"Runaway Baby" is a song by American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars from his debut studio album '' Doo-Wops & Hooligans'' (2010). It was written by Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine and

Brody Brown Brody Brown is an American songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. The winner of eight Grammy Awards, and a member of the songwriting and production team 1500 or Nothin', he has collaborated with Bruno Mars since 2008. Brown has also w ...

. The former three produced the track under their alias, the Smeezingtons. "Runaway Baby" is a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

, pop rock,

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

and soul record. Its lyrics detail a playboy who is willing to break every woman's heart regardless of their feelings. Instrumentally, the track relies on finger snaps, police sirens, hand claps and raspy guitar lines. It received mixed reviews from music critics, who considered it one of the standouts in the album, but criticized its lyrical content. "Runaway Baby" debuted and peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart after '' The X Factor'' performance, and it peaked at number 35 and 50 in New Zealand and on ''

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 advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, respectively. It was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). The singer performed "Runaway Baby" at the

54th Annual Grammy Awards The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted t ...

, at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show and on all his concerts since 2010. The performances included an extra break with a

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

dance and singing through a megaphone.

Composition and production

"Runaway Baby" is a retro

, pop rock, doo-wop soul, and bubblegum R&B track. Ken Tucker of NPR found it hard to categorize the recording. Its instrumentation includes 60's soul finger snaps, police sirens, hand claps and "scratchy guitarlines". The song was composed in the key of

E♭ minor E-flat minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature consists of six flats. Its relative key is G-flat major (or enharmonically F-sharp major) and its parallel key is E-flat maj ...

with a tempo of 144 beats per minute. Jon Caramanica from '' The New York Times'' felt that Mars was trying to "channel"

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

and called the track "jumpy" and "salacious". Brittany Spanos of '' Rolling Stone'' found the song to have "an electric riff as rapidly talk-sings" and to be inspired by

. Lyrically, "Runaway Baby" conveys the message for women to avoid Mars since he is willing to break their hearts due to being a playboy and a "rolling stone" ("Lord knows I'm a rolling stone"). Moreover, there is a comparison established between Mars's penis and a carrot, "So many eager young bunnies...and they all got to share it." "Runaway Baby" was written by Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine and

. The former three produced the track under their alias, the Smeezingtons. Mars, Levine and Brown played all the instruments on the song. Levine was in charge of engineering the song, which he did at Levcon Studios, in California. The mixing of "Runaway Baby" was done at Larrabee Sound Studios, in North Hollywood by Manny Marroquin, with Christian Plata and Erik Madrid serving as assistants. It was mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California.

Critical reception

"Runaway Baby" has received mixed reviews from music critics. Luke Gibson from '' HipHopDX'' and '' Entertainment Weekly'' Leah Greenblatt considered "Runaway Baby" one of the standouts in the album. The former added that Mars shows his writing skills, despite being so different from the other recordings. Yahoo!'s music critic, Sherri Thornhill, had a mixed opinion towards the track, calling it a "catchy" and "gets your toes tapping", despite not being one of her favorites. '' Blues & Soul'' publication found "Runaway Baby" to be inspired in The Jacksons, and "60s rock groove" from

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

and Cream; dubbing it as "enjoyable even though it's completely vacuous!". Brittany Spanos of ''Rolling Stone'' described the track as one of Mars's "catchiest and most infectious". On the other hand, Tim Sendra of AllMusic gave it a negative analysis, "is a pretty cheesy rocker, suffering from clichéd lyrics and production."

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

from '' The Guardian'' went on to analyze some verses and gave them a harsh review, "Mars compares his penis to a carrot", which could not only lead to speculation regarding its meaning, but also "it's an image that haunts the rest of the song." He continued criticizing as the lyrics tell that "the object of his affections" should not try to connected Mars which could be related to his "carrot-like penis". ''

MusicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

s Jamie Milton felt that the recording was one of the things wrong with the album as at its core "involves throwing everything into the fire", mainly due to its "bad-boy pop-punkrealms".

Commercial performance

Following Mars's performance on '' The X Factor'' on October 22, 2011, "Runaway Baby" debuted in three different charts according to the Official Charts Company, on the issue date of October 30, 2011. It entered at number 18 on the United Kingdom, spending 11 weeks on the chart. Moreover, it debuted at number 19 in Scotland and number five at the United Kingdom R&B chart. The song was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In 2012, it entered and peaked at number 66 and 50 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

and on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, respectively. "Runaway Baby" was certified platinum by the

(RIAA). In New Zealand, the single debuted at number 40, peaking at number 35 in its fourth week on the chart.

