"Stay" by Rihanna......anyone playing it?

[Nu2Keys]

"Stay" by Rihanna is a really nice piano song with cool inversions. I've been working on it and it seems pretty simple. Is anyone covering this? How is it working?

[CEB]

I am doing several Rihanna tunes but not Stay. It was too mid-tempo and not edgy enough for us.

 

Covering Rihanna's material is really irritating me right now. I like the tunes we do a lot. I think they should be going over as killer dance tunes. People sort dance to 'Shut Up and Drive', 'S&M' and 'Only Girl in the World' but they are not bringing down the house like they should........ But we play 'All About That Bass' by Meghan Trainor or all the Iggy Azalea stuff and people go insane.

 

I don't understand Pop. Stay may be a cover band hit. I can't predict what goes over great anymore.

[Dr88s]

Easy enough song that I taught it to my wife, a non piano player, to play.

Sounds good as a recreational song but YMMV live.

 

 

 

[Skinny]

Used to play it in my band. It went over just ok. No screaming crowds or a lots of slow dancing or anything.

 

That being said, I did enjoy playing it.

[Morizzle]

I used it for a few piano students. Only white keys makes it perfect for beginners. Never played it live, though, nor would I want to. :-)

[Ian Benhamou]

I do it on an acoustic duo with a singer guitar player. He plays eigth-note chords an acoustic and I play more sustaining mid to upper-register voicings on Rhodes.

 

It really is a great pop song with meaningful lyrics and a really nice driving chord progression. The crowds seem to enjoy it quite a bit, especially the younger ones.

[Brettymike]

I am doing several Rihanna tunes but not Stay. It was too mid-tempo and not edgy enough for us.

 

Covering Rihanna's material is really irritating me right now. I like the tunes we do a lot. I think they should be going over as killer dance tunes. People sort dance to 'Shut Up and Drive', 'S&M' and 'Only Girl in the World' but they are not bringing down the house like they should........ But we play 'All About That Bass' by Meghan Trainor or all the Iggy Azalea stuff and people go insane.

 

I don't understand Pop. Stay may be a cover band hit. I can't predict what goes over great anymore.

 

Stay is a really nice "sit down and calm down song".

That "All about that Bass" song IS enough to drive everyone insane , and I am glad it's you having to play it and not me . For myself , it would be a fate worse than death to be stuck in a band that has to play that song.

 

Brett

[Bill H.]

Rihanna's "Stay" is so huge as a karaoke song that I'd be hesitant to add it as a band. It's getting a reputation for being almost as oversung as "Picture". It seems like every woman wants to give it a shot.

 

"Stay", Bruno Mars's "When I Was Your Man", Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" are all kind of similar - all in "C", all with sparse quarter note piano accompaniment. It's like cookie cutter torch song ballad time for contemporary pop singers these days.

 

Of the three, Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" has worked the best as a dance slow song when I DJ. Rihanna's "Stay" has those awesome low synth "C"s which are kind of nice through a proper sound system.

[nadroj]

Just in the door this second from a gig where we played it. Was a wedding showcase; we finish every showcase with it, and it always goes down a storm. Probably contributes to most of our bookings.

 

Since it' a showcase though I just take the FA-06 (I need the synth stuff for the other 3 songs we do at a 4 song showcase so don't take the rest of the rig) and it's a nightmare to play on that action. So easy to go accidentally speed up or whatnot due to the toy-key action.

 

Personally I hate the song. We never actually play it at weddings (we sell it as a first dance, but it's too depressing, and indeed, I've never seen a couple actually ask for it as a first dance) unless requested. I have a sticky note stuck onto the left side of the FA-06 with the chords for it incase we ever get asked for it on the spot, which has happened a few times - we only play it at showcases, and there are only around 6 of those a year. When a couple comes up during the break and says "we saw you guys play Stay - could you play it as the first song in the second set as a "second" first dance please?" and you've not heard it for months, it's touch and go.

 

It's so stupidly simple that it should be easy to remember, but that's the problem with it. Only takes a few seconds to get distracted due to the simplicity then BOOM, place lost. Especially when doing harmonies too.

 

The only fun part is going overboard with the low octaves at the end. Go OTT with the dynamics, pushing and pulling, and you can practically hear the tears of all the women in the audience hit the floor once the final Fmaj7 rings out.

 

But yeah, boring song to me. I hate it because I'm always frozen on edge when we play it. I play standing, and standing + FA-06 action + vulnerability of being the only one playing = cold sweat at a 400 seated showcase, where the audience just sit and take notes.

 

There's a video of us doing it here: miming to a track obviously ( the RD isn't even turned on and my voice is strangely female...) ; the cameramen obviously didn't look at my fingers when they were editing it. I had to adapt to the version being played whilst filming but it didn't really show at all - my hands are moving when nothing's even being played and vice versa!

 

http://www.musicforscotland.co.uk/artistDetail.aspx?artistID=161

 

[Moonglow]

Used to play it in my band. It went over just ok. No screaming crowds or a lots of slow dancing or anything.

Same here, but our lead singer nails this song, so we occasionally play it.

 

Regarding piano/female singer/duo songs, "Someone Like You" still goes over really well.

 

We actually had to play "All About That Bass" twice at our last club job (by request). I don't much care for the song, but it's kind of fun doing LHB using an upright bass patch on a pop tune.