Kristin Davis hosted Sex and the City writer Cindy Chupack (whose other work includes writing and producing Modern Family, I’m Dying Up Here, Fleishman Is in Trouble, and plenty more) on her Are You a Charlotte? podcast to talk about the season 2 SATC episode “Evolution.”
You may recall that in that episode Davis’ Charlotte hooks up with Stephan, the “straight gay man” pastry chef played by future two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter Dan Futterman. A memorable moment for them is set to the tune of Cher‘s “Believe,” which at the time was a new, groundbreaking hit.
Now, you would think that securing rights to a song for use on a television show is something done by people at desks with legal contracts. There is, after all, a specific title for such a position — “Music Supervisor” — in the entertainment industry. But Sex and the City bends to no rules! And neither, for that matter, does Cher.
Cher in 2005, in a typically remarkable Cher outfit.
Tim Mosenfelder/GettyÂ
Davis and Chupack were eager to reminisce about a great night they had out on the town in service of HBO’s lawyers.
“Do you remember that we had to go to a Cher concert to get permission?” Davis asked her guest.
Chupack replied, “Yes, we all went. And she came and, like, talked to us before the show.”
That’s when Davis confessed, “I touched her, she was so fragile.”
Chupack said that the Grammy, Oscar, and Emmy-winning performer with over 100 million records sold worldwide (plus another 40 million with Sonny Bono) “had like a viking thing going on,” referring to a headpiece she was wearing. (Onstage, it seemed to fit, but in person “it was wow!”)
Cher, wearing radical things on her head for decades.
CBS Photo Archive/GettyÂ
Chupack also remembered that Cyndi Lauper was the opener, and the Sex and the City committee got to have dinner with Cher as Lauper was performing at Madison Square Garden. (Whether they were out at some special restaurant or just having $11 pretzels with packets of yellow mustard like the rest of us wasn’t mentioned — but we think we know the answer there.)
“We had to get her seal of approval, which is totally fine because we got to meet Cher, which is incredible,” Davis explained, with Chupack replying, “One of those experiences where you’re like, ‘Okay, I can’t believe this is my life.”
Davis added that whenever she hears “Believe” she “get[s] so happy and it reminds me of [Dan] Futterman and Cher. It’s a great thing.”
“Believe,” which won a Grammy for Best Dance Recording, sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, went to No. 1 in the U.S. (Cher’s fifth time reaching that height), and remains the top-selling single by a solo female vocalist in the U.K. It also pioneered the use of autotune. As we’ve written before, Cher owns autotune like Franz Liszt owned the pianoforte.
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