On Nov. 18, Eminem performed his new song "Walk On Water" on Saturday Night Live with singer Skylar Grey. But at the end of the song, viewers received a real treat. Eminem performed "Stan" on SNL, along with "Love the Way You Lie" and Twitter loved the throwback. The medley was like attending a mini-concert right in the middle of the NBC show. Grey didn't miss a beat as she pitched in on all three songs, providing Beyoncé's verses on "Walk On Water," Dido's vocals on "Stan" and Rihanna's part of "Love the Way You Lie."
Usually, SNL musical guests perform two songs during two different points in the show, but Eminem instead sang this medley before "Weekend Update" — and it was a welcome surprise. As both artists came to the end of "Walk On Water," Eminem dropped a reference to his 2000 hit song. "I wrote 'Stan,'" he tells the audience, and then suddenly Grey is singing the opening lyrics to the song, which sample Dido's own hit song, "Thank You." Eminem also performed a few verses of "Stan," just like how you remembered it from 2000 and hearts broke just the same as when you used to play it over and over on repeat. But the medley did not end there and officially became a medley when Grey and Eminem seamlessly transitioned to "Love the Way You Lie," the rapper's 2010 hit song with Rihanna. Fun fact: Grey is actually one of the co-writers of the song.
It's 2017, which means "Stan" is 17 years old (can you believe it?) and "Love the Way You Lie" is seven years old — but Twitter has never been so excited to hear these classic Eminem tracks.
The medley made a few Twitter users take back all their snark.
Some Twitter users expressed their feelings in GIF form.
This Twitter user had some regrets.
One other Twitter fan expressed those feels in hashtags.
One Twitter user thought "Stan" didn't sound 17 years old after all.
One Twitter user got meta and used the popular phrase "stan" in reference to the song that inspired it, "Stan." Whoa, right?
The performance inspired this Twitter fan to appreciate both past and present Eminem songs.
This French fan sacrificed sleep in order to watch the performance. The verdict? It was worth it.
One Twitter fan put out a flaming emoji alert for the occasion.
Another Twitter user expressed their thanks to SNL for the performance, too. After all, it is the season to give thanks.
"Stan" was a huge hit single from Eminem's third album The Marshall Mathers LP. Most of the lyrics are written from the perspective of his superfan, named Stan, who writes the rapper many letters, but is impatient for a response back. Eminem raps the last verse as himself, but it may be too late by then (no spoilers). It's an incredibly emotional song with a tragic ending and it has spawned a popular internet term "stan," which is also a portmanteau of the words "stalker" and "fan," according to Urban Dictionary. In 2011, Rolling Stone named the track as one of its 500 greatest songs of all time.
"Love the Way You Lie" was nominated for five Grammy awards, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Grey wrote the song and recorded the original demo, so her performing the song on SNL isn't exactly a new experience for the singer.
You've got to see this throwback medley for yourself. Check out Eminem and Grey singing "Walk On Water," "Stan," and "Love the Way You Lie" in the following video.
So great seeing Eminem and Grey seamlessly go from a 2017 song to hits from years before. It seems like some music and artists are just timeless like that.
