On Aug. 17, Lisa Loeb will perform at the 17th annual SeaChange Summer Party, a benefit for ocean conservation charity Oceana. Of course she'll perform her hit "Stay (I Missed You)," which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 30 years ago. Featured in the movie Reality Bites, it's still much loved and recognizable, and Lisa thinks she knows why.
"It's authentic instruments playing real music. I'm actually singing," she tells ABC Audio. She also thinks the video, directed by her friend and Reality Bites star Ethan Hawke, made a difference: "Videos were so important in the 1990s and definitely having a video that was one-take video ... where I'm really singing to the camera, there's the connection there, and I think people respond to a connection."
Plus, Lisa says, the lyrics are relatable. "It goes to the positive side and the negative side and the what-ifs," she says. "Also ... there are so many lyrics. I think people enjoy the fact that they've learned all the lyrics."
"But it is the universal message," she adds. "I do hear a lot of feedback from people who come to the shows who tell me ... what it means to them." Some weren't even alive in 1994, but Lisa says they've discovered her through her appearances on shows like Fuller House, Community and That '90s Show.
Lisa, who still wears her signature cat-eye glasses, says she's playing the benefit because she appreciates Oceana's work, which includes convincing Amazon to stop using those plastic air pillows in its packaging.
"You want to take care of the Earth, you want to make a difference. You aren't sure if you personally can make a change," says Lisa. But, she says, charities like Oceana are "able to make an impact ... and give us tools and also make changes in laws. ... And it also changes the attitude of people and their behavior."