"Believe" is the winning entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

in Belgrade, sung by

Dima Bilan Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (russian: Ди́ма Никола́евич Била́н; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan, russian: Ви́ктор Никола́евич Бела́н, links=no; 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer, songwriter and acto ...

. The song was written by

Jim Beanz James David Washington (born August 26, 1980), known professionally as Jim BEANZ, is an American vocal producer, songwriter, actor, singer and record producer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He is signed to Timbaland Productions and Sunset Enterta ...

(a.k.a. James Washington) and Bilan himself. Earlier, Bilan also represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, with the dark pop song " Never Let You Go", where he took second place. In 2022, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' named it 37th best Eurovision-winning song of all time.

History

On 20 May 2008 Bilan sang in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, and the song was voted into the final by public vote. It was performed 24th out of 25 songs in the final on 24 May 2008. The Russian figure skater, Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion

Evgeni Plushenko Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (, born 3 November 1982) is a Russian former figure skater. He is a four-time Olympic medalist (2006 gold, 2014 team gold, 2002 & 2010 silver), a three-time World champion (2001, 2003, 2004), a seven-time European ...

, skated on artificial ice on stage as part of the song performance, while the Hungarian composer and violinist

Edvin Marton Edvin Marton (born Lajos Edvin Csűry, 17 February 1974, Vylok, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian-born Hungarian composer and violinist. He became known as the violinist of the skaters, mainly because Evgeni Plushenko, Stéphane Lambiel, Yuzuru Hanyu ...

played his

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ...

. This song won the contest, finishing with a total of 272 points, becoming the fourth former Soviet Union country to win the annual contest. Dmitriy Medvedev, then

president of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

, admitted that he himself watched the contest and called right away to congratulate Bilan.

Music video

In March 2008 a video was produced for the song Believe. The whole team took part in the production – Dima Bilan, Evgeni Plushenko, Edvin Marton and Yana Rudkovskaya, producer of Dima Bilan. 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 Dima Bilan is watching TV and finds out that a child needs help. He immediately calls his producer, Yana 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.

Versions

The song also has a Russian version (, "All in your hands"), which was equally popular in many countries.

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

{{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