"Believe in Me" is a song recorded by American recording artist Michelle Williams from her fourth studio album

Journey to Freedom ''Journey to Freedom'' is a 1957 American film. The story follows a Bulgarian who escapes from behind the Iron Curtain through Istanbul, Paris and Toronto to seek freedom in Los Angeles, California, but is doggedly pursued by Communist agents ...

(2014). It was written by Michelle Williams, Carmen Reece, Al Sherrod Lambert and Harmony Samuels who also produced it, and was released by

E1 Music MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had ...

on February 27, 2015.

Background

"Believe in Me" is the fourth single from ''Journey to Freedom''. The

Christian Post ''The Christian Post'' is an American non-denominational, conservative, evangelical Christian online newspaper. Based in Washington, D.C., it was founded in March 2004. News topics include the Church, ministries, missions, education, Christ ...

described the song as 'the most personal on her record', writing ' illiamsdescribed penning "Believe in Me," the song she most connects with on her album'. "People might tell you 'oh my gosh you're great, you have a great calling on your life,' or 'Oh your hair is so pretty today'" Williams told CP. "...If I come to you and give you a compliment, it probably should be confirmation of what you already know. I just did not believe, I didn't think I was as good as other people around me." The song was originally going to feature

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. During the gr ...

and Beyoncé, but they decided to feature on " Say Yes" instead. Williams' executive producer Phil Thornton spoke about the feature in a 2016 Centric documentary: "We were in the final stages of recording 'Journey To Freedom' and Michelle and I talked about having Kelly and Beyoncé join her on a track. And we narrowed it down to two songs on the album. One of the songs was 'Believe In Me' and the other one was 'Say Yes'.". Michelle added: "And I actually wanted Beyoncé and Kelly to be on another song on my album, but when they heard 'When Jesus Say Yes' they were like 'Michelle this sounds something like we could rock.'". Williams performed the song at a post

Stellar Award A Stellar Award is an award presented by SAGMA to recognize achievements in the gospel music industry.Sagma
The Stell ...

celebration hosted by E1 Music on Saturday March 28.

Music video

A music video for "Believe in Me" was released on April 29, 2015. Premiering on

VH1 Soul BET Soul is an American pay television network that is controlled by the BET Networks division of Paramount Global, which owns the network. The channel showcases R&B, funk, soul, neo soul, hip hop, jazz and Motown music from various decades. T ...

and VH1.com, the video was Williams' second to be directed by

Matthew A. Cherry Matthew A. Cherry (born December 14, 1981) is an American film director, writer, producer, and former American football player. He wrote and directed two independent films, ''The Last Fall'' (2012), and ''9 Rides'' (2016). He is best known for th ...

who also directed the

Stellar Award A Stellar Award is an award presented by SAGMA to recognize achievements in the gospel music industry.Sagma
The Stell ...

-winning "Say Yes". Proceeding the release, Williams held a fan competition requesting fans to submit videos of themselves for inclusion in the music video. Her website read, 'If your video is selected we are going to edit a clip of your submission together along with other fan submitted videos along with Michelle singing the song in a similar way to create an official music video for the record (ala Pharrell – Happy or Nickelback – Rockstar)'

References

{{authority control 2015 songs 2015 singles Michelle Williams (singer) songs Songs written by Harmony Samuels Songs written by Carmen Reece Songs written by Al Sherrod Lambert Songs written by Michelle Williams (singer) MNRK Music Group singles