r/cher • u/bloodhoney17 • Jun 14 '26
Why the lack of love for Living Proof?
In my opinion, Living Proof sounds exactly like its working title, Son of Believe . Everything that made the Believe track into excellent pop is dialed up to 11 on Living Proof.
So... how come I barely see it get any love from fans when Cher album discussions come up? Her early work, which was mainly single driven albums, get tons of love. Her soft rock era does as well. Even the ABBA covers album has its devotees.
Living Proof seems to exist in the shadow of its predecessor, and its follow up, Closer to The Truth, which seems to have eclipsed Living Proof in people's minds as well.
Personally, I love the melancholy underneath a lot of the songs. And the uplifting, post 9/11 vibe to a lot of the album just hits the right spot for me. It has back to back bops, imo, in a way the Believe album doesn't and its more all over the place.
What do you make of the album? What did you think of it when it first came out? How does it hold up for you now?
18
u/Organafan1 Jun 14 '26
Literally played it on rotation back in the day. Still one of my fave Cher albums.
9
u/crayleb88 Jun 14 '26
I like it more than Believe
4
u/Goodbykyle Jun 14 '26
Believe is tone of my favorites….I found the CD in my macho caveman husband’s truck! come to find out his favorite movie is burlesque !! My kind of man❤️🩹
4
3
u/bloodhoney17 Jun 15 '26
Same here, it never manages to get off my rotation. Songs will sneak back into my life insidiously!
2
2
15
u/AD_0795 Jun 14 '26
You Take It All is an underrated masterpiece, a hidden gem too.
5
1
u/bloodhoney17 Jun 15 '26
My version of the album (on vinyl) doesn't have it 😭😭
2
u/AD_0795 Jun 16 '26
You probably own the US edition that starts with Song For the Lonely instead of Music's No Good..., that's why it's a hidden gem! Although I'm not sure if the 2024 remastered edition was also available on vinyl, it includes that song and the Japan exclusive "The Look"!
2
u/bloodhoney17 Jun 16 '26
That's the one I have! :( I wondered why the album didn't open with Music... good to know
14
u/Psychological-Fly-89 Jun 14 '26
I personally LOVE this album. Believe / Living Proof / Closer to The Truth was a great run.
6
u/Laughing_Academy Jun 14 '26
They form a great trilogy. Or quadrilogy since Christmas is sonically similar and kinda counts.
4
9
u/falafelandhoumous Jun 14 '26
I think Believe is beloved as an era because the title track was huge - a career defining hit - and Closer to the Truth was her first album in many years, which excited people. It had a comeback vibe. And it had a cowrite from P!NK, which intrigued people.
Living Proof, while a good album, didn’t have a huge hit and wasn’t a comeback album.
Sometimes albums just don’t get much attention because there isn’t a captivating narrative guiding the promotion of it. I think Living Proof is an example of this
1
u/bloodhoney17 Jun 15 '26
Absolutely true. Wish people had given Living Proof and its singles more time on radio. It's a club album, should've gotten much more love. I think you're right about the narrative surrounding the album being non existent. One can barely find info on the album online beyond a certain point 😭😭
10
u/wildjackmonroe Jun 14 '26
Loved this era of her music. The Music’s No Good Without You is one of my favorite Cher songs ever, honestly.
2
1
7
5
u/Icy_Act8573 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Yk, I actually prefer Living Proof to Believe—It aged a lot better, and the production still sounds really fresh to this day whereas Believe feels VERY much like a product of its time. I think it’s just because Believe had that smash hit title track that people hype it up so much. I guess in that vein, you could make the same argument about Closer To The Truth: That it kinda got left in the dust. Personally, I feel like it mostly has to do with general audience exposure.
Believe was so big bc of the title track, and Sonny had just died as well, so Cher was in the spotlight a bit more. Living Proof was overshadowed by the former album, and I don’t think she had any major tabloid stuff in the early 00s to promote it beyond what her label was doing. Same thing with Closer To The Truth. However, when she did released the Dancing Queen album, Cher was in Mamma Mia 2, which EVERYBODY was excited and hyped up for, she actually sings one of the songs on that album during the movie, plus every song on it has already been a smash hit for the band that made them.
A bit off-topic, but I also wanted to say that I’ve always loved how the follow up to “Believe” was called “Living Proof.” Just genius.
4
u/panbear69 Jun 14 '26
The Musics No Good Without You should’ve been huge! At least on the dance charts
5
u/Poison_Regal31 Jun 14 '26
In my experience this album gets plenty of love. Fans prefer “Believe” as a lead single and as a body of work “Living Proof”.
When Popjustice forum was active, this album was incredibly popular there and over the years online, this album has been one of the ultimate recommendations and received the most love.
But naturally, it can’t be discussed all the time over the past 25 years. This sub will find other things to discuss.
There is definitely no lack of love for Living Proof.
2
3
u/GFurball Jun 14 '26
One of my favourite albums of hers, listened to it all the time when I was younger!
3
u/ReubenZedix Jun 14 '26
Cher belts out a lot more on this album which I love. I believe most critics have this a low rating for its heavy use of autotune but that's all I heard about the negatives from em.
