"Strong Enough" is a song by American recording artist

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

from her 22nd studio album, ''

Believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

'' (1998). The song was released as the second single from the album on February 22, 1999, by

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

. The song's composition and musical style is strongly reminiscent of 1970s

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

music. The song received positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, many calling it a highlight to ''Believe'' and comparing it to

Gloria Gaynor Gloria Fowles (born September 7, 1943), known professionally as Gloria Gaynor, is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "I Have a Right, Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), "I Am What I Am (Broadway mus ...

's "

I Will Survive "I Will Survive" is a song recorded by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978 by Polydor Records as the second single from her sixth album, ''Love Tracks (Gloria Gaynor album), Love Tracks'' (1978). It was written by Freddie Pe ...

".''

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

''. July 1, 1999. "Strong Enough" peaked at number 57 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and topped the ''Billboard''

Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart. Worldwide, it reached number one in Hungary and entered the top 10 in 14 other countries.

Background and reception

"Strong Enough" was released as the second international single from Cher's twenty-second studio album, ''

'', which was released in 1998. However it was not successful in the US until it received more airplay following the release of promotional remixes. The song, along with "

", has become one of her most successful songs to date. "Strong Enough" received favorable reviews from

. Swedish newspaper ''

'' stated that the song "will be as great for the distressed" as

's "

". Michael Gallucci from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote that "Cher herself merely moves through the beat factory with one drab vocal range, blending butt-shaker." Randy Cordova from ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

'' described the song as a "thumping retro-disco tune".

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' wrote that it "picks up right where "

" left off." He noted that the "retro-disco" song is "irresistibly catchy, jubilant as a prayer revival, and an ideal partner as kids prepare to buddy up with radio as school finishes up. Everything about this anthemic track is obvious from the first listen: Cher is again in peak form, set in front of a string-laden, thump-happy beat that will have folks tapping toes and snapping fingers from

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

." He also added that "no doubt, this is the biggest no-brainer hit we've heard this year."

Matt Stopera Matt Stopera is a senior editor at BuzzFeed. He is best known for an article he wrote in 2015 about a Chinese man who had received Stopera's stolen cell phone and posted dozens of photos of an orange tree which appeared on his iPhone's photo strea ...

and Brian Galindo from ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

'' commented, "Always overshadowed by "

", "Strong Enough" was also a great '90s dance song!" The Daily Vault's Michael R. Smith said that "this is the most comfortable and relaxed she has ever sounded musically." A reviewer from ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' picked it as one of the "highlights" from the ''

'' album, noting it as "rousing". Deborah Wilker from ''

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...

'' said "Strong Enough" is the best song of the album, calling it a "catchy feminist chant" and "her very own "I Will Survive"".

Chart performance

"Strong Enough" peaked at number 57 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, staying on the charts for twelve weeks. The song did not receive much attention in the United States, but when the promo remixes were released, the song had peaked at number one on the ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

. It also peaked at number 31 on the ''Billboard''

Pop Songs Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...

, number 29 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...

and number 40 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data System ...

. Elsewhere, "Strong Enough" was more successful, mostly getting in the top 10 in most countries. It peaked at number six in New Zealand, whilst reaching number eleven in Australia. The song fared even better in Europe, peaking at number one in Hungary, whilst reaching number two in Poland, number three in France, Germany, and Iceland, number four in Austria, Belgium, and Spain, and number five in Denmark and Switzerland. In the UK, it debuted at number five on the UK Singles Chart, until descending the rest of the way, finally finishing at number 56, charting for 10 weeks in the top 100. In neighboring Ireland, it peaked at number 11 whilst reaching number four in Scotland. As a result of its overall European success, it peaked at number three on the

European Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

chart and ranked at number 24 on the year-end tally.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Strong Enough" was directed by British director

Nigel Dick Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is an English music video director and filmmaker. Originally from Catterick, North Yorkshire, he is based in Los Angeles, California. He has directed music videos for artists such as Britney Spears, Toto, Ba ...

and was released worldwide in early 1999. A promo

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

tape and

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can only be Write once read many, written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) ...

were also released in the US, but are very rare. The video promo also includes the remixed version of the video. In this video,

is a computer virus and her role is an advisor who tells a bad boyfriend the reasons why his girlfriend (played by

Shannyn Sossamon Shannon Marie Kahololani "Shannyn" Sossamon (born October 3, 1978) is an American actress. She has appeared in the films ''A Knight's Tale (film), A Knight's Tale'' (2001), ''40 Days and 40 Nights'' (2002), ''The Rules of Attraction (film), The R ...

