Editing Cher (section)

=== Music and voice ===
Cher has explored diverse musical styles, including [[Rock music|rock]] ([[Folk rock|folk]], [[Punk rock|punk]], [[arena rock|arena]] and [[Pop rock|pop]] subgenres), [[Soul music|soul]], [[jazz]], [[Disco music|disco]], [[new wave music|new wave]], [[power ballad]]s, [[Hip hop music|hip hop]] and [[electronic dance music]],<ref name=rockhall3/>{{sfn|Tawa|2005|p=217}} aiming to "remain relevant and do work that strikes a chord".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Flick |first=Larry |date=October 31, 1998 |title=Cher Wants You to ''Believe'' in Pop |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IwoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12 |access-date=January 17, 2016}}</ref> Music historian [[Annie Zaleski]] wrote in Cher's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction essay that she sings "nearly every style of music" effortlessly.<ref name=rockhall3/> Cher's music often centers on [[Broken heart|heartbreak]], independence and [[women's empowerment]], making her a "brokenhearted symbol of a strong but decidedly single woman", according to ''[[Out (magazine)|Out]]''{{'}}s Judy Wieder.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Out (magazine)|Out]] |last=Wieder |first=Judy |title=Cher shares |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qWIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52 |date=May 2002 |access-date=March 7, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Goldmine (magazine)|Goldmine]]''{{'}}s Phill Marder credited Cher's musical success to her "nearly flawless" song selection, noting that while Sonny Bono contributed to early hits, most of her solo successes came from independent songwriters she chose.<ref name=Marder-2010>{{cite magazine |first=Phill |last=Marder |url=https://www.goldminemag.com/blogs/rock-hall-of-fame-would-be-a-lot-sunnier-with-cher |title=Rock Hall of Fame would be a lot sunnier with Cher |magazine=[[Goldmine (magazine)|Goldmine]] |date=November 15, 2010 |access-date=January 18, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160211102306/http://www.goldminemag.com/blogs/rock-hall-of-fame-would-be-a-lot-sunnier-with-cher |archive-date=February 11, 2016}}</ref> Her 2000 album ''Not Commercial'', largely self-written, has a "1970s [[singer-songwriter]] feel" that highlights her [[storytelling]] skills, according to AllMusic's [[Promis (musician)|Jose F. Promis]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Promis |first=Jose F. |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/notcommercial-mw0000968870 |title=''Not.Com.mercial'' – Cher |access-date=January 18, 2016 |work=[[AllMusic]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201062105/http://www.allmusic.com/album/notcommercial-mw0000968870 |archive-date=February 1, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:CherO2201019-44 (48932502383) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|alt=Cher sings on stage with one arm extended, wearing a black sheer bodysuit adorned with sparkling embellishments and dark curly hair cascading down.|Cher performing on the Here We Go Again Tour in 2019]]

[[Robert Hilburn]] of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote, "There were a lot of great records by female singers in the early days of rock&nbsp;... None, however, reflected the authority and command that we associate with rock 'n' roll today as much as [Cher's] key early hits".<ref name=Hilburn-2002>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-aug-18-ca-hilburn18-story.html|first=Robert|last=Hilburn|author-link=Robert Hilburn|title=Written Off&nbsp;... Unfairly?|date=August 18, 2002|access-date=January 18, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203165909/http://articles.latimes.com/2002/aug/18/entertainment/ca-hilburn18|archive-date=February 3, 2016}}</ref> Some of Cher's early songs discuss subjects rarely addressed in American popular music such as divorce, prostitution, unplanned and underaged pregnancy, and racism.<ref name=Marder-2010/> According to AllMusic's Joe Viglione, the 1972 single "The Way of Love" is "either about a woman expressing her love for another woman or a woman saying au revoir to a gay male she loved".<ref name=wayoflove>{{cite web |last=Viglione |first=Joe |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/gypsys-tramps-thieves-mw0000309635 |title=''Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves'' – Cher |access-date=January 18, 2016 |work=[[AllMusic]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201025643/http://www.allmusic.com/album/gypsys-tramps-thieves-mw0000309635 |archive-date=February 1, 2016}}</ref> Her ability to carry both male and female ranges allowed her to sing solo in [[Androgyny|androgynous]] and gender-neutral songs.<ref name=wayoflove/>

