"Stay" | ||||
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Single by Sugarland | ||||
from the album Enjoy the Ride | ||||
Released | September 10, 2007 | |||
Format |
CD single Digital download |
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Genre | Country | |||
Length | 4:44 | |||
Label | Mercury Nashville | |||
Writer(s) | Jennifer Nettles | |||
Producer(s) |
Byron Gallimore Kristian Bush Jennifer Nettles |
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Sugarland singles chronology | ||||
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"Stay" | ||||
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Single by Ronan Keating | ||||
from the album Winter Songs | ||||
Released | November 12, 2009 | |||
Format | CD single, Digital download | |||
Recorded | 2009 | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 4:36 | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Writer(s) | Jennifer Nettles | |||
Producer(s) | Stephen Lipson | |||
Ronan Keating singles chronology | ||||
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"Stay" is a song recorded by American country music duo Sugarland. It was released in September 2007 as the fourth and final single from their album Enjoy the Ride (see 2006 in country music). Overall, the song is the group's eighth single to enter the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, where it reached a peak position of #2 for four weeks, stuck behind Taylor Swift's "Our Song", and has become their signature song. The music video for "Stay" was ranked #10 on CMT's 100 Greatest Videos.
In addition, it is the first song in Sugarland's career to be written solely by lead vocalist Jennifer Nettles.
"Stay" was certified Gold by the RIAA on February 21, 2008. It was later Sugarland's first single to earn a Platinum certification on March 24, 2009. It reached over two million in sales in 2013, and has sold 2,219,000 copies as of February 2016.
The song is part of the track list for Now That's What I Call Country.
"Stay" was voted the fourth greatest video of the decade on CMT.com
"Stay" is a ballad of infidelity, taking the perspective of the mistress of a man who is cheating on his wife. It begins with the mistress's insistence that the man stay with her — even if his wife should call and ask where he is — because she (the mistress) is "so tired of being lonely". Although the man tells her that he will leave his wife for her, she refuses to believe him, telling him that "it's too much pain to have to bear / To love a man you have to share".
In the third verse, the mistress then changes her mind; according to Nettles, she (the woman in the song) "has her own sense of redemption and realizes she deserves more than being with someone who will never be fully hers". This change is revealed in the final chorus.
In the song, Nettles' vocals are accompanied by Kristian Bush (Sugarland's other member) on acoustic guitar; unlike most other Sugarland songs, Bush does not sing harmony vocals. The only other instrumentation in the song is an organ, played by Bush's brother Brandon.