Waitin for You
{{about|the song by Demi Lovato||Waiting for You (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Waitin for You
| cover =
| alt =
| type = Song
| artist = Demi Lovato featuring Sirah
| album = Confident
| released =
| format =
| recorded =
| studio =
- EastWest Studios (Los Angeles, CA){{cite AV media notes|others=Demi Lovato|title=Confident|year=2015|type=liner notes|publisher=Hollywood, Island & Safehouse Records}}
- Rokstone Studios (London, England){{cite AV media notes|others=Demi Lovato|title=Confident|year=2015|type=liner notes|publisher=Hollywood, Island & Safehouse Records}}
| venue =
| genre = R&B
| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=12}}
| label = {{flatlist|
| writer = {{flatlist|
| producer = {{flatlist|
- Jason Evigan
- Steve Mac
- Mitch Allan}}
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|Uk32JhmiC7Q|"Waitin for You"}}|type=song}}
}}
"Waitin for You" is a song recorded by American singer Demi Lovato featuring rapper Sirah. The duo along with Julia Michaels, Jason Evigan and Steve Mac composed the song for Lovato's fifth studio album Confident (2015). Evigan and Mac also handled the song's production, with Mitch Allan serving as a vocal producer.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/confident-mw0002876585/credits | title = Confident - Demi Lovato : Credits|website=AllMusic}}
== Background ==
In December 2013, Lovato confirmed that she had started working on her then-untitled fifth studio album Confident.{{cite web|last1=Garibaldi|first1=Christina|title=Demi Lovato's Neon Lights Tour Is The Start Of A 'F—ing Amazing' 2014|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1722010/demi-lovato-neon-lights-tour-amazing-2014/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503095229/http://www.mtv.com/news/1722010/demi-lovato-neon-lights-tour-amazing-2014/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 3, 2014|publisher=MTV News. Viacom|access-date=October 16, 2015|date=February 7, 2014}} The majority of the album's songs were recorded upon the conclusion of the Demi World Tour in 2015.{{cite magazine|last1=Lipshutz|first1=Jason|title=New Demi Lovato Album Due in 2015|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6296806/demi-lovato-new-album-2015|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Prometheus Global Media|access-date=October 16, 2015|date=October 27, 2014}} "Waitin for You" was written by Lovato, Julia Michaels, Jason Evigan, Steve Mac, and Sirah, who appears as the featured artist on the track. It was produced by Evigan, Mac and Mitch Allan. On September 8, 2015, one month prior to Confident's release, Lovato held a listening party in London to give select fans a preview of five songs.{{cite web|url=http://www.sugarscape.com/music/news/a1081905/demi-lovato-confident-listen/|title=Demi Lovato played us a few songs from her new album Confident|work=Sugarscape|publisher=Hachette Filipacchi Médias|last=Smith|first=Carl|access-date=July 17, 2016|date=September 9, 2016}} Before playing "Waitin for You", Lovato revealed to The Sun that she was inspired by artists such as Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, and was determined to let people know she could not be messed with. Lovato went on to confess that the song was about singers and their various Twitter feuds.
Composition
"Waitin for You" is an R&B song{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6738435/demi-lovato-tough-waitin-for-you-confident-video|title=Demi Lovato Gets Tough in 'Waitin for You' Video: Watch|magazine=Billboard|date=October 23, 2015|access-date=December 24, 2015|last=Stutz|first=Colin}} that contains "confrontational lyrics" and explicitly lays bare the singer's fearlessness and confidence. Publications such as Daily Mirror, Latina, Seventeen, and Sugarscape have speculated that Lovato's estranged best friend Miley Cyrus is the subject of the diss track.{{cite web|url=http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/music/news/a33926/this-is-why-fans-think-demi-lovato-a-single-waiting-for-you-is-a-miley-cyrus-diss/|title=Is Demi Lovato Throwing Shade at Miley Cyrus in Her New Track, "Waiting For You"?|work=Seventeen|publisher=Hearst Corporation|author=Jelani Addams Rosa|access-date=July 17, 2016|date=September 11, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.latina.com/entertainment/celebrity/demi-lovato-waiting-for-you|title=Demi Lovato's New Diss Track 'Waiting For You' Could Be About Another Pop Star|work=Latina|access-date=July 17, 2016|date=September 12, 2015|last=Rivera|first=Zayda}}{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/demi-lovato-taking-aim-ex-6421878|title=Is Demi Lovato taking aim at ex BFF Miley Cyrus in new track?|work=Daily Mirror|last=Wareing|first=Charlotte|date=September 11, 2016|access-date=July 17, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sugarscape.com/music/news/a1081959/demi-lovato-miley-cyrus-diss/|title=Is Demi Lovato's new song 'Waiting For You' a Miley Cyrus diss track?|work=Sugarscape|last=Smith|first=Carl|access-date=July 17, 2016|date=September 11, 2015|publisher=Hachette Filipacchi Médias}}
Critical reception
