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

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 why Ethan Hawke wanted to pass the song along to the director of the movie Reality Bites.”

Related: Lisa Loeb Hopes Her Zoom Musical About Connecting During the Pandemic Makes People 'Feel Seen'

As Loeb noted, Hawke, a friend and neighbor in the early ’90s, suggested that Reality Bites director and star Ben Stiller include “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 album Tails, topping the Billboard Hot 100.

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

“It's such a nostalgic song,” she said. “It reminds them of their life 30 years ago or when they first heard it on a TV show. It's been in different commercials and TV shows, and it's wonderful to see people's nostalgic connection with it as well as their current connection with it as kind of a heartbreak-relationship-overthinking song.”

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.”

Related: Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Kick Off Hanukkah Sessions with Cover of Lisa Loeb's 'Stay (I Missed You)'

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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.”

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