Waving Through a Window

The song is the main protagonist, Evan Hansen's "I want" song, which dives deeper into his struggle with his social anxiety disorder and his longing to be accepted by his peers at high school and in his community ("On the outside always looking in, will I ever be more than I've always been"). It begins after Connor Murphy, following a joke Evan's "family friend" Jared Kleinman makes to him about his hair length, pushes Evan to the ground after mistakenly interpreting Evan's awkwardness as making fun of him. A dialogue break occurs after the first chorus, when Connor's sister Zoe runs into Evan to apologize for her brother's behavior, which results in Evan acting awkward to her. Evan then continues singing alone until the entire cast joins in to back him up on the final chorus.[2]

During the build up to the final chorus, Evan repeats the line "When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around, do you ever really crash or even make a sound," referring to his suicide attempt at Ellison State Park, which took place the Summer before the story began. The line returns in the song's first reprise (sung in the following scene in the computer lab after Evan writes the note that becomes the catalyst of the events that follow) and in "Disappear" near the end of Act 1.

The song itself is reprised a second time by Alana Beck before Evan goes to the Principal's Office to meet with Zoe and Connor's parents, Cynthia and Larry.

The first verses of the song ("I've learned to slam on the break, before I even turn the key...") return in "Words Fail" during Act 2.

In his review of the Broadway production of the musical for The New York Times, Charles Isherwood praised Ben Platt's performance, writing "...when Mr. Platt sings Evan’s songs — including the touching introductory cri de coeur, “Waving Through a Window” — we can simultaneously hear the heartsore, conflicted young man and the intelligent, kindly kid buried inside him."[3]

• In 2017, Owl City recorded their own version of the song and released it as a single.[5]
• In 2017, a cover of the song by Thomas Sanders, Dodie Clark, and Ben J. Pierce was released on YouTube.[6]
• In 2017, a cover of the song by Austin Colby, Nick Lehan and David Rowen was released on Rowen's YouTube channel.[7]
• In 2017, string quartet Well-Strung released a cover of the song as a music video.[8]
• At the songwriters' request, the song was covered by American singer Katy Perry in 2018 to promote the musical's touring production and subsequently included on the deluxe edition of the cast recording.[9][10]
• In 2018, Utah-based and family-owned production company Working With Lemons released a cinematic music video of the song.[11]
• In 2019, Ramin Karimloo covered the song for his album From Now On.[12]
• In 2019, Pentatonix released a cover of the song as a single with an accompanying music video.[13]
• In 2019, 13-year-old Asher Reynolds released a music video of his version of the song.[14]
• In 2020, Michael Olatuja's London-based band QuaranTet released a version of the song with all the accompanying instrumental backing recorded remotely.[15]
• In 2020, the song was performed as the finale of the HBO Max special Homeschool Musical: Class of 2020.[16]