Lyrically, the song is about Furtado having a crush on a boy and was inspired by a diary she kept as a sixteen-year-old on a summer vacation on São Miguel Island, Portugal.

It is a dance-pop and electropop song with elements of Latin pop, house music, R&B, and folk featuring accordion and bagpipes.

[2] According to Furtado, it was inspired by a diary she kept as a smitten sixteen-year-old on a summer vacation in São Miguel Island, Portugal, her parents' birthplace.

Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine gave a positive review, writing that "On 'Waiting for the Night,' she snatches the beyond-played-out thrash-dance template (the song's melody and production both recall Jennifer Lopez's 'On the Floor') and makes it sound, if not fresh, then at least palpably urgent—that is, until it tags out on a wonky accordion riff.

The tribal groove echoes a 10-year-old Jennifer Lopez hit, though because of how outdated such a formula is in today’s EDM-filled universe, the whole thing never crosses into the accessibly endearing Top 40 orbit for which it longs.

[12] Directed by The Seed Collective, the video was released via her official YouTube channel on January 8, 2013, at a total length of four minutes and thirty-one seconds.

[14] It first features Furtado in a white belly baring tank and pants, sporting what appears to be Día de los Muertos inspired makeup on only half of her face.

[16] She performed the song on The Voice of Germany, as a duet with contestant James Borges,[17] as well on La Voix (Québec) with singer songwriter Ariane Moffatt.