Cher unveils new Spanish-language cover of ABBA’s Chiquitita – and it’s all in aid of a good cause

It will mark the first time Cher has ever released a song in Spanish

Cher has released a brand new ABBA cover in aid of a good cause.

The singer, who is working on a follow-up to her 2018 ABBA covers album Dancing Queen, revealed a Spanish-language cover of the track “Chiquitita”.

The track will be released on Friday, with a music video set to debut on Saturday evening as part of a virtual telethon for the charity UNICEF.

The singer tweeted: “I am SO proud to premiere a new Spanish ‘Chiquitita’ during the broadcast of UNICEF Won’t Stop.

“I admired UNICEF since I was a little girl. Let’s prioritise every child around the world as if they were our own!”

Cher had to learn to sing in Spanish for ‘Chiquitita’.

It will mark the first time Cher has ever released a song in Spanish – mirroring ABBA, who released a Spanish version of the song on their album Gracias Por La Música.

Cher had to learn Spanish for the track

Cher had to learn Spanish for the track

Speaking to Billboard, Cher explained: “It was difficult to sing something in Spanish that you have sung in English because I’m a perfectionist.

“Singing in another language, trying to make it emotional and getting the words right… they have letters that make a completely different sound than

“I’m used to or than is done in English. We don’t roll any of our R’s. We recorded it four times while my engineer and the woman who taught me the song were both in England over Skype.

“I kept going back and back over certain lines. I don’t speak Spanish, but 40 years ago I knew a teeny bit of it. Still, my pronunciation is pretty good.”

Icon is following ABBA’s footsteps by releasing ‘Chiquitita’ for UNICEF.

The tie-up with UNICEF to release the song brings some nice symmetry, as ABBA themselves debuted “Chiquitita” during a 1979 UNICEF charity event at the United Nations General Assembly. To this day, royalties from the track go to UNICEF.

The singer added: “UNICEF called and I told them I would donate my proceeds from the song like ABBA did with their Spanish version.

“I shot my part of the video at home and they later sent me the final cut with children from around the world in it. It’s such a beautiful, optimistic experience.

“It’s great when you can see anything positive now because all of the turmoil we are in.”

Sadly, it sounds like the coronavirus lockdown has killed off many of Cher’s future projects.

She explained to Billboard: “This cut everything off right now. I can still work on music here, but I was going to do two movies and I don’t know when that will happen now.

“There is a backlog of films too, so things that were about to go in production will happen first when it starts back up. But honestly, I don’t know when our lives will come back together in a way where we would feel safe going into a studio or going to work again.

“I can’t imagine that’s going to happen for a long, long time.”

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