Eminem’s “Stan” Term is Added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
It’s official: as of June 2018, the Oxford English Dictionary now includes a definition of stan, ‘an overzealous or obsessive fan, esp. of a particular celebrity.’ One of Eminem‘s most famous tracks “Stan“, which is off his 3rd studio album ‘The Marshall Mathers LP‘ has been officially added to the Oxford Dictionary. Dido was featured on the memorable track, which told the fictional story of an overzealous fan whose creepy obsession with Slim Shady leads to the fan and his pregnant girlfriend’s deaths.
The first three verses of the song were performed by Eminem from the perspective of the protagonist. Due to his growing frustration over Slim Shady’s lack of response to his messages, Stan—a devoted fan—killed both his pregnant fiancée and himself. The song gave rise to a new term that is widely used on social media to define a super fan who displays excessive admiration.
The song was about an obsessive Eminem fan, named ‘Stan’, the reason why all Eminem fans call themselves Stans. The Oxford Dictionary defined the term ‘Stan‘ as “an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity“.
The word’s origin is also listed as “early 21st century: probably with allusion to the 2000 song “Stan” by the American rapper Eminem, about an obsessed fan.” According to the OED’s sample sentence for the noun, which was the title of a 2013 Eminem song: “He has millions of stans who are obsessed with him and call him a rap god.” mentioning his song rap god.
Eminem immortalised the song by giving the most iconic yet controversial performance at Grammy 2001. No musician was bigger & contentious in 2001 than Eminem. The rapper received a lot of praise for his critically praised album “The Marshall Mathers LP,” as well as condemnation for lyrics that were deemed homophobic.
Whether or not Eminem appeared, GLAAD declared it would conduct a demonstration outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles in response to what it dubbed the rapper’s “hate-filled lyrics.”
Eminem chose to take the stage. John agreed to perform the rapper’s popular song “Stan” on the Grammy stage alongside him. And 20 years later, people are still talking about the duet.
Check it out below.
