Conception "Run Away" was composed by
Anton Ragoza and
Sergey Stepanov with English lyrics by Alina Galetskaya. The inspiration for the "Epic Jazz Jive" came from observing ducks, waddling through sand, on the beach.
Eurovision On 27 February–6 March 2010, "Run Away" performed by
SunStroke Project and
Olia Tira competed in '''', the national selection organised by
Teleradio-Moldova (TRM) to select its song and performer for the of the
Eurovision Song Contest. The song won the competition so it became the , and SunStroke Project and Olia Tira the performers, for Eurovision. It gained the maximum number of points from both the juries and the televotes. On 25 May 2010, the first semi-final for the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the
Telenor Arena in
Oslo hosted by
Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), and broadcast live throughout the continent. SunStroke Project and Olia Tira performed "Run Away" first on the evening, placing tenth and qualifying for the final. On 29 May 2010, the Eurovision Song Contest grand final was held at the same venue and SunStroke Project and Olia Tira performed "Run Away" fourth on the evening. At the close of voting, the song had received 27 points, placing twenty-second in a field of twenty-five. The
rules of the contest prohibited musical instruments being played on stage, meaning Stepanov was not actually playing the saxophone at all, but rather synchronising movements with a prerecorded track.
Aftermath After the contest, "Run Away" would also become the subject of a major
internet meme surrounding the
saxophone solos performed by saxophonist Sergey Stepanov who, in a phenomenon similar to
Rickrolling and
Trololo, was dubbed the "Epic Sax Guy" in videos on
YouTube. The internet meme of this song is often associated with
Ian McKellen's portrayal of
Gandalf in
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; particularly a moment of joyous laughter, edited to appear if he is dancing his head to the song. Later, this song is used more as background music of video gaming (such as
Hearthstone and
Rainbow Six Siege) "Best moments" videos. SunStroke Project would later go on to represent
Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 for a second time with the song "
Hey Mamma", placing third in the final and achieving the nation's best result to date. ==Charts==