Cher's [[contralto]] voice has been praised for its distinctiveness.<ref>{{cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Holden |title=Cabaret Review; On Life's Rough-and-Tumble, via Mama's Tender Heart |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 18, 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/18/arts/cabaret-review-on-life-s-rough-and-tumble-via-mama-s-tender-heart.html |access-date=January 18, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165743/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/18/arts/cabaret-review-on-life-s-rough-and-tumble-via-mama-s-tender-heart.html |archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref> Ann Powers of ''The New York Times'' described it as "a quintessential rock voice: impure, quirky [and] a fine vehicle for projecting personality."<ref>{{cite news|last=Powers|first=Ann|author-link=Ann Powers|title=Pop Review; Quirky but Real, the Beat Goes On|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 7, 1999|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/07/arts/pop-review-quirky-but-real-the-beat-goes-on.html |access-date=January 18, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304120743/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/07/arts/pop-review-quirky-but-real-the-beat-goes-on.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> Zaleski called her [[timbre]] "recognizable, dusky and sultry, like exquisite black velvet", with a [[Vocal range|wide range]] and "warbling" [[vibrato]].<ref name=rockhall3/> AllMusic's Bruce Eder stated that her voice's "intensity and passion" are amplified by her acting skills, creating "an incredibly powerful experience for the listener".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/half-breed-mw0000615307 |title=''Half-Breed'' – Cher |first=Bruce |last=Eder |access-date=January 18, 2016 |work=[[AllMusic]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201062140/http://www.allmusic.com/album/half-breed-mw0000615307 |archive-date=February 1, 2016}}</ref> ''The Guardian''{{'}}s Laura Snapes called her voice "miraculous", capable of expressing "vulnerability, vengeance and pain" simultaneously.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/sep/28/cher-dancing-queen-review-ingenious-abba-dabbling |title=Cher: ''Dancing Queen'' review – ingenious Abba-dabbling |first=Laura |last=Snapes |date=September 28, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=September 28, 2018 |archive-date=March 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301204253/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/sep/28/cher-dancing-queen-review-ingenious-abba-dabbling |url-status=live}}</ref> Zaleski added that her vocal delivery feels like "a direct line to her soul",<ref name=rockhall3/> while author Paul Simpson observed that "she spits out the words&nbsp;... with such conviction you'd think she was delivering an eternal truth about the human condition".{{sfn|Simpson|2003|p=116}}

{{Listen
|filename=Believe - Cher.ogg
|title="Believe" (1998)
|description="[[Believe (Cher song)|Believe]]" pioneered the use of [[Auto-Tune]] to intentionally distort vocals—a technique later known as the "Cher effect".
|filename2=Believe - Cher (No Auto-Tune).ogg
|title2="Believe" without Auto-Tune
|description2=For comparison, Auto-Tune is not applied in this section.}}

Writing about Cher's musical output during the 1960s, Hilburn stated that "no one matched the pure, seductive wallop of Cher".<ref name=Hilburn-2002/> By contrast, her vocal performances during the 1970s were described by Eder as "dramatic, highly intense&nbsp;... [and] almost as much 'acted' as sung".<ref name=Eder/> First heard in the 1980 record ''Black Rose'',{{sfn|Bego|2001|p=142}} Cher employed sharper, more aggressive vocals on her hard rock-oriented albums, establishing her sexually confident image.<ref name=lovehurts-ew/> For the 1995 album ''It's a Man's World'', she restrained her vocals, singing in higher registers and without vibrato.<ref name=Bessman-1996/>

Cher's 1998 song "Believe" was the first commercial recording to use [[Auto-Tune]]—an [[audio processor]] for correcting [[off-key]] vocals—as a stylistic effect, creating a robotic, futuristic sound.<ref name=Sillitoe-1999>{{cite magazine |last1=Sillitoe |first1=Sue |last2=Bell |first2=Matt |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/recording-cher-believe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241229092557/https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/recording-cher-believe |url-status=live |archive-date=December 29, 2024 |title=Recording Cher's 'Believe' |magazine=[[Sound on Sound]] |date=February 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Flashback: Cher Brings the Future of Pop to ''Top of the Pops'' With 'Believe' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/cher-believe-top-of-pops-737084/ |last=Weingarten |first=Christopher R. |access-date=December 20, 2024 |date=October 15, 2018 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |archive-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620060908/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/cher-believe-top-of-pops-737084/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Cher, who proposed the effect,<ref name=autotune-nytimes>{{cite news |title=Cher Resurrected, Again, by a Hit; The Long, Hard but Serendipitous Road to 'Believe' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/11/arts/cher-resurrected-again-by-a-hit-the-long-hard-but-serendipitous-road-to-believe.html |first=Neil |last=Strauss |author-link=Neil Strauss |date=March 11, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102162318/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/11/arts/cher-resurrected-again-by-a-hit-the-long-hard-but-serendipitous-road-to-believe.html |archive-date=November 2, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url-status=live}}</ref> faced resistance from her label but insisted it remain, saying, "You can change [the song] over my dead body".<ref name=autotune-nytimes/> Dubbed the "Cher effect",<ref name=Sillitoe-1999/> the technique was later described by ''Pitchfork''{{'}}s [[Simon Reynolds]] as having "revolutionized the sound of popular music" and as "the sound of the 21st century".<ref>{{cite web |title=How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/article/how-auto-tune-revolutionized-the-sound-of-popular-music/ |first=Simon |last=Reynolds |author-link=Simon Reynolds |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=September 17, 2018 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |archive-date=July 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726001852/https://pitchfork.com/features/article/how-auto-tune-revolutionized-the-sound-of-popular-music/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Cher used Auto-Tune extensively on ''Living Proof'' (2001) and later albums.<ref name=ew2018/>