Released July 7, 2017
3.5 / 10
Tayla Parx is not necessarily a name on your radar though she's big in songwriting land. She has writing credits on some of the biggest pop hits of the past few years, including 2018 chart-toppers "Love Lies" by Khalid and Normani, "Thank U, Next" and "High Hopes": in conclusion, you have the right to blame her for the infinite loop of radio plays those songs got, for better or for worse. On her 2017 single with Khalid, she sings about escaping her circle's judgmental gaze to find refuge with a lover. The message could easily extend to platonic relationships, basically being grateful for a strong support system. All that is nice and well but I have several grievances with the sound. The track opens with an old turntable grain, in an explicit effort to bring a nostalgic flavor. The crackling also makes the listener think of flames slowly eating up their kindling. Then Khalid kicks off the vocals on a backdrop of guitar that progresses into an unfortunate hybrid between an acoustic jam and a trap chorus. The beats give away the conscious effort to ride on contemporary trends despite the a context that doesn't lend itself well to them. What's more, Tayla and Khalid's vocals don't mesh agreeably together: both are decent vocalists on their own yet the harmonization throughout sounds off. All this makes for a song that feels like sleeping on the dancefloor. You might like sleeping, you might like dancing, but sleep-dancing is a very niche kink that I doubt most of us are able to indulge in. With all that said, "Runaway" demonstrates Tayla's knack for hit-making: the song plays nicely if you don't pay attention at all and have it on in the background. It almost feels like the track was made with this intention in mind, almost hypnotically uneventful. In any case, Tayla and Khalid don't make a very compelling case for running away with each other; had they done so, maybe chemistry would've elevated what currently stands as a strenuously mediocre single.
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