“I Stay In Love” was released as the fourth single from Mariah's E=MC² album on October 28, 2008. “I wrote it with Bryan-Michael Cox, and it's one of those sad love songs that everybody likes to sing when they are still holding on to someone that they miss,” Mariah told BET. “It's just about someone who keeps coming back to that one person that they can't let go of.”
Jody den Broeder and Ralphi Rosario were in charge of the song's remixes, which took “I Stay In Love” to the top of the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart on February 14, 2009, making it Mariah's fourteenth number-one song on the chart.
| Song | Remix | Run time |
|---|---|---|
| I Stay In Love | Instrumental
|
3:30 |
| I Stay In Love | Jody Den Broeder Club Mix
Produced by Jody Den Broeder. |
9:22 |
| I Stay In Love | Jody Den Broeder Radio Mix
Produced by Jody Den Broeder. |
4:04 |
| I Stay In Love | Jody Den Broeder House Mix
Produced by Jody Den Broeder. |
8:26 |
| I Stay In Love | Jody Den Broeder Dub
Produced by Jody Den Broeder. |
7:27 |
| I Stay In Love | Jody Den Broeder House Dub
Produced by Jody Den Broeder. |
9:21 |
| I Stay In Love | Ralphi Rosario BIG Vocal Mix
Produced by Ralphi Rosario. |
8:10 |
| I Stay In Love | Ralphi Rosario Melodic Club Vox
Produced by Ralphi Rosario. |
9:29 |
| I Stay In Love | Ralphi Rosario Melodic Radio Edit
Produced by Ralphi Rosario. |
3:33 |
| I Stay In Love | Ralphi Rosario Melodic Radio Vox
Produced by Ralphi Rosario. |
4:35 |
| I Stay In Love | Ralphi Rosario Melodic Mixshow
Produced by Ralphi Rosario. |
6:31 |
| I Stay In Love | Ralphi's Bar Mix
Produced by Ralphi Rosario. |
8:15 |
| I Stay In Love | Ralphi's Bar Dub Mix
Produced by Ralphi Rosario. |
8:11 |
The music video for “I Stay In Love” was directed by Nick Cannon and filmed during the beginning of October 2008 in Las Vegas, NV. BET's Access Granted took viewers behind the scenes. “My character that I'm playing in this video is a forlorn showgirl,” Mariah said about the video. “She's working at this club and she's miserable 'cause the guy that's she's usually with is there but he's disinterested and we see him kinda gradually not paying attention to her that much anymore.”
Dying inside cause I can't stand it
Make up, break up, can't take this madness
We don't even really know why
All I know is baby I try and try
So hard to keep our love alive
If you don't know me at this point then I highly doubt you ever will
I really need you to give me that unconditional love I used to feel
It's a mistake if we just erase it
From our hearts and minds and I know
We said let go but I kept on hangin' on
Inside I know it's over, you're really gone
It's killing me cause it ain't nothing that I can do
Baby I stay in love with you
And I keep on telling myself that you'll come back around
And I try to front like ‘Oh well’ each time you let me down
See I can't get over you now, no matter what I do
But baby baby, I stay in love with you
Why do I stay, why do I stay in love
Baby I stay in love with you
It cuts so deep it hurts down to my soul
My friends tell me I ain't the same no more
We still need each other when we stumble and fall
How we gon' act like what we had ain't nothing at all now
Hey, what I wanna do is ride shotgun next to you
With the top down like we used to
Hit the block proud in the SU
We both know our heart is breakin'
Can we learn from our mistakes
I can't last one moment alone and although I know
We said let go but I kept on hangin' on
Inside I know it's over you're really gone
It's killing me cause it ain't nothing that I can do
Baby I stay in love with you
And I keep on telling myself that you'll come back around
And I try to front like ‘Oh well’ each time you let me down
See I can't get over you now, no matter what I do
But baby baby, I stay in love with you
We said let go but I kept on hangin' on
Inside I know it's over you're really gone
It's killing me cause there ain't nothing that I can do
Baby I stay in love with you
And I keep on telling myself that you'll come back around
And I try to front like ‘Oh well’ each time you let me down
See I can't get over you now, no matter what I do
But baby baby, I stay in love with you
Written by Mariah Carey, Bryan-Michael Cox, Adonis Shropshire, Kendrick Dean.
Produced by Bryan-Michael Cox and Mariah Carey.