Stan was released by Eminem in 2000 as a single from The Marshall Mathers LP, built around a sample of Dido's Thank You and told through letters from an increasingly obsessed fan. The character's name soon entered everyday language as a word for an extremely devoted, sometimes overbearing fan, and the song has remained a cultural reference point long after its chart run. Short clips circulate in edits and reaction videos because the title alone signals that kind of intense devotion, making it useful for jokes about fandom, celebrity worship and people who take admiration too far.