Lucy Dacus is no stranger to a cover. She spent a whole year in between albums covering various songs and hasn’t slowed up on that tip since then. Her latest is an elegiac rendition of Cher’s “Believe,” which she debuted live over the weekend during her set at Pitchfork Music Festival. Coincidentally (or not…), we just reached “Believe” in our The Number Ones column a couple weeks ago.
In a press release, Dacus described the hit as a “huge, expansive, beautiful, heart-pumping, excitement-inducing song” that is “iconic for its use of Auto-Tune.” Her “Believe” cover is being released as part of Spotify’s Singles series, and its paired with a new version of her Home Video track “Partner In Crime,” and she decides to remove the Auto-Tune on both. Dacus continues:
I feel like some of my favorite lyrics that I’ve written are in “Partner In Crime” and maybe they aren’t as noticeable because the effect takes you out of it a little bit. So, I just wanted to strip it bare and showcase the song for what it is without any tricky production moves.
“Partner In Crime” was partially inspired by “Believe,” so I thought it’d be nice to pair them together. I love Cher’s voice and how low it gets. The timbre of her voice is so unique, you can recognize it anywhere. Even with the autotune, you can tell that it’s Cher and nobody else. But, on our cover, taking away the autotune, I feel like you can tell that the structure of the song is very special and I did feel myself accidentally wanting to become Cher when I was doing vocal takes. It could never happen, but I love a low voiced pop legend.
Listen below.
Check out Lucy Dacus’ tour itinerary, which includes a bunch of just-announced dates, here.
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