) will leave him. Teens in a party, two women, two robbers and many gothic instrument players also appear in the video. A couple of months after the release of the original music video for ''Strong Enough'', Dan-O-Rama (best known for his work remixing videos) created the "vocal club edit" video for this song. He used the "Strong Enough" Pumpin' Dolls Vocal Epic club remix and

Club 69 Peter Rauhofer (29 April 1965 – 7 May 2013) was an Austrian-American disc jockey (DJ), remixer and producer who formerly worked under the moniker Club 69 as well as Size Queen. A native of Vienna, Austria, he was famous for a variety of his r ...

Future edit promo only for DJs in 2000. The original music video is also featured on 'The Very Best Of Cher: The Video Hits Collection'.

Legacy

In 2020, the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

listed "Strong Enough" as one of the "25 Pride anthems of all time", and stated that "one could easily interpret the lyrics to be about a repressive society that she is no longer willing to tolerate."

Track listings

US and Canadian maxi-CD single # "Strong Enough" (album version) – 3:44 # "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem mix) – 11:00 # "Strong Enough" (Pumpin' Dolls Vocal Epic club) – 7:22 # "Strong Enough" (male version) – 3:32 # "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Phunk mix) – 8:32 # "Strong Enough" (Mark Andrews remix edit) – 7:31 # "Strong Enough" (Pumpin' Dolls Cashmere club mix) – 8:34 # "Strong Enough" (D-Bop's Melt mix) – 7:49 # "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem short mix edit) – 8:39 # "Strong Enough" (Pumpin' Dolls radio edit) – 3:48 US 2×12-inch single :A1. "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem mix) – 11:00 :A2. "Strong Enough" (album version) – 3:44 :B1. "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Phunk mix) – 8:32 :B2. "Strong Enough" (Mark Andrews remix edit) – 7:31 :C1. "Strong Enough" (Pumpin' Dolls Vocal Epic club) – 7:22 :C2. "Strong Enough" (D-Bop's Melt mix) – 7:49 :C3. "Strong Enough" (male version) – 3:32 :D1. "Strong Enough" (Pumpin' Dolls Cashmere club mix) – 8:34 :D2. "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem short mix edit) – 8:39 UK CD1 # "Strong Enough" – 3:44 # "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem short mix edit) – 8:39 # "Strong Enough" (Mark Andrews remix edit) – 7:31 UK CD2 # "Strong Enough" – 3:44 # "Strong Enough" (male version) – 3:32 # "Strong Enough" (D-Bop's Melt mix) – 7:49 UK 12-inch single :A1. "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem short mix) – 8:56 :A2. "Strong Enough" (Mark Andrews remix) – 7:55 :B1. "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem instrumental) – 11:00 UK cassette single # "Strong Enough" – 3:44 # "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem short mix) – 8:56 European CD single # "Strong Enough" – 3:44 # "Strong Enough" (Pumpin' Dolls radio edit) – 3:48 Australian CD single # "Strong Enough" – 3:44 # "Believe" (Club 69 Phunk club mix) – 6:50 # "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem short mix) – 8:40 # "Strong Enough" (Mark Andrews remix edit) – 7:31 # "Strong Enough" (D-Bop Melt mix) – 7:49 Japanese remix EP (with "Believe") # "Strong Enough" (album version) – 3:44 # "Strong Enough" (Pumpin' Dolls radio edit) – 3:48 # "Strong Enough" (Club 69 Future Anthem mix) – 11:00 # "Strong Enough" (Mark Andrews remix) – 7:55 # "Believe" (album version) – 3:58 # "Believe" (Phat 'N' Phunky club mix) – 7:44 # "Believe" (Almighty Definitive mix) – 7:35 # "Believe" (Club 69 Phunk club mix) – 8:55

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

Notable cover versions

* British pop group Steps covered the song live and added to their concert setlist, which is performed along with "

Stomp Stomp may refer to: *Stomp (strike), a downwards kick using the heel Music and dance * ''Stomp'' (album), by Big D and the Kids Table, 2013 *Stomp (jazz), a type of rhythmic jazz tune popular in the 1920s *Stomp (theatrical show), a percussive ph ...

References

External links

Official Cher site
* {{Authority control 1998 singles 1999 singles Cher songs Number-one singles in Hungary American disco songs Music videos directed by Nigel Dick Songs with feminist themes Songs written by Mark Taylor (record producer) Songs written by Paul Barry (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Mark Taylor (record producer) 1998 songs Warner Records singles Breakup songs