This soliloquy is sung by Aaron Burr midway through the first act of the show.

The beat on the first half of the song closely resembles dancehall reggae; you can compare the rhythm with that of Kevin Lyttle’s “Turn Me On,” which it matches almost exactly.

The piano melody at the beginning is echoed later in “Burn.” The bass that comes in when the lyrics start also appears later, in “Non-Stop.”

The song’s visuals and staging reinforce Burr’s lyrics and philosophy. During this number, the ensemble, who are actively dancing for the vast majority of the show, sit in chairs around Burr as he sings, literally watching the song go by them, “wait[ing] for it.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda spoke about the philosophy behind this song with The New Yorker:

I think we’ve all had moments where we’ve seen friends and colleagues zoom past us, either to success, or to marriage, or to homeownership, while we lingered where we were—broke, single, jobless. And you tell yourself, “Wait for it.”

Miranda also said to Grantland (repeated elsewhere) that he considers this one of the best songs he’s ever written:

I stupidly gave him a lot of the best songs… “Wait for It” and “The Room Where It Happens” are two of the best songs I’ve ever written in my life and he got them both.