Believe (Dima Bilan song)

"Believe" is the winning Russian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008[3] in Belgrade, sung by Dima Bilan. The song was written by Jim Beanz (a.k.a. James Washington) and Bilan himself.

"Believe"
Single by Dima Bilan
from the album Protiv pravil and Believe
ReleasedMay 26, 2008 (2008-05-26)
Recorded2008
Genre
Length3:54
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Alternative cover
Belgian cover for Believe
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 entry
Country
Artist(s)
With
Language
English
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)
  • Dima Bilan
  • Jim Beanz
Finals performance
Semi-final result
3rd
Semi-final points
135
Final result
1st
Final points
272
Entry chronology
◄ "Song #1" (2007)
"Mamo" (2009) ►

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 named it 37th best Eurovision-winning song of all time.[4]

History
Edvin Marton, Dima Bilan and Evgeni Plushenko performing "Believe".

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, skated on artificial ice on stage as part of the song performance, while the Hungarian composer and violinist Edvin Marton played his Stradivarius.[5]

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, 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 (Все в твоих руках, "All in your hands"), which was equally popular in many countries.

Track listing
Russian edition
  1. "Believe" (radio version)
  2. "Believe" (with violin)
  3. "Believe" (with violin, karaoke)
  4. "Believe" (Russian version)
  5. "Believe" (Russian version, karaoke)
  6. "Believe" (music video)
  7. "Как раньше" 2.0 (music video)
  8. "Как раньше" 2.0 (Karaoke)
  9. "Photosession"
  10. "Dima's biography" (in English)
German edition[6]
  1. "Believe" (Eurovision version)
  2. "Believe" (radio edit)
  3. "Believe" (Russian version)
  4. "Believe" (music video)
Belgian edition
  1. "Believe" (radio version) – 3:17
  2. "Believe" (Russian version) – 3:17
  3. "Believe" (Spanish version) – 3:17
  4. "Believe" (music video) – 4:03

Release history
Region Date
Russia May 26, 2008 (2008-05-26)
Germany June 6, 2008 (2008-06-06)
Belgium July 7, 2008 (2008-07-07)
Denmark July 16, 2008 (2008-07-16)
Finland
Norway
Sweden

Charts

References
  1. "Dima Bilan again conquers Russian hearts". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  2. Believe (Liner notes). Dima Bilan. All Music Publishing/Koala Bear/Sony/ATV UK/Publishing James Washington/Copyright Control. 2008.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. "Dima Bilan again conquers Russian hearts". Eurovision.tv. 2008-03-09. Archived from the original on 10 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  4. Kelly, Ben (2022-05-10). "All 68 winning Eurovision songs ranked from worst to best". The Independent. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  5. Bilan Planning To Put On A Show Archived 2008-05-20 at the Wayback Machine, OLBG, May 14, 2008.
  6. German edition of Believe
  7. "Dima Bilan – Believe" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  8. Dima Bilan — Believe. TopHit. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  9. "Dima Bilan – Believe" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  10. "Dima Bilan – Believe". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  11. "Популярные хиты 2008" [Popular hits 2008] (in Russian). Tophit. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
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