Jennifer Nettles is revealing the surprising inspiration behind one of Sugarland’s most beloved songs.
As Sugarland celebrates the 20th anniversary of its 2006 album Enjoy the Ride with a North American tour, Nettles is looking back at how the emotional ballad “Stay” came to life.
Released as the album’s fourth single in 2007, “Stay” tells the story of an affair from the perspective of the other woman. The Grammy-winning song became one of Sugarland’s signature hits—and Nettles says its inspiration came from another country classic.
Jennifer Nettles Was Inspired by Reba McEntire
“Stay” was the first Sugarland song to feature lyrics written entirely by Nettles. She recently revealed that Reba McEntire’s 1986 hit “Whoever’s in New England” helped spark the idea.
“The song is purely fictional,” Nettles explained. “I was inspired by that Reba McEntire song ‘Whoever’s in New England.’”
McEntire’s song is told from the perspective of a woman who suspects her husband is being unfaithful while he is away on a business trip.
After hearing the song, Nettles began thinking about the story from another perspective. Instead of focusing only on the woman who had been betrayed, she wondered what the other woman might be experiencing.
“There’s so many songs that are like this—you cheated, and there’s another person, and I’ve been wronged,” Nettles explained. “And I thought there’s at least three people in this equation, and none of them are probably having the best time.”
That idea led her to ask a different question: What would happen if she tried to see the situation through the eyes of the other woman?
“So, I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to just try to put on the cloak of this other woman? What must she be going through?” Nettles recalled.
“Stay” Became a Major Sugarland Hit
Nettles and Kristian Bush transformed the idea into a simple acoustic ballad. The stripped-down arrangement gave the song an intimate quality and made it stand out from much of the rest of Enjoy the Ride.
The emotional storytelling connected with listeners. “Stay” climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and reached No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song also earned Sugarland its first two Grammy Awards, cementing its place as one of the duo’s defining recordings.
For Nettles, the success of “Stay” also demonstrated the power of a great song without complicated production.
“It had such an impact,” she said, noting that she and Bush still believe a strong song can stand on its own even when stripped down to its simplest form.
Two decades after Enjoy the Ride was released, “Stay” remains one of Sugarland’s most memorable songs. What began with inspiration from a Reba McEntire classic ultimately became a powerful story of heartbreak, complicated relationships, and seeing a familiar situation from an unexpected point of view.
