Released on 7 March 2020, the song was written by Sandro, Alfie Arcuri, Sebastian Rickards, Octavian Rasinariu, and Teo DK.
On 29 November 2019, Sandro was announced as the Cypriot entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 after being internally selected by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC).
[2] It was written by Sandro and Australian singer-songwriter Alfie Arcuri with a team also consisting of Sebastian Rickards, Octavian Rasinariu, and Teo DK.
[5][6] CyBC noted that "having gone through depression himself, Sandro's performance underlines the tunnel of darkness that we must keep on running through in difficulties or catastrophes but also of the strength needed to stand tall and not fall".
[4] The video shows Sandro wearing all black, surrounded by darkness with occasional holograms of flames and landscapes cast on his outfit.
Robyn Gallagher of Wiwibloggs described it as a "simple scenario" that "starts in black and white but introduces more colour tones, bringing different feelings as the song progresses".
[7] In late April, a second video was released, featuring an unplugged acoustic version of the song, in which Sandro sings with a guitar in a dimly lit studio setting.
The first live performance of "Running" was at Melfest WKND 20, a pre-party in Stockholm that took place the night before Melodifestivalen 2020, the selection process for Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest.
A jury consisting of ten singers that had represented Austria at Eurovision before was hired to rank each song; the best-placed in each semi-final advanced to the final round.