Live performances and other usage

Mars performed "Runaway Baby" live for the first time on June 24, 2011, at the ''

NBC's Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'' as he danced along with his band. The choreography was inspired by James Brown, and Mars picked up a megaphone to sing some of the lyrics. On October 22, 2011, Mars and his band wore matching red velvet Dolce & Gabbana suits during the song's performance on the results show of '' The X Factor UK''. Robbie Daw of

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

called the live show "rowdy", while a writer for

Rap-Up ''Rap-Up'' is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the ...

praised the performance, writing that it "rocked the house" due to his "James Brown funky moves" and singing into a megaphone. On February 12, 2012, Mars performed "Runaway Baby" during the

along with his band, wearing matching shining black-and-gold tuxedos. The stage, which was revealed during the rehearsals, included a wall with light bulbs and a giant marquee, which spelled "Live on Stage Bruno Mars." Furthermore, pyro and giant spotlights were used. The Grammys' executive producer Ken Erhlich wanted Mars to perform the track on the Grammys since he had seen it live. Mars's performance was dedicated to the soon deceased Whitney Houston. Claire Suddath of '' Time'' dubbed it as "retro Motown" and enjoyable. She found the James Brown-inspired choreography "spot-on". However, Suddath considered the singer to be "too perfect". She rated his performance a B+. MTV's Jocelyn Vena thought the performance was energetic and "triumphant". At the 2012 Met Gala, Mars performed "Runaway Baby", wearing Prada, with the James Brown breakdown, followed by a medley of covers, which included " Ni**as in Paris", " Roxanne" and "

Rock the Boat Rock the Boat may refer to: * "Rock the Boat" (The Hues Corporation song), 1974 * "Rock the Boat" (Aaliyah song), 2001 * "Rock the Boat" (Bob Sinclar song), featuring Pitbull, Dragonfly and Fatman Scoop, 2011 * ''Rock the Boat'', a 2000 televi ...

". Mars also performed a shortened version of the song as part of his Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show, with a reference to The Isley Brothers' " Shout" and the James Brown-inspired choreography. Mars rapped the words "give it away, give it away, give it away now" as the Red Hot Chili Peppers made their cameo. Idolator's Carl Williott complemented the singer's "strong live vocals and stellar footwork". American singer and actress Carly Rose Sonenclar covered the song on her YouTube channel. In 2017, Anatalia Villaranda covered "Runaway Baby" during her Blind Audition at The Voice. Mars also performed the song during

The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour was the first headlining concert tour by American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. Launched in support of his 2010 debut studio album ''Doo-Wops & Hooligans'', the tour was announced in October 2010 and included da ...

(2010–12), the Hooligans in Wondaland Tour (2011) and on The Moonshine Jungle Tour (2013–14). He also sang it on his debut concert residency, Bruno Mars at The Chelsea, Las Vegas (2013–15), the

24K Magic World Tour The 24K Magic World Tour was the fourth concert tour of American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars that was performed in support of his third studio album '' 24K Magic'' (2016) from March 2017 to December 2018. Anderson .Paak was the opening act f ...

(2017–18) and with

Anderson .Paak Brandon Paak Anderson (born February 8, 1986), better known by his stage name Anderson .Paak (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and drummer. He released his debut mixtape, ''O.B.E. Vol. 1,'' in 2012 and went on to rel ...

, as Silk Sonic, during An Evening with Silk Sonic at Park MGM (2022). In 2011, the track was used as the opening theme for the film ''Friends with Benefits''. In 2017, Dwayne Johnson chose the song to be used in the video game '' WWE 2K18''. In 2019, "Runaway Baby" was used in a commercial for Goal.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Doo-Wops & Hooligans''. * Bruno Mars – lead vocals, songwriting, instrumentation * Philip Lawrence – songwriting * Ari Levine – songwriting, instrumentation, engineer *

– songwriting, instrumentation * The Smeezingtons – production * Manny Marroquin – mixing * Erik Madrid – mixing assistant * Christian Plata – mixing assistant * Stephen Marcussen – mastering

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Certifications

References

{{Bruno Mars songs 2010 songs Bruno Mars songs Song recordings produced by the Smeezingtons Songs written by Bruno Mars Songs written by Ari Levine Songs written by Philip Lawrence (songwriter) American pop rock songs Songs written by Christopher Brody Brown Funk songs Doo-wop songs American soul songs