About If I Could Turn Back Time

"If I Could Turn Back Time" is a song recorded by American singer and actress Cher for her nineteenth studio album Heart of Stone (1989). It was released on July 1, 1989, by Geffen Records as the album's lead single. The song was written especially for Cher by Diane Warren, who produced it with Guy Roche. Cher initially disliked the track after listening to a demo tape sung by Warren, but subsequently changed her opinion after Warren convinced her to record it. Highly successful around the globe, "If I Could Turn Back Time" was seen as a major comeback for Cher in the late 1980s. It charted at number one in Australia as well as reaching number three in the United States and number six in the United Kingdom. It also became Cher's second consecutive solo number-one hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. The track was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for the sales of 500,000 copies. In November 2011, Billboard reported the digital sales of "If I Could Turn Back Time" to be 394,000 in the US.

The song was written by Diane Warren, who produced the song along with Guy Roche. While the soft rock track was specifically written for Cher, the singer initially disliked the song upon hearing a demo and turned it down. Warren claimed in 1991: "I got on my knees and pleaded. I told her I wasn't going to leave the room until she said yes, and finally, just to get rid of me, she did." In 2014, she further added: "She really hated [it], but I held her leg down during a session and said, 'You have to record it!'" According to Warren, Cher reportedly responded: "'Fuck you, bitch! You're hurting my leg! OK, I'll try it.' Once Cher sang it, she gave me this look like, 'You were right'.