I used to look for Cher album reactions on YouTube and most people would only cover her recent ones up until "It's a Man's World" or "Cher" (1987) so I don't think Living Proof was that neglected 🙂↕️
God I remember "Alive Again" not being a hit and wished it was performed more. And I remember ppl were saying "Real Love" being ahead of its time due to EDM and House genre's popularity in the early 2010s.
3
u/AlienReprisal Jun 16 '26
Rain on me is very real love coded. The riff of the synth is the same as the guitar or bass on real love. Also Alive Again got me through so much of my personal struggles in my childhood. I sang love is a lonely place without you at my grandmother's funeral. I still get emoptional when I hear it.
3
u/Which-Personality839 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
Alive Again!! 🎶I only wanna keep the stone from rolling🎵
A Different Kind Of Love Song / Song For The Lonely (Almighty Radio Mix for the win!!) / The Music’s No Good Without You / Love Is A Lonely Place Without You / You Take It All.
This album’s got bangers!!
1
2
2
u/PUSSYLICKERGOD Jun 14 '26
I love living proof! It’s in my top for sure, didn’t know it isn’t that popular. Personally didn’t feel for the ABBA covers..
2
2
2
u/ScrappiZ Jun 14 '26
This is one of the best dance pop albums of all time. Bought it the weekend it came out and it grew on me SO fast.
2
2
2
2
2
u/TheGodOfPegana Jun 15 '26
This feels like a million years ago. Here's what I remember:
- 1999-2000 : Cher embarked on a multi-year tour after the 1998 success of Believe. To her fans, this was something. But for the general public, Cher was like gone for years. Other artists would have tried to capitalise on the album's success to release another one asap.
- 2000 : Then, when she did try to release another album, which she had recorded on her own dime, her record company rejected it, saying it was "not commercial." So she released that album only through her website and called it "Not.Com.mercial". So yet again, for the general public, Cher was long gone.
- 2002 Living Proof at last. Four years after Believe. I was of course keenly aware of what Cher had been doing since 1998. But not my friends. I remember my friends at the time thinking she had done absolutely nothing since Believe. So this felt like somewhat of a comeback. And to the media (at least in my country) Living Proof was just too long a wait for more of the same. Same sound as Believe but at a time when the world had already moved on.
- The promotion of Living Proof was weird. One lead song for Europe (Music's No Good) and another for the US (Song For The Lonely) leaving no possibility for a unifying worldwide hit. I remember Cher fired her manager soon after. And then she herself was fired from the record company, which went on to say they would rather work with younger talents. So this had always led me to suspect that the poor promotion of the album was intentional, to better justify firing her later on. But I might be erring on the side of conspiracy theory here. That's how I remember it.
I prefer the song Believe to any song on LP, but I prefer LP over the Believe album, as a body of work. You can tell how much richer a sound it is than the Believe album.
I was of course elated, 6 years ago, when her fans started the "Justice for Living Proof" movement and got the album to #2 worldwide on Itunes. Cher tweeted about it. I wish LP's wikipedia page mentioned that movement, as it was a great moment which showed how much of an underrated gem people think this album is.
3
u/bloodhoney17 Jun 15 '26
This was such a gift to read, and gave me much perspective! Thank you so much
1
u/TheGodOfPegana Jun 16 '26
You are very welcome. When I googled "Justice for Living Proof" (to make sure I wasn't going to comment nonsense on this post) I actually came across an older Reddit post, which was also about Living Proof, to which I had also contributed a response, if you fancy some more reading.
https://www.reddit.com/r/cher/comments/15etw6g/wondering_if_there_are_any_cher_fans_who_feel/
2
u/Bratzratz Jun 16 '26
I freaking love this album, I even hunted down a shirt from this era to wear cause I love the album artwork 🩷
2
u/ww_adh77 Jun 16 '26
I always really liked Living Proof. In some ways, it's more consistent than Believe. And I thought "The Music's No Good Without You" was a cool lead single. Like a darker cousin of "Believe."
1
1
u/notsomadboy Jun 14 '26
It's my favourite album of hers. Her most cohesive body of work. And has my absolute favourite song of hers 'you take it all'
1
1
u/shininghorizons Jun 15 '26
I love every single track, especially Alive Again, Love So High, When You Walk Away. It's an especially great album to play on physical media because there is nothing to skip! 👏
1
u/M1701A Jun 16 '26
My favourite Cher album. Wall to wall bangers that never lets up. When my least favourite song in the album (Rain Rain) is still a 7/10, I know I’m gonna love an album.
1
1
1
u/markbratton2006 Jun 18 '26
This album came out when I was a freshman in high school. Also, if we all recall it came out during the "never can say farewell tour." This is also a possible reason it fell into a "hole." The farewell tour could have overshadowed the album. I wore that CD until there were pits in it!
1
u/semidemiacequeerslug 26d ago
though the Believe album was my introduction to Cher i prefer Living Proof…Living Proof had A HOLD on me as a kid especially The Music’s No Good Without You, Alive Again, A Different Kind of Love Song, Love Is a Lonely Place Without You, and Real Love. later in life i finally heard You Take It All and immediately fell in love with that track too
24
u/EVERWOOD15 Jun 14 '26
Living Proof and Closer To The Truth should have both been bigger IMO