"Waitin for You" received generally positive reviews for its empowering and raw content. MTV's Madeline Roth claimed that "just listening to the song is enough to get you fired up". Furthermore, she described it as "a dark track fueled by revenge fantasy".{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2359711/demi-lovato-waitin-for-you-video/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024105334/http://www.mtv.com/news/2359711/demi-lovato-waitin-for-you-video/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 24, 2015|title=DEMI LOVATO STRIKES BACK AT HER CHILDHOOD BULLIES IN NEW 'WAITIN' FOR YOU' VIDEO|work=MTV News|publisher=MTV|last=Roth|first=Madeline|date=October 23, 2015|access-date=July 20, 2016}} In a track-by-track review of Confident, Merna Jibrail of ANDPOP stated the following about the song, "If there’s a track off the album that had us saying "YAAS," it's this one. It sets a very assertive mood — if that makes any sense."{{cite web|url=http://www.andpop.com/2015/10/16/track-by-track-album-review-confident-by-demi-lovato/|title=Track-By-Track Album Review: Confident By Demi Lovato|last=Jibrail|first=Merna|work=ANDPOP|publisher=Channel Zero|access-date=July 17, 2016|date=October 16, 2015}} While comparing Sirah's rap to Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's verse on "Kingdom Come", Billboard's Maura Johnston commented that "Sirah's breathy contribution to the vengeful "Waitin for You" blunts the song's stark effect" unlike "Azalea's underwhelming comeback verse".{{cite magazine|last1=Johnston|first1=Maura|author-link=Maura Johnston |title=Demi Lovato Lays It All Bare on 'Confident': Album Review|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/review/6730170/demi-confident-album-review|magazine=Billboard|access-date=October 16, 2015|date=October 16, 2015|publisher=Prometheus Global Media}} Sputnikmusic noted in a positive review that "Waitin for You" is "the peak of the album" with "killer couplets" that make Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" seem "quaint and like catty play-fighting in comparison", while deeming Sirah's verse as "atrocious".{{cite web|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/69207/Demi-Lovato-Confident/|title=Demi Lovato - Confident|work=Sputnikmusic|access-date=December 24, 2015|date=November 27, 2015}}
Music video
On October 22, 2015, a black-and-white music video for "Waitin for You" directed by Black Coffee was released through Lovato's official Vevo channel on YouTube.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk32JhmiC7Q|title=Demi Lovato - Waitin for You (Official Video) (Explicit) ft. Sirah|work=YouTube|publisher=Google|author=DemiLovatoVEVO|access-date=July 17, 2016|date=October 22, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.vevo.com/watch/demi-lovato/Waitin-for-You-(Official-Video)-(Explicit)/USH5V1522557|title=Waitin for You (Official Video) (Explicit) - Demi Lovato|work=Vevo|publisher=Sony Music Entertainment|access-date=July 17, 2016|date=October 22, 2015}} As she was seen wearing no make up and a black bomber jacket with her album title printed in the back, Lovato revisits her former middle school, Cross Timbers Middle School, in Grapevine, Texas, where she used to suffer from intense bullying experiences in the past, and struts around the schoolyard confidently while ready to fight. Sirah joins in later during her guest rap verse. Teen Vogue{{'}}s Hannah Weintraub called the video "one of Demi's most emotional performances we've ever seen and fitting for the personal song about her past".{{cite web|url=http://www.teenvogue.com/story/demi-lovato-waitin-for-you-music-video|title=Watch Demi Lovato Send a Message to Her Childhood Bullies in "Waitin for You" Music Video|work=Teen Vogue|publisher=Condé Nast|last=Weintraub|first=Hannah|access-date=July 17, 2016|date=October 24, 2016}} Writing for MTV, Madeline Roth remarked that the clip "is refreshingly raw and understated" in comparison to the "big, glitzy productions" of the first two music videos from the Confident era. She praised it as Lovato's "most powerful" video yet.
Live performances
Lovato and Sirah performed the song live for the very first time on August 13, 2016, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas during the Future Now Tour.{{cite web|url=https://www.vagalume.com.br/news/2016/08/15/demi-lovato-canta-waiting-for-you-ao-vivo-com-sirah-pela-primeira-vez.html|title=Demi Lovato canta "Waiting For You" ao vivo com Sirah pela primeira vez|work=Vagalume|date=August 15, 2016|access-date=August 17, 2016|language=pt}}
Credits and personnel
;Recording
- Recorded at EastWest Studios, Los Angeles, United States and Rokstone Studios, London, United Kingdom
- Mixed at MixStar Studios, Virginia Beach, United States
- Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York City, United States
;Management
- Published by Ddlovato Music (ASCAP), Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI), Thanks For The Songs Richard (BMI)
- Sirah appears courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corporation
;Personnel
{{div col}}
- Demi Lovato – lead vocals, songwriter, background vocals
- Julia Michaels – songwriter
- Jason Evigan – songwriter, producer, all instrumentation
- Steve Mac – songwriter, producer, all instrumentation
- Sara Mitchell – vocals, songwriter
- Mitch Allan – vocal producer
- Chris Laws – additional engineering
- Serban Ghenea – mixing
- Tom Coyne – mastering
- Nicholas Mauro – costume design
{{div col end}}
Credits adapted from Confident album liner notes.{{cite AV media notes|others=Demi Lovato|title=Confident|year=2015|type=liner notes|publisher=Hollywood, Island & Safehouse Records}}
Chart performance
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
! Chart (2015) ! Peak |
| scope="row"|US Twitter Top Tracks (Billboard){{cite web|title=Demi Lovato - Chart history|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/300744/Demi%20Lovato/chart?f=2047|publisher=Billboard Twitter Top Tracks for Demi Lovato|access-date=July 17, 2016}}
| 21 |
|---|
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Demi Lovato}}
Category:Black-and-white music videos
Category:Song recordings produced by Jason Evigan
Category:Song recordings produced by Steve Mac
Category:Songs written by Demi Lovato
Category:Songs written by Jason Evigan
Category:Songs written by Julia Michaels
Category:Songs written by Sirah (rapper)