"Stan" is a song by American rapper Eminem, with vocals sampled from the opening lines of English singer Dido's song "Thank You". It was released on November 20, 2000, as the third single from Eminem's third album, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). "Stan" peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "Stan" topped the charts in twelve countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Ireland.
"Stan" has been called one of Eminem's best songs, and is considered one of his signature songs alongside "The Real Slim Shady" and "Lose Yourself". The song has appeared on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, VH1s list of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song was nominated for multiple awards, including Best Song at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Video of the Year, Best Rap Video, Best Direction, and Best Cinematography at the MTV Video Music Awards. It won Best International Artist Video at the MuchMusic Video Awards.
The eponymous character's name gave rise to a slang term referring to overzealous or obsessive fans of a celebrity or personality; the term has since been included in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Background and recording The 45 King was first inspired to develop a production sampling "Thank You" whilst watching the 1998 film Sliding Doors, in which the song is featured, at his home. Upon hearing the song, he immediately switched the film off, went into his studio and looped a sample of "Thank You" as well as adding a bassline. He sent the production to his contacts at Interscope Records, through whom it would eventually find its way to Eminem after his manager Paul Rosenberg sent him a tape of the 45 King's production work. When listening to the 45 King's loop, the lyric "But your picture on my wall / It reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad" immediately resonated with Eminem, who felt it would be perfectly suited to a song about an obsessed fan. Since the release of his previous album The Slim Shady LP (1999), Eminem had received many disturbing letters from fans who appeared to have taken the album's violent content seriously, which encouraged him to write a song addressing these fans directly in the form of a fictionalized cautionary tale.
The third verse of the song had to be entirely re-recorded after the engineer, with whom Eminem had never worked before, accidentally taped over the original take against Eminem's wishes. Eminem asked to re-record the final three lines, but the engineer – who Eminem claims was smoking cannabis during the session – mistakenly rewound the 2-inch recording tape right back to the start and began recording again. Eminem immediately realized the error and unsuccessfully tried to alert the engineer, but the take was completely written over. When revealing this anecdote to music website Genius in 2016, Eminem stated that, in his opinion, the original take was "significantly better" than the re-recorded one, expressing his disappointment that it would never be heard.
Composition and lyrics The song tells the story of a person named Stanley "Stan" Mitchell (voiced by Eminem) who claims to be Eminem's biggest fan. It has been suggested the name "Stan" is a portmanteau of the words "stalker" and "fan", though it is unknown if the name was chosen with that intention. The term "stan" has since become an internet slang term for an extremely obsessed fan of something or someone and is derived from the song's title. Speaking to The Independent in 2025, Eminem's longtime manager, Paul Rosenberg, said that the "stalker" and "fan" portmanteau was a "happy coincidence" and that Eminem simply chose the name because it rhymed with "fan".
In the song, Stan writes Eminem several letters; over two verses, he is shown to be obsessive over the rapper, and grows increasingly frustrated and angry when there is no reply. He finally creates a voice recording of himself while driving his car on the highway, having consumed large quantities of depressants and alcohol; this verse includes a call-back to Eminem's "My Name Is" with the lyrics "I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare me to drive?", as well as a reference to the urban legend surrounding "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (referred to in the song as "In the Air of the Night") with the lyric "about that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drownin', but didn't..."). He reveals that his pregnant girlfriend is tied up in the trunk as he approaches a bridge, realizing in a panic that he has no way to send the tape to Eminem, but it is too late. The verse ends at the sound of his car swerving off the bridge and hitting the water below.
The fourth verse features Eminem as himself, writing back to Stan and attempting to reason with him. Eminem tries to explain to Stan that while he does appreciate having him as a fan and is incredibly grateful, he worries that Stan might not always be taking the lyrics of his songs in the right way. In an example of dramatic irony, Eminem also urges Stan to receive help for his mental health issues and to treat his girlfriend better, lest he end up like a man he just saw on the news who had driven his car off a bridge in a drunken stupor, killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend. Eminem then realizes halfway through writing his letter that the man he saw on the news was in fact Stan.
Music video Directed by Dr. Dre and Philip Atwell, the video is a literal interpretation of the story. The video features Devon Sawa as Stan and Dido as his pregnant girlfriend. According to Sawa, he got the part because Dr. Dre was a fan of Final Destination, which Sawa starred in. He also stated that Macaulay Culkin was the first choice of the role.
