"Molitva" is a song with music by Vladimir Graić, lyrics by Saša Milošević Mare, and sung by Serbian singer Marija Šerifović. It was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. It was Serbia's Eurovision debut as an independent nation, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro having dissolved in June 2006. The song was released as a CD single in nine different versions on 27 July 2007 by Connective Records. "Molitva" also won the semi final in the 2007 competition, collecting 298 points, which was the highest number of points ever gained in the semi final under the single semi final format of the contest. It was succeeded as the Serbian Representative by Oro by Jelena Tomašević and as the winning song by Believe by Dima Bilan from Russia.
Background
Molitva was the first song containing no English language lyrics to win since Dana International's win for Israel in 1998 with "Diva". Molitva was the last entirely non-English song to win the Contest until the 2017 edition, where Portugal'sSalvador Sobral won with Amar pelos dois, as well as being the first time a ballad had won since televoting became the standard and the first one of the so-called Balkan Ballads that came to prominence since the late 1990s to win the contest. The song is also notable for its stage presentation because it lacked dance routines, revealing or showy costumes, pyrotechnics and other gimmicks. The Eurovision Song Contest is often accused of concentrating on these things instead of the music itself. Many elements of "Molitva" contrasted with the previous winner, "Hard Rock Hallelujah". Marija's performance was complemented by the notable presence of the five backing singers, who joined together afterwards to form Beauty Queens. They later joined her with a Serbian flag at the end.
Other versions
The English version is titled "Destiny", the Russian version is titled "Молитва", and The Finnish version is called "Rukoilen" and was performed by the Beauty Queens, not Marija. The song has also been released as a dance remix and a remix named "Jovan Radomir mix" by Swedish TV-presenter Jovan Radomir, who also wrote the English lyrics. An instrumental version has also been released as well as a karaoke version. The UK oompah band Oompah Brass recorded an instrumental version of "Molitva" on their album Oompocalypse Now , premiered at the 2007 Belgrade Beer Festival.
Use of the song
Molitva has been often played for many successes Serbia has had in the year 2007. It was played at a welcome party for Serbia's tennis players after their French Open successes. During Wimbledon 2007, Molitva was often used during clips displaying the courts and players on the BBC. It was mainly used before and after footage or interviews with the Serbian players. At the final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 24 May, Šerifović sang "Molitva" as the opening. The short 10 sec instrumental theme of the song can be heard even today on Radio Television of Serbia . In 2012, Šerifović performed this song during the interval act of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku. She was accompanied by traditional Azeri musical instruments. In 2015, the chorus of the song was played on Day 102 of the soap opera parody Kalyeserye of the Philippine noontime variety show Eat Bulaga!. Molitva was included in the list ofthe 10 best Eurovision winners according to the SBS in 2016 and to The Independent in 2019, while The Eurovision Times, a fan blog, ranked it as the third best Eurovision song of all time.
