Released May 19, 2003 Recorded 2003 Label Universal | Format Music video only Length 3:03 | |
Genre Europop, dance-pop, electronica | ||
"Ne Ver', Ne Bojsia" (Cyrillic: "Не верь, не бойся"; Translated: "Don't believe, don't fear") also known as "Ne Ver', Ne Boisia, i Ne Prosi" ("Don't Believe, Don't Fear and Don't Ask") is a song by t.A.T.u. that they performed at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest while representing Russia. Although the girls placed a close third, the song got much attention.
Contents
Production
The title of the song is based on a Russian prison saying, which entered Russian mainstream culture thanks to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's book The Gulag Archipelago.
According to Australian-born Mars Lasar, the song was produced by him and Shapovalov by sending MP3s over the internet to each other, with Mars in the U.S. and Shapovalov in Russia.
There are several versions of the song, including the promotional version that was used for Eurovision promotions.
Release
The song was first released on the UK Maxi single for "Not Gonna Get Us" on May 19, 2003. It was then released on the UK Deluxe Edition of 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane on May 26, 2003. It was then released on November 25, 2003 in t.A.T.u. Remixes. The song reappeared in 2006 on The Best.
The only physical single for "Ne Ver', Ne Bojsia" was a 'not for sale' promo release distributed for Eurovision.
Music video
The song has a music video that contains videos of wars, accidents, and other pictures of the real world, as well as videos of Lena and Yulia. The video is on both t.A.T.u.'s official MySpace and YouTube pages.
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
t.A.T.u represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest with this song. It performed eleventh on the night (following Germany's Lou with "Let's Get Happy" and preceding Spain's Beth with "Dime"). At the close of the voting had received 164 points, placing 3rd in a field of 26.
The UK and Ireland were the only countries in the contest not to vote for this song. This led to complaints from the Russian officials which then lead to the BBC and RTÉ revealing the full order of how the countries had voted (something which they had never done before or since). The Russian entry was in neither of their top ten lists. If this had not been the case, there would have been a good chance that the song could have won. The song was only one point behind second placed song from Belgium and three points behind the winning song from Turkey.