Stay (The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber song)

On 20 September 2020, Laroi shared a snippet of the song on an Instagram live stream, followed by a longer snippet in better quality that was previewed on a live stream from Rolling Loud on 29 October 2020. Bieber's contribution to the song was revealed on 31 May 2021. The song leaked in full on a Discord server on 2 June 2021. "Stay" marks Laroi's first major single release as a lead artist in 2021 and Bieber's first major single as a lead artist since the release of his second extended play, Freedom, which was released in April 2021. On 3 June 2021, Scooter Braun, who has been Bieber's manager from the start of his career, also became Laroi's manager, until Laroi left and joined Adam Leber at Rebel Management on 27 September 2021. Laroi had the song for about a year before its release. He created the song while spending time with producers Charlie Puth, Omer Fedi, and Blake Slatkin at Slatkin's house. Puth played the melody of the song on the keyboard, but Laroi ended up liking it and wanted to get it in production software Pro Tools to use it to create a song. He felt that "it was probably the most organic way of making a song I've ever done – ever". Laroi thought Bieber "would sound perfect", so he went to the studio at which Bieber records; they finished recording the song, but Bieber was hesitant about whether his vocals sounded good or not. ==Composition and lyrics==

"Stay" is a fast-paced electropop, pop rap, pop rock, and synth-pop song. It is set in the key of D major and incorporates piano keys, heavy drums, and "splattering" synths. The upward-darting keyboard riff, made on a Roland Juno-60 synthesizer owned by Slatkin, serves as the song's spine and eventually becomes the chorus melody. Over a repeated melodic cell, Laroi and Bieber switch between head voice and chest voice on a minor sixth. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times described the track as a "hyper-slick" hybridisation of new wave and pop-punk. Some critics found similarities between it and the music from Bieber's sixth studio album, Justice (2021). Justin Curto from Vulture compared the song's sound to Justice single "Hold On" and album tracks "Die for You" and "Somebody". Stereogums Chris DeVille characterised it as SoundCloud pop-rap as effervescent Justice-style '80s pop". The "heartbreak-fueled" lyrics to "Stay" enforce Laroi's toxic behaviour as he sets up a story about a troubled relationship where he is at fault. In the chorus, he sings about his broken promises before begging for his partner to stay with him: "I do the same thing I told you that I never would / I told you I'd change, even when I knew I never could." Robert Rowat of CBC Music interpreted the lines as "an admission of weakness, if not a promise to be better". The song reaches its climax as Laroi and Bieber's voices join in the last chorus. ==Release and promotion==

On 16 June 2021, Laroi and Bieber hinted at another collaboration. Leading up to its release, the two artists both teased the song multiple times on their respective social media accounts by posting snippets and teasing the lyrics. Laroi also had previously stated on social media that Ron Perry, the label boss of Columbia Records would not release the song, to which Laroi asked his fans to repeatedly spam Perry on Instagram, which would hopefully change his mind into releasing it. Laroi posted a picture of him at a basketball game on Instagram on 27 June 2021, holding a piece of paper that wrote the song title and the then-questionable release date, to which Puth teased his involvement of the song by commenting "Yessssssssss". Three days later, Laroi shared a pre-order link in order to reveal the cover art, which would be posted the following day. ==Critical reception==

The song has received generally positive reviews. Caramanica found "Stay" to be effective", considering it a more effective pairing of Laroi and Bieber than their previous collaboration on "Unstable" from the latter's sixth studio album, Justice. Jordan Rose of Complex believed that the track has Laroi and Bieber "leaning into their strengths". Alex Zidel from HotNewHipHop felt that the song is "every bit as infectious as [one] would expect" and thought of it to be "a solid pop offering for the summer". Jason Lipshutz of Billboard opined that the song "sounds like it should push [Laroi] to a new level" of stardom. Uproxx contributing writer Carolyn Droke stated that the "buoyant track['s]" combination of "a euphoric chorus and a driving beat" will make it "the next song of the summer". Rowat commended Laroi and Bieber's partnership as "one of the year's best surprises" and said that the song "capitalizes on both singers' skills as falsettists". Curto called the track "a high-energy, synth-filled pop banger". ==Accolades==

