"Believe" is a song recorded by Russian singer Dima Bilan written by Jim Beanz and Bilan himself. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 held in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, resulting in the country's only ever win at the contest.

Background

Conception

"Believe" was written by Dima Bilan and Jim Beanz. It was recorded by Bilan, with production by Beanz and

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

. He also recorded a Russian version titled "" ("All in your hands"), and a Spanish version titled "Creer".

National Selection

On 9 March 2008, "Believe" performed by Bilan competed in the of Evrovidenie, the national final organised by Rossiya Channel (RTR) to select its song and performer for the of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. The song won the competition becoming the –and Bilan the performer– for Eurovision. Bilan had already represented Russia at the , with the dark pop song " Never Let You Go", where he placed second.

Music video

Later in March 2008, a video was produced for the song. The whole team took part in the production – Dima Bilan, Evgeni Plushenko, Edvin Marton, and Yana Rudkovskaya –Dima Bilan's producer–. The action of the video starts in a hospital where a mother finds out that her son has leukaemia and needs an expensive surgery. Then the action proceeds to a bar where Bilan is watching television and finds out that a child needs help. He immediately calls his producer, Rudkovskaya, and tells her that they have to do something to raise money to help a child survive. They decide to give a charity concert with all the three participants performing. At the end of the video you can see the boy after the surgery. He smiles, gets up from the wheelchair and runs to greet the people who saved his life. Dima, Evgeni, and Edvin meet the boy with presents happy that the money raised at the concert saved a child's life. The video is strongly connected to the song delivering the message that everything is possible in this world if you only believe.

Eurovision

On 20 May 2008, the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the

Belgrade Arena The Belgrade Arena ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Београдска арена, Beogradska arena, separator=" / ") is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Belgrade, Serbia. It is designed as a universal hall for sports, cultural events and other programs. ...

hosted by

Radio Television of Serbia The Serbian Broadcasting Corporation, more commonly referred to as Radio Television of Serbia (), or RTS (), is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Serbia. RTS has four organizational units – radio, television, music pro ...

(RTS) and broadcast live throughout the continent. Bilan performed "Believe" eighteenth on the evening accompanied by Evgeni Plushenko –skating on artificial ice– and Edvin Marton –playing his

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

violin–, following 's "" by

Nico Christa Päffgen (; 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988), known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model. Nico had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's '' La Dolce Vita'' (1960) and Andy Warhol's ...

and Vlad and preceding 's " Secret Combination" by Kalomira. After the grand final it was revealed that it had received in its semi-final 135 points, placing third in a field of nineteen and qualifying for the final. On 24 May 2008, the grand final for the Eurovision Song Contest was held. Bilan performed again "Believe" twenty-fourth on the evening, following 's "" by Jelena Tomašević and Bora Dugić and preceding 's " Hold On Be Strong" by Maria. The song won the contest, finishing first with a total of 272 points, becoming the first ever win for Russia, and the fourth for a former Soviet Union country. Dmitriy Medvedev,

president of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

at the time, admitted that he had watched the contest and called right away to congratulate Bilan.

Aftermath

On 31 March 2015, Bilan performed a medley of "Believe" and "Never Let You Go" in the Eurovision sixtieth anniversary show ''

Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' (also known as ''Eurovision's Greatest Hits'') was a live television concert programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation (BB ...

'' held in London.

Track listing

;Russian edition # "Believe" (radio version) # "Believe" (with violin) # "Believe" (with violin, karaoke) # "Believe" (Russian version) # "Believe" (Russian version, karaoke) # "Believe" (music video) # "" 2.0 (music video) # "" 2.0 (Karaoke) # "Photosession" # "Dima's biography" (in English) ;German editionGerman edition of Believe
/ref> # "Believe" (Eurovision version) # "Believe" (radio edit) # "Believe" (Russian version) # "Believe" (music video) ;Belgian edition # "Believe" (radio version) – 3:17 # "Believe" (Russian version) – 3:17 # "Believe" (Spanish version) – 3:17 # "Believe" (music video) – 4:03

Release history

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Believe (Dima Bilan Song) Eurovision songs of Russia Eurovision songs of 2008 2008 singles Songs written by Jim Beanz Eurovision Song Contest-winning songs Universal Music Group singles EMI Records singles Dima Bilan songs 2008 songs English-language Russian songs Number-one singles in the Commonwealth of Independent States