"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 in the Blackbird Studios, 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. The photograph used for the cover art was taken by Tyler's nephew, Andrew Hopkins. 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.
Background and release
Tyler had been working on her sixteenth studio album Rocks and Honey since 2008. She recorded the album in the Blackbird Studios, Nashville, Tennessee, and released the album on 8 March 2013 in Europe, 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, and 15 March in Europe. 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. The song has also been added to the SingStar store as a karaoke track. A remix single of the song by Blutonium Boy & Matty Menk was released on 13 May by Celtic Swan Recordings.
The music video was published on the BBC's official YouTube channel on 6 March 2013. The video was shot in East Sussex in a beach hut and on a nearby beach. 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.
Composition
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.
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."