Cher says she was “stupid” for not asking for a writing credit on “Believe”

Warner Records/Rhino

Cher‘s biggest hit of all time, “Believe,” is going to be celebrated in a 25th anniversary edition of its parent album, also called Believe. But looking back on the song now, Cher says she wishes she had stood up for herself more.

Cher tells the British paper The Guardian that it was her idea to change the song’s lyrics, because she didn’t think they were assertive enough. “I thought, ‘A girl can be sad in one verse, but she can’t be sad in two verses,’” she explains. “I just won’t have it. So, then I thought of the lines, ‘I’ve had time to think it through/and maybe I’m too good for you.’”

But according to Cher, she wasn’t assertive enough in real life.

“I should have asked for a writing credit. I was so stupid!” she tells The Guardian.

One reason for the success of “Believe” was its pioneering use of Auto-Tune, which a lot of artists — especially hip-hop artists — now use to cover up the fact that they can’t sing that well. Cher says she had no idea that’s what it was being used for until Jay-Z said to her, “Thanks for keeping my friends in work!”

Cher says one person she thinks sang “Believe” as well as she does is Adam Lambert, who performed a slowed-down version at the Kennedy Center Honors four years ago. Cher tells The Guardian, “That’s one of the greatest vocal performances of any song by anybody. To recreate it so completely with such a beautiful voice? I just thought, ‘Dude, I’m glad you weren’t around when I was doing this!’”

Believe (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) comes out November 3.