Runaway June: The Triple Threat Trio Encouraging Empowerment for All

One is the loneliest number, two’s company and most people know three’s a crowd. But for Hannah Mulholland, Jennifer Wayne and Naomi Cooke—better known as Runaway June—three happens to be the number that makes the magic happen. That magic sprinkles into their music, both in writing and performing, but it wasn’t overnight that these ladies found their voices or each other.

Their story starts out quite coincidental to be frank; it was all in the timing and location for these three women in the formation of their country trio. If Wayne never happened to see Mullholland perform solo, who knows where in the world Runaway June would be.

“It’s kinda crazy. Hannah and I have known each other for about six years and we’re both from California. My mom and I went to this restaurant and she was playing. She had like a little gig there and we saw her and we were like, ‘Oh my God, she’s so good!’ I totally fangirled out and went and talked to her. We kept in touch and she moved to town a couple years ago and we had been writing. And Naomi and I had started writing together, so Naomi and I had this thing going and I brought Hannah in. When the three of us got together, that was really when the magic happened. So we really formed in the writers’ room,” Wayne explained to Sounds Like Nashville, in reminiscing about their early beginnings.

From that point on, the ladies honed in on their writing skills together. Spending many of their days as a group, they started to recognize the professional and personal strengths between each other and created a rock-solid bond that carried into their sound.

“I think we started off writing and not performing a lot, so we all kind of bonded there and kind of learned a lot about each other and skills and kind of grew there,” said Cooke. “And then as we started to perform more, we started bonding there. So it’s like we learned different things about each other—our talents, what we bring—every time we take on a new endeavor.”

Mullholland agreed, noting that the differences they can point out add dimensions to their flavor in the country genre.

“I think for all of us, it’s really nice having those different sides of our personalities where it’s like sometimes you wanna let your creativity out in different ways. So being in the writing room is a totally different experience than being on stage performing together and I think that I couldn’t have one without the other. I love them both so much and I think that we all feel that way, so it’s nice to be able to have each other in both of those aspects. It’s pretty equal,” she said to SLN.

Fast-forward to “Lipstick,” the debut hit single for Runaway June that has been blowing up on country radio for its sassy yet respectable advice for a breakup. Started through inspiration from a meme quote, they let the emotions pour out in a constructive manner by making sure they don’t bash love, but rather express strength in spite of those moments.

That’s what Runaway June is all about: empowering all people to feel everything but never belittle themselves or the situations they are going through.

“We try to be really inclusive,” Cooke explained. “We don’t just have like a girls’ club or just sing to women. We want to write music that everyone relates to and everyone enjoys. When we write, we just want to be empowering to everyone. But because we are women, women are going to relate to us anyways. So yeah, we definitely keep it in mind. We want to use our platform for cool things and be positive. But not every story is positive or ends well either.”

In the end just as these ladies have come to find in their connection with their fans and one another, music is all about staying true to who you are, whether it be as an individual or as a strong and steady group.

“I feel like we have this theme of not just self-respect, but also a little bit of individuality as well that I feel like anybody can relate to,” said Mullholland.

Fans can keep up with Runaway June on their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. “Lipstick” is available for purchase HERE.