Released: 2024
“Wait for You,” a pop ballad by Johnny Orlando, paints a haunting picture of longing and unrequited love. The singer grapples with persistent memories of a lost love, pledging to wait indefinitely for their return, while wrestling with an overarching feeling of desolation.
The opening line, “Another night, another stranger,” sets a precursory tone of estrangement. Orlando portrays himself as a lone wanderer, with an insatiable yearning that’s only exacerbated by his heart’s vulnerability— “feel like my heart is in danger.” He’s struggling with residual feelings from a past relationship, symbolized metaphorically through a “broken promise and empty memories“.
The chorus, undeniably the heart of the song, focuses on Orlando’s resilience to wait for his lover’s return. He insightfully questions, “how long can I still play pretend? How long ’til the walls come crashing in?” He oscillates between the facade of indifference and the sobering reality that his coping mechanisms are crumbling.
“I’ve been dreaming of your body, Next to mine“, accentuates Orlando’s deep sense of longing and the relentless ache that keeps reminding him of their physically intimate moments. “Give me a time and a place, I’ll keep up the pace ‘Til I run out of patience“, here, Orlando is so enthralled in his undying love and is ready to mollify his yearning, but his desperation slowly gnaws him down. “Like I’m caught in the chase and I’m losing the race” further emphasizes this feeling of despair coupled with an intense desire to reconnect.
The recurring chorus and the line, “I will, I will wait for you“, is perhaps Orlando’s last-ditch effort to maintain hope despite his inner turmoil. The repeated declaration works as a throbbing mantra to keep him going, symbolizing Orlando’s obstinate devotion as he continues to yearn for a long-gone lover.
The singer’s yearning bleeds through the stanzas, bringing forth a sense of bitter-sweet melancholy as encapsulated by the song. In the end, “Wait for You” serves as a stirring portrayal of love, longing, and the struggle of holding onto memories that persistently disrupt the prospect of moving forward.
