"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 U ...

-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 ...

, released on May 28, 1992 by

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between th ...

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 ...

from their second studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

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 activis ...

'' (1992). It is the group's fourth single to top the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as ...

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 beginnin ...

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 dat ...

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

'' album.

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

'' 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 suppor ...

"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 The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The ...

'' felt it "stays in the uptempo groove with that

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air ...

intensity that's sure to make it a club as well as radio favorite." ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' concluded that "Deee-Lite, along with C&C Music Factory, are still the most up-to-date mainstream American dance act". A reviewer from ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' 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 Eu ...

—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 groover that sounds like it was mixed by either

Steve Hurley ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve A ...

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 pseudo ...

, 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 ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' 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 n ...

'' 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 devi ...

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