"Stay" debuted at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart for the week of 19 July 2021. It became Laroi's second number-one single in Australia after "Without You" topped the chart for a week in May and Bieber's fifth as a lead artist. It held on to its position for 14 consecutive weeks, becoming the longest-running number-one single of 2021. In January 2022, the song returned to the number one spot following the 2021 Triple J Hottest 100's announcement and remained there for three additional weeks. Its 17-week reign became the longest run at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart by a male artist(s) and the second-longest overall. The song spent more weeks at number one than any other by an Australian male, maintaining that position for 11 non-consecutive weeks. In the United Kingdom, "Stay" entered at number five on the UK Singles Chart on 16 July 2021 – for the week ending dated 22 July 2021 – making it Laroi's second top ten hit in Britain and Bieber's 27th. It rose three places to number two a week later, behind Ed Sheeran's "Bad Habits" during its fourth week at the summit. It stayed at number two for six weeks and became Laroi's joint-highest-charting song in the UK along with "Without You". In Ireland, "Stay" entered at number three on the Irish Singles Chart as the week's highest new entry. The track became Bieber's 60th top 50 single in the Irish Republic. The song moved up a spot the following week to a new peak of number two behind "Bad Habits" for eight weeks, becoming Laroi's highest-charting song in Ireland. In the United States, "Stay" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, starting with 34.7 million streams, 12.9 million in radio audience, and 12,000 in sales. It entered atop the Streaming Songs chart, becoming Laroi's first and Bieber's sixth leader there, and at number five on the Digital Song Sales chart. On the week of 14 August 2021, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, dethroning BTS' "Butter" and becoming Laroi's first and Bieber's eighth number-one hit on the chart. It stayed at the number-one position for four consecutive weeks, surpassing "Sorry" as Bieber's longest reign as a lead artist. The song also became Laroi's first number one on the Pop Airplay chart (where it went on to spend 13 weeks at #1, the second longest run at #1 in the history of the chart, behind Ace of Base's "The Sign"), while Bieber tied Bruno Mars for the most number ones on the chart among solo males with nine each. The song spent seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot 100. It additionally logged 14 non-consecutive weeks at number two of the Hot 100. As of the chart dated 2 April 2022, "Stay" also broke the records for the most weeks spent in the Hot 100's top two and top three spots, with 21 and 23 weeks respectively. On 18 April 2022, "Stay" became the first song in history to spend its first 40 weeks consecutively in the top 10 of the Hot 100. On 23 June 2023, the song was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It spent seven straight weeks at number one on the chart, becoming just the third song to do so after Roddy Ricch's "The Box" and Rodrigo's "Good 4 U". The track was named "2021's Song of the Summer" by Variety based on a song project report from Alpha Data, where it earned 1.5 million units. As of 28 October 2021, the song has accumulated 1.1 billion in airplay audience and 537.6 million U.S. streams and has sold 177,200 downloads. "Stay" additionally topped the charts in Austria, Finland, Portugal, The song ascended to number one on its third week with 75.1 million streams and 13,900 in sales, making it Laroi's first leader on the chart and Bieber's second after "Peaches". It later topped the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. on the chart dated 21 August 2021, dethroning "Bad Habits". The song was the longest-reigning number one on the Global 200, at the time and the first to lead it for double-digits, spending a total of eleven weeks at the top of the chart. On 4 November 2021, the song reportedly reached one billion streams on Spotify, becoming the fastest to do so in 118 days and surpassing the previous record held by Sheeran with "Shape of You" in 153 days. "Stay" was the most-streamed song globally on Apple Music in 2022. ==Music video and lyric video==

Music video The official music video for "Stay", directed by Colin Tilley, premiered alongside the song's release at midnight on 9 July 2021. The music video has more than one billion views on YouTube as of 6 April 2025. It is Laroi's first and Bieber's 12th video to reach this milestone. Lyric video The official lyric video for "Stay" was released on 15 July 2021. ==Live performances==

"Stay" received its first live performance on 9 July 2021, the same day as its release, where Laroi joined Bieber during his set at the Encore Theater at the Wynn in Las Vegas. A live performance video of the song from the show was uploaded on Laroi's YouTube channel on 12 July. The two performed it on 10 July at the grand opening of the hotel's new supper club, Delilah, towards the end of Bieber's eight-song set. Laroi appeared on a dimly lit stage to perform a stripped-back version of the song during Jimmy Kimmel Live! on 29 October, where he was accompanied by a pianist. On 24 November, Laroi closed out the 2021 ARIA Music Awards with a punk-inspired rendition of the song backed by a full band in front of a small club audience. On 11 December, Bieber gave his first solo performance of the song during the Capital FM's Jingle Ball festival at the O2 Arena in London, England, in which he sang his verse of the song and a portion of the chorus before it without the song playing at all. During his headlining Coachella 2026 set, Bieber was joined by Laroi to perform "Stay". ==Credits and personnel==

Credits adapted from Tidal. • The Kid Laroi – vocals, songwriting • Justin Bieber – vocals, songwriting • Cashmere Cat – production, songwriting, keyboards, programming • Charlie Puth – production, songwriting, keyboards, programming • Omer Fedi – production, songwriting, bass, guitar, keyboards, programming • Blake Slatkin – production, songwriting, bass, guitar, keyboards, programming • FnZ • Finatik – songwriting • Zac – songwriting • Haan – songwriting • Heidi Wang – engineering • John Hanes – engineering • Şerban Ghenea – mixing • Chris Athens – mastering • Elijah Marrett-Hitch – recording • Josh Gudwin – recording, vocal production ==Charts==

Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==