"Run Away with Me" is a song by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen. It was released as the second single from her third studio album Emotion on July 17, 2015, by Universal Music Group. The song was written by Jepsen, Mattman & Robin (credited as Mattias Larsson and Robin Fredriksson), Jonnali Parmenius, Oscar Holter, and Shellback. Produced by Mattman & Robin and Shellback, "Run Away with Me" is a dance-pop and synth-pop tune with an upbeat production containing a distorted, reverbed saxophone riff.
"Run Away with Me" was accompanied by a DIY music video filmed by Jepsen's then-partner David Kalani Larkins in Paris, Tokyo and New York City, which also premiered in July 2015. The song was only a minor success in the charts, but received a very positive reception from music critics.
Music and production
"Run Away with Me" runs for four minutes and eleven seconds. Carly Rae Jepsen wrote the song with duo Mattman & Robin, who is credited separately as Mattias Larsson and Robin Fredriksson, Shellback, Jonnali Parmenius, and Oscar Holter. Production was handled by Shellback and Mattman & Robin, who also programmed it. "Run Away with Me" is a dance-pop and synth-pop track featuring a distorted, reverbed saxophone riff. The upbeat production incorporates percussive synths, pedal tones, multi-tracked vocals and cavernous drums. Rachel Seo from Variety said the song has a "galloping beat and soaring chorus".
Critical reception
"Run Away with Me" received universal acclaim from music critics. Spin magazine referred to "Run Away with Me" as "the best pop song of 2015 yet", "an undeniable hit waiting in the wings for its moment", and a "big, bold, beautiful masterpiece". Paper magazine hailed the song as "just as much the pop perfection that is 'I Really Like You'" and "the perfect anthemic summer jam". USA Today welcomed "Run Away with Me" as "a marked improvement over ['I Really Like You']". Time magazine wrote of the track, "'Run Away With Me' marries euphoric Swedish dance-pop with a pressing nostalgia for your teenage years, a time when the littlest crushes felt like time bombs and a time Jepsen is really, really, really skilled at evoking. In that sense, it’s 'Teenage Dream 2.0', right down to a bridge so catchy she has to repeat it twice".
Rolling Stone ranked "Run Away with Me" at number 49 on their year-end list of the 50 best songs of 2015. Village Voice named "Run Away with Me" the 11th-best single released in 2015 on their annual year-end critics' poll, Pazz & Jop. Pitchfork ranked it at number 36 on their 200 best songs of the decade list, saying that "fueled by a yearning saxophone riff and colossal drums, Jepsen gleefully repeats her heartfelt invitation until the rest of the world melts away. "Over the weekend, we could turn the world to gold," she murmurs with a quiet devotion, letting the image of two gilded lovers linger in the air." Acclaimed Music ranked it as the 7th best song of the year and the 460th best song of all time.
Varietys Rachel Seo named it Jepsen's best song in October 2022, writing that its "galloping beat and soaring chorus is the stuff of every coming-of-age swan song for those whose bildungsromane were written, or re-written, during the [2010s], joining the array of tracks — like Lorde's 'Green Light' or Taylor Swift's 'Style' — that have emerged as frontrunners of music written to express something profound about growing up and falling hard. 'Run Away With Me' feels the same played anywhere at any time of day: transcendent, timeless and completely given over to the feeling, with an intentional disregard of whether that feeling is love or its imitation."
Year-end lists
Decade-end lists
Commercial performance
"Run Away with Me" did not repeat the major commercial success of the previous single and only made a minor impact on the charts. It reached the top 30 in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Scotland, and briefly charted within the top 100 in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia.