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.
[5] 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.
[13] 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".
[16] 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.
[11] 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.