"Stay with Me" is a song by English singer Sam Smith from their debut studio album In the Lonely Hour (2014).

[2][3] In an interview with NME, Smith said that the song was written in a studio in Old Street with James Napier (Jimmy Napes) and William Phillips (also known as "Tourist").

After finishing the song, Smith started to layer vocals about twenty times, singing in different parts of the studio and harmonizing.

[4][5] According to Smith, "the song is about the moment in the morning after a one night stand, where the person you are with leaves your house, and you are left by yourself, and it's just a second, where you are just like: 'I wish, I wish'.

In June, they returned to the U.S. as part of their tour where they performed the song on Good Morning America, at the Apollo Theater in New York with Mary J. Blige, and David Letterman.

On 22 August 2024, a new version of the song with Japanese American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada was released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Smith's album In The Lonely Hour.

"[12] According to Smith, they had never heard "I Won't Back Down" before writing "Stay with Me",[13][14] but they acknowledged the similarity after listening to the song, and said that the likeness was "a complete coincidence".

[15][16] Petty and Lynne, however, were not eligible for a Grammy as the Recording Academy considered "Stay with Me" to have been interpolated from "I Won't Back Down" by Napier, Phillips and Smith; instead Petty and Lynne would be given certificates to honor their contribution to the work, as is usual for writers of sampled or interpolated work.

"Stay with Me" was written by Smith, James Napier, William Phillips, with additional credits to Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.

According to Erine Keane of Salon, "Stay with Me" combines a "contemporary drumbeat", blue-eyed soul singing, and a refrain sung in a gospel style,[19] while Stereogum's Tom Breihan called it "a soft-focus piano-soul ballad".

Amy Davidson from Digital Spy called the song an "emotional crescendo" and said the chorus was "slightly over-sentimental" and felt that their "soulful voice" made the singer left in "defeat by fleeting fling".

"[25] Sarah Milton of The Upcoming lauded the song, calling it "electrifying with its blunt honesty and exquisite gospel influence.

[29] In January 2015, "Stay with Me" was ranked at number 15 on The Village Voice's annual year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll.

[34] The song also reached top 10 status in over twelve countries worldwide, becoming Smith's most successful single to date.

[41] Eventual winner Josh Kaufman covered the song for his top 12 performance on the sixth season of The Voice US.

[45] Kelly Clarkson covered the song at her free concert in honor of the new Microsoft store at the SouthPark Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina.

[52] The song is featured in the television series Mistresses, Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, Bad Education, and The Mindy Project.

The song is played in the emotional scene where Mary, Queen of Scots (Adelaide Kane) and a dying Francis II of France (Toby Regbo) dance together in the television series Reign.