Like Neon

I was sixteen the first time I heard Lisa Loeb’s earnest pop ballad, “Stay (I Missed You).” Attached to the angsty Gen X drama Reality Bites, the song became an anthem for many young women of my generation, and would eventually go on to outshine the movie that had brought it to the masses: “Stay (I Missed You)” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 6, 1994, making it the first-ever (And currently only) number one single achieved by an unsigned artist.

Lisa Loeb has gone on to make a lot of fantastic music, and ultimately became one of the most personally significant musical artists in my life, but “Stay” will always hold a very important, indelible place in my heart as the song that started it all, the little song that could. It’s still gorgeous, fifteen years later.