Runaway (Kanye West song)
"Runaway" is a song by American rapper Kanye West featuring fellow American rapper Pusha T, released as the second single from the former's fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). The song was written by the artists alongside Emile, Jeff Bhasker, Mike Dean, and Malik Yusef with the first three co-producing it with ye. The composition features repetitive piano riffs, intricate samples and a production style with several similarities to West's album 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Described as a deeply personal song in nature, it expresses West's thoughts on his failed relationships, and his acceptance of the media's perception of him. Lyrically, the song explores criticism aimed at West in the past.
"Runaway"
October 4, 2010
2009–2010
Avex, Honolulu
- 9:08 (album version)
- 5:39 (single version)
West
Before the song's premiere at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, it generated substantial public interest due to what had happened the year prior at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. West's performance at its premiere received positive reviews, with the full song being released online on October 4, 2010. The song itself received universal acclaim from music critics and was listed amongst the best songs of the year by several publications, including MTV, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Complex, New York Post, amongst others. Critics praised the song for its sincere subject matter, the openness of the song, and the soulful, clean production. The song quickly became one of the best-reviewed singles and is considered a tour-de-force by West, who was then considered to be at the peak of his artistry. Critics noted that the track solidified West's commercial comeback with the public. The song has since appeared on multiple decade-end and all-time lists as one of the greatest songs of all time, including at number 25 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2021.
The song debuted and peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at position 12 and is the centerpiece of Runaway, a 35-minute short film featuring the majority of songs from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The song's nearly ten-minute music video features ballet dancers performing elaborate choreography. The music video received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised the scope of the video, the degree of creativity and the production design.
Background and development[edit]
Recording[edit]
Some of the inspiration of the song was derived from various media controversies, including West's interruption of recording artist Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards during her acceptance speech.[1] The controversy caused West to exile himself to Oahu, Hawaii and record his fifth studio album mostly in a reclusive nature, shying away from collaborating with artists he wasn't personally close to.[2] Like the majority of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, "Runaway" was produced there.[3] Amongst the various artists invited down to Hawaii to record songs for the album was Pusha T, a rapper known for the hip-hop duo Clipse.[3]
According to Pusha T, the song was recorded in either March or April 2010.[3] Most of the recording crew on the project had forgotten and or forgiven West for the incident with Swift, including Pusha T, who described the event as "old news".[3] By the time Pusha T was supposed to record his verse for the song, West had already recorded a majority of the song. Pusha T had to record his verse several times, because West didn't think Pusha T was being mean enough for the concept of the song the first few times.[3] Pusha T commented that re-doing a verse was something he very rarely did.[3] Generally, Pusha T would write his verses very quickly, and noted that he made the exception for West who he had described as a perfectionist.[3] During the recording process, the two had collaborated on several songs together.[3] Pusha T called the recording process of the song "interesting", and stated:
Usage in other media[edit]
"Runaway" was used in the trailer for The Hangover Part III.[85] The song was featured in a scene in The Night Before.[86] A modified piano rendition by Ramin Djawadi, was used in a trailer for season 2 of Westworld, which premiered during Super Bowl LII.[87]
The track was used in a Calvin Klein advert titled "Meet Our Women" for the fragrance Women, featuring actresses Lupita Nyong'o and Saoirse Ronan.[88] The song served as the theme for the trailer of season 16 of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.[89] In 2012, the song was used in Bud Light Platinum commercial, titled ‘Factory,’ which aired during Super Bowl XLVI.[90]
The song’s drums would later be sampled in the song "True Love" on West’s album, Donda 2.
Technical
Musicians