Recorded 2004 Label Virgin | Length 07:01 (Album version) | |
Released May 2, 2005 (2005-05-02) Format CD
12"
digital download Genre Electronic
acid house
rock | ||
"Believe" was the second single from The Chemical Brothers 2005 studio album Push the Button. The single was released in early May 2005 and peaked at #18 in the UK Singles Chart. Kele Okereke, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the indie rock band Bloc Party is featured on vocals. A remix of the song was featured in the 2005 snowboarding video "Flavor Country" by Sandbox.
Contents
Composition
John Bush from AllMusic described: "[The song] agonizing over an energized electroshock production composed of equal parts Prince and Chicago acid house."
Critical reception
While reviewing Push the Button, Robert Christgau called the song along with "The Big Jump", "rock the block." Thump, "an electronic music and culture channel" from Vice, listed the song as one of the duo's fifteen best collaborations, ranked at number 12. Rolling Stone's Bill Werde called the song "a club-anthem-in-waiting," "the urgent yelp" from Okereke while delivers the line "
Music video
The video was premiered on MTV on March 18, 2005. The music video for the song was directed by Dom and Nic, contains scenes filmed at the now defunct MG Rover Longbridge plant now owned by SAIC . It starts out with a man watching women in an exercise video dance on a window TV in a store, possibly spoofing the then-recent video for Eric Prydz's single "Call On Me". The man turns out to be a paranoid factory worker terrified of the automated assembly robot he operates, possibly under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs or possibly painkillers, as he has a cast on his left arm.
He imagines the machines watching and threatening him, seeing them outside the factory, chasing him before disappearing. Finally, even after quitting his job, the man is pursued to the top of the building by one of the arms, where it lunges at him before disappearing. He runs onto the street, and sees multiple machines lumbering toward him, and his view of the world disintegrates into a mess of geometric shapes and colours. He collapses, laughing hysterically as robots disappear once again.
The video won a MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video at the its 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards.