Stan (song)

Stan
feat. Dido
publication	November 20, 2000
length	6:44
Genre (s)	Hip hop
text	M. Mathers , D. Armstrong , P. Herman
music	The 45 King, Eminem (Co)
album	The Marshall Mathers LP

Stan is a song by the American rapper Eminem released as a single on November 20, 2000 , the chorus of which is based on the 1999 song Thank You by the British singer Dido . The song is the third single from his third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP and also featured on his best-of album Curtain Call: The Hits . The single was extremely successful worldwide and was in the German charts at number 79 between 2000 and 2009. The music magazine Rolling Stone chose Stan as the only Eminem song in 2004 at number 290 on its " list of the 500 best songs of all time ".

The stanzas of the song, performed in letter form, describe the fictional correspondence between Eminem and a fan he is obsessed with . The term stan as a designation for an extremely passionate fan of a celebrity (initially only as a noun, later also as a verb) found its way into the English language via the American hip-hop jargon .

content

In Stan , Eminem tells the story of a fan who writes to him but receives no response. The track starts with the chorus, a sample by Dido from her song Thank You . In the original song, however, it was a normal verse. After she sang this part again, interrupted by a clap of thunder, Eminem begins to rap as the person Stan. He raps a letter that Stan writes to Eminem. Stan inquires about the well-being of Hailie, Eminem's daughter, and says that his girlfriend is also pregnant. When the child becomes a girl, Stan wants to name Bonnie. Stan also says that a friend of his killed himself because of an unhappy love (Eminem's uncle Ronnie also killed himself). Stan also says he is Eminem's biggest fan. At the end of this letter, he asks Eminem to finally reply.

The second stanza is another letter from Stan to Eminem. He sounds annoyed now and mentions that Eminem still hasn't called or written. He is not angry, but thinks it "sucks" (" fucked up ") that he does not answer Stan. Then he tells a story of a concert where he and his little brother, who was six years old, waited outside in the cold to get an autograph. But Eminem just walked past him. In the further course you learn more things about Stan: He has a tattoo with Eminem's name on his chest, cuts himself with a knife (as Eminem describes it in his songs) and he doesn't know his father. That's why he identifies with Eminem, as his father disappeared three months after his birth. Also, Stan mentions that he and Eminem should be together.

When, in the third stanza, he still has not received an answer from Eminem, he decides to commit suicide. He is sitting in a car and recording a tape, the contents of which are the third verse. Stan reminds Eminem of Phil Collins ' song In the Air Tonight , in which - according to Stan's interpretation - he tells how he watched someone drown without doing anything and compares this to his situation, which Eminem could have saved. He is holding his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk and wants to steer the car over the edge of a bridge. It occurred to him too late that he could no longer send the tape to Eminem after falling from the bridge.

In the fourth verse, Eminem raps as himself, who is finally writing an answer to Stan. He says he's too busy, but that Stan can finally write back. He apologizes for the concert mentioned in the second verse and makes it clear that it was not intended to ignore Stan and his brother. Eminem advises Stan to seek psychological help so that he can stop inflicting pain on himself. He wants to stop Stan from "doing something crazy". At the end of the letter, he remembers a news item regarding a suicide. He now realizes that this is Stan.

Production and sample

Stan was produced by The 45 King in collaboration with Eminem, who served as co-producer.

The chorus of the song consists of a sample of the song Thank You by Dido .

Music video

On the Stan music video , Phil Atwell and Dr. Dre director. It mainly focuses on the visual implementation of the content of the song. In the video, actor Devon Sawa appears as Stan and Dido as his pregnant girlfriend. Including the in and outro, it is over eight minutes long.

Appearance with Elton John

At the 2001 Grammy Awards , Eminem appeared with Elton John . Elton John sang the lines that were originally sung by Dido. A recording of it was initially offered for download on Eminem's website and later included in his best-of album Curtain Call: The Hits . In addition, a single was released for the song, which was only sent for promotional purposes; a commercial single never came out.

Sequels

On Eminem's eighth solo album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 from 2013, the rapper takes up the subject again in the song Bad Guy . Here Stan's younger brother Matthew takes revenge on Eminem, whom he blames for his brother's suicide.

In addition, the rapper Lil Wayne released a sequel to the song in 2011 under the title Dear Anne (Stan Part 2) .

single

Cover design

The single cover shows Eminem on the left edge, wearing a white cap and propping himself thoughtfully with his chin on his right hand. The lettering Eminem Stan is in the middle of the cover on a black background.

Chart successes

Stan rose to number six in the German charts in the 52nd calendar week of 2000 and occupied position three in the following weeks; two and two more before the jump to the top of the chart for a week. In total, the song stayed in the top 100 for 19 weeks, eleven of them in the top 10 .

Chart placements Charts Top ranking Weeks Chart placements  Germany (GfK) 1 (19 weeks) 19th  Austria (Ö3) 1 (22 weeks) 22nd  Switzerland (IFPI) 1 (26 weeks) 26th  United Kingdom (OCC) 1 (25 weeks) 25th  United States (Billboard) 51 (14 weeks) 14th

Annual charts Charts (2000) placement Annual charts (2000)  United Kingdom (OCC) 6th Charts (2001) placement Annual charts (2001)  Germany (GfK) 18th  Austria (Ö3) 6th  Switzerland (IFPI) 3

Sales figures and awards

Stan sold over 500,000 copies in Germany, for which the single received a platinum record . In 2018, the song was awarded a double platinum record for more than two million sales in the United States. Worldwide sales amount to over five million singles.

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	2 × platinum	140,000
Belgium (BEA)	platinum	50,000
Denmark (IFPI)	gold	45,000
Germany (BVMI)	platinum	500,000
France (SNEP)	platinum	500,000
Italy (FIMI)	gold	25,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold	40,000
Austria (IFPI)	gold	15,000
Sweden (IFPI)	platinum	20,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	gold	25,000
United States (RIAA)	2 × platinum	2,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × platinum	1,470,000
All in all	5 × gold 10 × platinum	4,830,000

Main article: Eminem / Music Sales Awards

Web links

• Lyrics with German translation and suggestion for interpretation
• Lyrics with interpretations (English)
• Music video on YouTube.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Charts of the decade DE # 79
2. ↑ 500 best songs of all time: # 290 - Stan
3. ^ Stan in the English Dictionary
4. ↑ Lyrics in the booklet
5. ↑ Promo single with Elton John
6. ↑ Lil Wayne Dear Anne (Stan Part 2)
7. ↑ Single cover at amazon.de
8. ↑ Chart tracking Stan on officialcharts.de
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
10. ↑ Annual charts 2000: UK
11. ↑ ^{a b c} annual charts 2001: DE AT CH
12. ↑ IFPI : Search Results Gold and Platinum Awards from Eminem
13. ↑ US: 2x platinum
14. ↑ Robert of the Radish: Biggest Selling Singles Since The Year 2000. ( Memento from September 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) new.music.yahoo.com, September 1, 2009, accessed on February 21, 2020. (English)
15. ^ Rob Copsey: Eminem's biggest songs on the Official Chart. officialcharts.com, January 17, 2020, accessed on February 19, 2020 .