"Runaway" | |
---|---|
Eurovision Song Contest 2002 entry | |
Country | |
Artist(s) | |
Language | |
Composer(s) |
Alar Kotkas, Ilmar Laisaar, Pearu Paulus
|
Lyricist(s) |
Jana Hallas
|
Finals performance | |
Final result |
3rd (tie)
|
Final points |
111
|
Appearance chronology | |
◄ "Everybody" (2001) | |
"Eighties Coming Back" (2003) ► |
"Runaway" sung by Sahlene was the Eurovision 2002 entrant for that year's host nation, Estonia.
The song is an upbeat number with English lyrics which advise the narrator's "babe" to be more open minded in his life's vision: "just runaway to the stars/ I'll be waiting above". The resemblance of the melody of "Runaway" to that of "I Believe I Can Fly" was much noted: Alar Kotkas, co-writer of "Runaway", stated: "I know the two songs are similar" but denied any plagiarism.
The studio recording of "Runaway" was produced by Erik Bernholm: the background vocals were performed by Sahlene with one of her Eurovision backing vocalists Lena Olsson-Björkén. "Runaway" was Sahlene's only release on Virgin Records: the track made its album debut on her 2003 album release It's Been a While (M&L Records).
The song's composers Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar and Alar Kotkas (music) and Jana Hallas (lyrics), had previously written "Once In A Lifetime" the Estonian entrant for Eurovision 2000 performed by Ines and Ines was at first set to perform the song. However Ines withdrew shortly before Eurolaul 2002 - the Estonian preselection Eurovision round - and the song's composers, after unsuccessfully shopping their song to a number of Estonian singers including Koit Toome - contacted the Swedish division of Virgin Records who suggested Sahlene who was on the Virgin roster: on the evening of the same day Sahlene received a telephone call from Virgin Records and resultantly flew out to the Estonian capital of Tallinn at 6 a.m. the following morning. Sahlene had two weeks to work with the song's composers prior to performing "Runaway" in Eurolaul.