Fatherhood can turn life’s biggest questions into clear answers. For South African singer-songwriter Hunter Kennedy, that moment came while waiting for his daughter to be born. In his latest single, “Waiting for Maria”, the Fokofpolisiekar and Die Heuwels Fantasties lyricist trades his usual existential edge for something more intimate: the hope, purpose, and meaning awakened in the quiet, anxious days before becoming a father.
Hunter came to a realisation that becoming a father awakened his purpose – after years of trying to find meaning – and in one pivotal moment, understanding emerged. Yet he carries a raw, fundamental uncertainty into the next chapter of his life, where his drive to be a good father collides with his longing to be loved in return.
He realises their lives are intertwined, and they will experience the journey together. At the same time, he shoulders the responsibility of preparing – not sheltering – her for what lies ahead.
“I wrote the chorus while I was sitting in the hospital waiting area after she was born,” says Kennedy. “It struck me that I’d probably be waiting for her for the rest of my life – outside school, outside a house party, even at my deathbed. And in that moment, all of life just made sense.”
“After ten years in the making, Fred Den Hartog (long-time producer/collaborator and Die Heuwels Fantasties member) and I first produced the song in a pop, almost hip-hop vibe, but when we stripped it down, it felt more honest,” he says. “It’s the most basic form – and somehow the most truthful.
This creative shift mirrors the life changes that inspired it, adding colour to his work – a lighter emotional shade compared to his usual style, which is often existential, satirical and sometimes “just downright weird”, he admits.
“Funnily enough the song isn’t really about Maria,” he laughs. “It’s about the changes her arrival unlocked in me. Maybe she’ll get it when she has children.”
The lyrics are thoughtful, warmly sentimental and surprisingly upbeat – a song his daughter may look back on with a knowing smile.
This single is sure to resonate with people who recognise and share in those small spaces, those between moments, waiting for those you love.
“Without knowing it, I had been waiting for her all my life,” he reflects. “I know people say it’s risky to make your kid your sole purpose - what happens when they grow up and leave? – but right now, it works for me. Being a dad and exploring the world through a child’s lens is probably the most fun I’m having at the moment. I dunno. Fight me.”
With “Waiting for Maria,” Kennedy offers more than a song – he offers a reminder: in the layered quiet between life’s milestones, there is beauty, purpose, and meaning to be found. It’s in these fleeting pauses, where the vastness of existence meets the intimacy of small, precious moments, that the song finds its heartbeat.
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Hunter’s close friend and Fokofpolisiekar band member, Francois van Coke, was so taken with the song that he encouraged Hunter to release it and perform it live for the first time at Francois van Coke & Vriende, held at SunBet Arena in Pretoria on 3 October 2025.
Photo credit: Neelia Kenendy