Lisa Loeb Has a Guess as to Why Her 1994 Hit 'Stay' Is Still So Beloved (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Lisa Loeb.Photo:Vivien Killilea/Getty

Vivien Killilea/Getty

Lisa Loeb’s breakthrough single “Stay (I Missed You)” definitely has staying power.

At the Sunday, Dec. 15 Celebrity Holiday Bowling with Best Buddies event at Pinz Bowling Center in Studio City, Calif., the singer-songwriter opened up about why the song has stood the test of times.

“When I wrote it, it was an expression of an argument I was going through at the time,” Loeb, 56, told PEOPLE of the song. “I enjoyed performing it, and it was a song that very quickly, people in my audiences in the early ’90s and in New York City, they connected to it, which is whyEthan Hawkewanted to pass the song along to the director of the movieReality Bites.”

Lisa Loeb in 1994.Gary Gershoff/Getty

Gary Gershoff/Getty

As Loeb noted, Hawke, a friend and neighbor in the early ’90s, suggested thatReality Bitesdirector and starBen Stillerinclude “Stay” in the 1994 film. The song, which marked the 30th anniversary of its release in May, appeared on the film’s soundtrack and later on Loeb’s debut albumTails, topping theBillboardHot 100.

Three decades later, Loeb told PEOPLE that the song still “hits so many marks for some people.”

Ethan Hawke and Winona Ryder in ‘Reality Bites’ in 1994.Universal/Getty

Universal/Getty

Loeb, who released her latest children’s album with The Hollow Trees in August, said she still enjoys performing the song live all these years later. “People request it every time,” she said. “And I was lucky too because it’s an unusual song, but it’s a song that represents my other songs pretty well. So, I didn’t end up having as much of that situation where it wasn’t a song that was manufactured. It’s a real song.”

“I love having that real connection with it,” she added, “and I go through having different memories when I sing it live. It meant a lot to me at the time, and it still does today.”

Lisa Loeb at the Dec. 15 Celebrity Holiday Bowling with Best Buddies event.Vivien Killilea/Getty

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Loeb attended the Dec. 15 event, which supported Best Buddies’ mission of empowering people with disabilities such as Down syndrome and Autism, with her 12-year-old son Emet, whom she said will occasionally sing parts of “Stay.”

“They hear it a lot because when I’m doing cameos in the other room and people want to hear ‘Stay,’ or when I’m performing live,” Loeb said of her two children. “But I don’t think of that as being part of our relationship with my kids. They’re more wondering what’s going to be for dinner.”

source: people.com