DANIELLE BRADBERY

                                                              "Runaways" 

                                                              Big Machine Records

This past month saw country music starlet Danielle Bradbery straddling the fine line between her past and her future when she earned an RIAA Gold certification for her 2021 single “Stop Draggin’ Your Boots” and appeared on Blake Shelton’s final episode of The Voice, while continuing to tease her anticipated next project with the very vulnerable song, “Monster.”

She now continues turning the pages into her next chapter by offering another glimpse into that future project with the release of “Runaways.”

The song that’s been acting as the opener on her current tour still sits firmly in that very vulnerable place, but it also sees her finding an anxious solution through the fleeting possibility that a change of scenery could provide nourishment for the soul.

The moody instrumentation through the verses allows Bradbery to utilize the power of her voice to capture the mundane emotions of feeling stuck while yearning to start over fresh, just her and the one she loves by her side, lamenting that they could burn taillights in the dark as they make their escape; something she continues to spell out in the second verse when she pleadingly tells that they could drive all night long and just keep going.

As the melody continues to build the anticipation, she confesses that so long as they’re together she feels at home, before the pounding strike of drums pops the punch of the chorus which sees the edgy guitars engulfing a heightened anxiety as she lifts her voice to hold the carefree push of her idea to just runaway:

“Put your hand in my hand

Don't look back, just go fast

Let the rear view fade

Boy, your love's all I need

Keep me up, baby, we could be a couple of runaways”

By never resolving the fact of whether they skipped town or not, “Runways” then becomes a fading thought process that acts mostly as an open letter to herself. By so loosely painting the pictures of her feeling trapped struggles, though, she expertly allows the listener to insert whatever they’re going through into their listening experience, giving the song a strong connectibility factor.

Couple that with the initially glamorous solution being to run away from your struggles not being that solid of an option, and we see Bradbery continuing to peel back another layer of vulnerable maturity that grasps the realities of that confusing space, stuck somewhere between here and there.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis) 

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