"Runaway" is a song recorded, written and produced by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

-based group

Deee-Lite Deee-Lite was an American house and dance music group formed in New York City. The group's best-known single is "Groove Is in the Heart", which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album ''World Clique'' (1990), and was a top-ten hit i ...

, released on May 28, 1992 by Elektra Records as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from their second studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, ''

Infinity Within ''Infinity Within'' is the second studio album by American house and club/dance group Deee-Lite. Released in 1992 on Elektra, the second album, through its lyrical content, instrumentation, and overall tone, showcases the band's political activi ...

'' (1992). It is the group's fourth single to top the US '' Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart. In Europe, the song was a top 10 hit in Greece and a top 20 hit in Finland, as well as peaking at number nine on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record ...

and number 12 on the

European Dance Radio Chart The European Dance Radio Chart (also known as European Dance Radio Top 25) was a weekly chart compiled by pan-European magazine '' Music & Media''. After dance music had played a more dominant role on the magazine's Eurochart Hot 100 in the beginn ...

Critical reception

Heather Phares from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

named the song one of her "Track Picks" from the ''

'' album. Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' noted that

Lady Miss Kier Kierin Magenta Kirby (aka Lady Miss Kier) is an American singer, songwriter, DJ, designer, fashion icon, and activist. During her career, Lady Miss Kier has been the vocalist for the band Deee-Lite, a disc jockey, and solo songwriter. She support ...

"has evolved into a far more confident diva, while cohorts Super DJ Dmitry and Jungle DJ Towa Towa keep an ear to current sounds while maintaining a reverence for retro funk and disco." Dave Sholin from the '' Gavin Report'' felt it "stays in the uptempo groove with that House intensity that's sure to make it a club as well as radio favorite." '' Melody Maker'' concluded that "Deee-Lite, along with

C&C Music Factory C+C Music Factory was an American musical group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés. The group is best known for their five hit singles: " Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)", " Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll)", " Things T ...

, are still the most up-to-date mainstream American dance act". A reviewer from '' Music & Media'' said, "During their absence another weird trio—

Army of Lovers Army of Lovers is a Swedish dance- pop group which formed in 1987 and had a number of hits in Europe throughout the 1990s. Some of their biggest successes include the song "Crucified", which was a big hit in Europe, charting 31 weeks in the E ...

—took over the reins. But now the dance loonies are back, although not as odd ball as before and more mainstream." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' stated, "Still looking outlandish, Deee-Lite slide closer to the dance mainstream with "Runaway", a hustling

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

groover that sounds like it was mixed by either Steve Hurley or

Joey Negro David Russell Lee (born 18 June 1964) is an English DJ and house music producer, formerly known by the stage name Joey Negro, which he retired in July 2020 following the George Floyd protests. He has released music under a variety of pseud ...

, though neither was actually involved." Davydd Chong from the '' RM'' Dance Update described the song as "a reviving breath of fresh air", complimenting its "soothing keyboard riffs" and "candy-encased vocals". Sian Pattenden from '' Smash Hits'' gave it five out of five and named it Best New Single, commenting, "They're back! With a stomping curlicue in the lustrous toupee of pop! Housey backbeat combined with chomping bass and swishy pingy sounds amongst Lady Miss Kier's vocals de gusto". Joe Brown from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' felt that the "deceptively slight melodic hooks" of "Runaway" "prove infuriatingly tenacious."Brown, Joe (July 17, 1992). "Moving the Feet, Shaking the Mind". ''

''.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Runaway" was directed by American filmmaker and artist Gus Van Sant.

Track listing and formats

* German CD maxi-single # "Runaway" (Sampladelic Radio Edit) – 3:52 # "Runaway" (Greyhound Extended Mix) – 5:40 # "Rubber Lover" (Skin Tight Mix) – 4:29 # "Runaway" (

Masters at Work Masters at Work is the American garage house production and remix team of "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. The duo has produced music together under the names MAW, KenLou, Sole Fusion, Hardrive, and Nuyorican Soul. They have been ...

Dub) – 6:37

Charts

References

{{Deee-Lite 1992 singles 1992 songs Dance-pop songs Deee-Lite songs Elektra Records singles Songs written by Towa Tei