Eurovision 2008 - Russia

Beliving
Dima Bilan

Music: Timothy Z.Mosley (Timbaland)
Lyrics: Timothy Z.Mosley (Timbaland), Dima Bilan


History (1956 to 2007):

Russia's previous appearances: 11 year(s) out of 52
Years participated: 1994-1995; 1997; 2000-
Best result: 2nd (2000, 2006)

Russia made its Eurovision début in 1994, when Youddiph achieved a creditable 9th place. Subsequent entries were memorable - 1995's for its bizarre title, 'Lullaby for a volcano', and 1997's for Alla Pugacheva's unfeasibly big hair - but neither performed terribly well, finishing 17th and 15th respectively. Since 2000, Russia has recorded some much improved results, due to some strong songs and the decision to perform most of them in English. Alsou and her song 'Solo' finished a strong 2nd in 2000, followed by a reasonable 12th place in 2001 and 10th in 2002.

Russia had high hopes for victory in 2003, sending the controversial 'lesbian' duo t.A.T.u to Eurovision. Fresh from a massive international hit with 'All the things she said', it was inevitable that t.A.T.u's song, 'Ne ver', ne bojsia', would do well. However, like Baccara before them (whose 1978 Eurovision entry for Luxembourg - 'Parlez-vous français?' - followed their international hit 'Yes sir, I can boogie'), global success prior to Eurovision failed to translate into victory, and t.A.T.u had to be content with 3rd place. It was very close, though - t.A.T.u finished just one point behind 2nd-placed Belgium, and three behind Sertab's winning song for Turkey. Interestingly, the UK was one of only two countries (the other being Ireland) to give Russia no points at all, despite 'All the things she said' already topping the UK charts earlier in 2003 - points from either country would almost certainly have given t.A.T.u victory. To be fair, the studio recording of 'Ne ver', ne bojsia' is fantastic, but t.A.T.u's performance on the night was second only to Jemini's in terms of tunelessness; 3rd place was about as much as it deserved. Nevertheless, it was quite enough to secure Russia's place in the Final for 2004.

Following up t.A.T.u was always going to be difficult, but Russia had a good try by sending its own Avril Lavigne lookalike, Julia Savicheva. Delivering a tuneless performance worthy of her predecessors, Julia was the beneficiary of 2004's most localised voting - picking up at least 8 points for 'Believe me' from all the former Soviet countries (making up 48 of its total of 67), but only 19 from all the others put together. However, it was probably due - at least in part - to her existing popularity within the former Soviet nations than overtly political voting. Whatever the reasons, it was quite enough to propel her to 11th place, narrowly securing Russia's direct participation in the 2005 Final in the process.

For 2005, Russia opted for another angsty female performer, this time in the form of Natalia Podolskaya and the grammatically flawed 'Nobody hurt no one'. However, despite picking up a creditable 57 points - all from countries bordering Russia - 15th place fell well short of gaining Russia direct entry to the 2006 Final, and a place in the Semi Final now beckons.

In 2006 Russia was represented by Dima Bilan finishing 2nd, while in 2007 was represented by the girl band Serebro finishing 3rd with 207 points.


This year's entry:





My opinion & prediction:

Dima Bilan returns for Russia in 2008, after finishing 2nd in 2006, behind Lordi’s rock. He wants revenge and he might get it. The song is as beautiful as ,,Never let you go”, and it can go all the way.

My prediction for the Semi Final: 1st to 3rd
My prediction for the Final: Definite qualifier; 1st to 4th, possible winner