge is an English singer and songwriter. She has co-written tracks with Ed Sheeran, including "Thinking Out Loud" for which she won the 2016 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
The discography of Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler consists of 18 studio albums, three live albums, four extended plays, 83 singles, and several compilation albums.
The United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 66 times. Its first participation was at the second contest, in 1957, and it has entered every year since 1959. The British participant broadcaster in the contest is the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The country has won the contest five times: in 1967, with "Puppet on a String" performed by Sandie Shaw; in 1969, with "Boom Bang-a-Bang" by Lulu ; in 1976, with "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man; in 1981, with "Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz; and in 1997, with "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina and the Waves. The UK has also achieved a record sixteen second-place finishes, the first in 1959 and the most recent in 2022.
"Long Live Love" is a song by Australian singer, songwriter, and actress Olivia Newton-John composed and written by Valerie Avon and Harold Spiro. It represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 held in Brighton.
Lucie Bethan Jones is a Welsh singer, musical theatre actress, and model. Jones first came to prominence while competing on series 6 of The X Factor UK in 2009, where she finished eighth. She represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Never Give Up on You", finishing with 111 points in 15th place.
Molly Alice Smitten-Downes, known by her mononym Molly, is an English singer and songwriter.
The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Believe in Me" written by Desmond Child, Lauren Christy and Christopher Braide. The song was performed by Bonnie Tyler, who was internally selected by the British broadcaster BBC to represent the United Kingdom at the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden. Tyler and the song "Believe in Me" were announced as the British entry on 7 March 2013.
Michael Julien, also known as Peter Warne, was a British songwriter, who was the co-writer of a number of hit songs around the world.
"Only Teardrops" is a song recorded by Danish singer Emmelie de Forest, written by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, and Thomas Stengaard, and produced by Frederik Thaae. It represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 held in Malmö, resulting in the country's third win in the contest.
Rocks and Honey is the sixteenth studio album by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, first released by ZYX Music on 8 March 2013. Eight years after Wings was released in 2005, this was the longest gap between album releases in Tyler's career, and is the first of her studio albums to chart in the United Kingdom since Hide Your Heart in 1988. With tracks written by Nashville-based songwriters such as Frank J. Myers, Desmond Child, Brett James and Beth Hart, the album consists of a number of country songs reminiscent of Tyler's country albums from the 1970s with elements of rock.
The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Children of the Universe" written by Molly Smitten-Downes and Anders Hansson. The song was performed by Molly, who was internally selected by the British broadcaster BBC to represent the United Kingdom at the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Molly and "Children of the Universe" was announced as the British entry in a special presentation show titled The UK Launch broadcast on the BBC Red Button service in March 2014.
"What You Need from Me" is a duet recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler and American singer-songwriter Vince Gill, taken from Tyler's sixteenth studio album and the 4th track of the album, Rocks and Honey (2013).
"Children of the Universe" is a song by British singer Molly Smitten-Downes. It was chosen by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Denmark. The song was co-written by Smitten-Downes. An indie pop and alternative rock song, it became one of the favourites to win the contest. "Children of the Universe" finished in 17th place with 40 points and gave the UK its best placing since Blue came 11th place in the 2011 Contest. The song reached number twenty three on the UK Singles Chart and charted in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)