The video starts with a prologue that involved Stan dyeing his hair blonde and reacting angrily to being called "Stanley" by his girlfriend. Later, he sits in a basement full of Eminem's posters, writing letters that express his devotion as "[Eminem's] biggest fan". He is aware of every development in Eminem's personal life. Stan gets angry at his girlfriend when she interrupts him watching Eminem's "The Way I Am" video.
Stan wants Eminem to contact him through a personal letter or a phone call; but, due to unfortunate circumstances, Eminem fails to respond in a timely manner. Believing he has been ignored, Stan uses a tape recorder to record himself driving along a rain-soaked highway while his girlfriend is locked up in the trunk, which he does with the intention of driving off a bridge. In the process, Stan references both "My Name Is" ("I drank a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive?") and an urban legend about Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight", before realizing that there is no way of transmitting this final tape to Eminem. The car then breaks through the bridge barrier, sealing both occupants' fates.
Stan's mother and his little brother Matthew visit his grave. When Matthew opens his hoodie, he has dyed his hair blonde like Stan. Eminem finally gets around to responding to Stan. He apologizes for being late, thanks him for being a fan, and expresses interest in Stan's personal life. Eminem worries about Stan's mental state and says he does not want Stan to end up like a story he had seen on the news recently — a man who had driven drunk off a bridge with his girlfriend in the trunk, about whom he then realizes, "It was you. Damn." Unbeknownst to Eminem, flashes of lightning shine on his window, revealing the ghost of Stan silently glaring, smiling after he sees Eminem finally writing the letter he wanted for so long. The video ends with Matthew staring at Stan's grave.
Censorship In the MTV "clean" version, the song and video were censored. Significant portions from the first two verses and most of the third verse were removed. MTV also cut out all references of Stan's girlfriend bound in the trunk of the car and removed one scene showing him guzzling vodka while driving. In the MTV full version, which is 8:15 long, the third verse censors Stan mentioning his girlfriend in the trunk (so "Shut up bitch" and "screaming in the trunk" is censored), and about him not slitting her throat, but tied her up, and "if she suffocates, she'll suffer more, then she'll die too", which "slit", "tied her up", "suffocates", and "die" is censored.
Dido has stated that she was gagged in the third verse of the video; however, this was censored so widely that versions with her gagged are rare. In the uncensored version, Stan is shown drinking at the wheel of the car before showing Dido struggling in the trunk of the car. She manages to remove the duct tape from her mouth and screams before struggling for breath. Most versions were censored so that there is only a brief clip of Dido in the trunk of the car towards the end of the verse. It also censors when Stan says he "drank a fifth of vodka", which censors "drank" and "vodka"; and censors when he says he is on "a thousand downers", with "downers" censored; and also censors Stan drinking while driving. At the end of the third verse, "Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the bridge now" is changed to "Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the end of the bridge now". In the fourth verse, the line "[And what's this] shit about us meant to be together" is completely censored. All references to the girlfriend in the trunk are censored, including the screaming in the background, and the line: "And had his girlfriend in his trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid."
In the MTV short version, which was used for radio airplay due to time constraints, the second verse lines that are missing are from "I ain't that mad though, I just don't like bein' lied to" to "I even got a tattoo of your name across the chest"; the video cuts showing Stan meeting Eminem, talking about how his father cheated and beat his mother and showed him getting a "Slim Shady" tattoo on his chest. The missing lyrics from the third verse are of Stan talking about drinking while driving and referencing "In the Air Tonight" (Eminem quotes the title as "In the Air of the Night"), which in the video, skips from showing Stan narrowly missing another car and swerving to avoid crashing into it. The lines that are missing are from "Hey Slim, I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare to me to drive?" to "I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall". It also removes the chorus after the third verse and goes straight to the fourth verse; the video then cuts to Eminem at last receiving the letter from Stan, and the car sinking deeper into the water.
In Fuse's original state as a rock and alternative station, the same versions of the video were shown as on MTV. However, in later Fuse airings, more lines and words are silenced than on the clean version of the LP; half of one of the beginning verses are cut out, and then the song fades out about halfway through the second verse, after playing for approximately two minutes. "Stan" was also released on track 17 (15 on the clean version) of Curtain Call: The Hits; on the clean and explicit versions, the live track censored only the profanity, unlike the clean version of the studio track.
Critical reception