(CNN) "Do you believe in life after love?" Cher used to sing. And if you've ever heard that song, you might now have an earworm in your head.

The singer's 1998 comeback track marked the first prominent use of a technology called "Auto-Tune", a pitch correcting software that has since changed the music industry.

Auto-Tune alters the pitch of a singing voice to make everyone sound perfectly in tune. When used properly, it's subtle enough that it can't be detected.

But Cher's producers played with the idea of cranking it up to 11, creating the now-familiar effect that is part human synthesizer, part robotic voice.

Andy Hildebrand, the inventor of autotune, told CNN: "My thinking was, ok, I'll put that setting in the software. But I didn't think anyone in their right mind would ever use it."

Read More