Written by band members Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal, the song was released as the album's fourth and final single on January 27, 2003, by Interscope Records.

The band worked on the track to give it a "spacier sound" but were displeased with the result so they took the song to producer Nellee Hooper, who stripped Running down to the basics.

Blender characterized the song as "twenty-first-century Blondie" and compared its synthesizers and restrained vocal to the work of Depeche Mode.

[5] Rolling Stone also made the comparison to Depeche Mode and compared the song's "two-finger synth riff" to the work of Yazoo and Erasure.

[7] Stylus Magazine agreed, calling "Running" sophomoric, and commented that "this is the kind of song that makes Gwen so popular with the pre-teen girlies.

"[10] "Running" was commercially unsuccessful in the United States, while the previous singles from the album reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.