Runaway June ‘backstory’ EP Review

Oct 20, 2021

Runaway June released their EP titled backstory on Friday, August 20th, 2021. This release is lined up perfectly with the band joining Luke Bryan on his Proud To Be Right Here tour. With a wonderfully western rock-n-roll feel, Runaway June’s three-song EP brings high-energy back to the game. This folksy project dances around the ideas of heartache, heartbreak, as well as moving on. Full of girl-power, Naomi Cooke, Natalie Stovall, and Jennifer Wayne paint the scene for where their relationships began before settling down with their now partners. backstory is dripping with abundant harmonies and inspiring vocals, proving that “the Junes can do whatever they wish” (Rolling Stone).

The first track, “Forget About That,” written by Naomi Cooke, Jennifer Wayne, Corey Crowder, Emily Shackelton, and produced by Dann Huff is a feisty, relatable, jam that idealizes every positive emotion that resurfaces when you bump into your ex. It strokes the nerve that carries carpe diem causing you to miss the romance instead of remembering why the relationship ended in shambles.

Next on the EP is “Down The Middle” written by Naomi Cooke, Jennifer Wayne, Hannah Mulholland, Barry Dean, Tofer Brown, and also produced by Dann Huff. In no better form than a ballad, this song focuses on a painful breakup and how a “heart doesn’t break down the middle.” This smooth track will stir up emotions letting on that there is no quick fix for something such as heartache.

The final track on backstory, “T-Shirt” was written by Naomi Cooke, Jennifer Wayne, Adam Hambrick, and Mark Trussell who also produced it. This upbeat, empowerment track brings the EP to a full circle close, enveloped in good riddance relief that the heroine prevails her past with a lighthearted view of “been there, done that, got the t-shirt.”

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