For Forever Lyrics – Dear Evan Hansen

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

I remember the first time I heard Ben Platt float the word “sky.” The band holds its breath, the story holds its nerve, and suddenly this quiet kid is building a whole friendship out of air. “For Forever” works like that - gentle at first, then it sneaks up, stacking images and harmonies until the lie sounds almost like mercy. On record, the arrangement leans pop-Broadway: piano up front, acoustic guitar flickers, strings that rise like a blush, and a rhythm section that stays out of the way so the storytelling can land. Alex Lacamoire’s fingerprints are everywhere - tasteful swells, clear space, a steady climb.

Creation History

Written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for Dear Evan Hansen, the song appears as track 3 on the Original Broadway Cast Recording. The album producers - Lacamoire with Pasek & Paul - capture the scene like a one-take confession: you can hear the lie assemble in real time, then harden into hope. There isn’t a traditional “music video” from the Broadway cycle; the widely circulated track is the official audio, and the moment was later restaged on film in 2021.

Highlights - Key takeaways

• Narrative engine: a first-person yarn that gradually reveals itself as fabrication, mirroring the show’s central tension.
• Hook-as-motif: “All we see is sky for forever” becomes a melodic calling card across the score.
• Arrangement: intimate pop ballad frame - piano, acoustic guitar, soft strings - timed to each new “beat” of Evan’s invented memory.
• Vocal arc: from tentative storytelling to radiant affirmation, ending on the double-edged “perfect day.”

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Evan sits at dinner with the Murphys and improvises a friendship with their son, Connor. Apples on the table nudge him toward an orchard, and from there the story blooms: ice cream at À La Mode, an open field, inside jokes, a climb up the tallest tree. The tale ends with a fall, a numb arm, and a rescue that never actually happened. In the space of one song, Evan manufactures a past that comforts the Murphys and briefly saves him from being seen as he is.

Song Meaning

At heart, this is a wish. Evan wants companionship so badly that he swaps truth for belonging. The chorus line “all we see is sky” imagines a world unbothered by noise - a two-person bubble where time pauses and shame quiets down. The mood starts tentative, turns warm, then glows a little too bright to be real. Context matters: the fabricated memory dovetails with Evan’s summer accident and the show’s broader conversation about loneliness, performance, and the stories we tell to survive.

Annotations

“At different points in this song, you can hear a little acoustic guitar riff: this happens whenever Evan tells a new lie.”

That guitar lick acts like a truth detector. Every time Evan adds a flourish, the arrangement winks. It’s dramaturgy in six notes.

“Broken arms take 6-10 weeks to heal... we figured out that this lyric wouldn’t make sense… But we liked the lyric, and decided that Evan probably wouldn’t have gotten the math straight because he was making the story up on the spot.”

The timeline “error” becomes character logic. He’s not precise because he’s improvising. The Murphys aren’t precise because they want to believe him.

“Like a photograph, Evan’s story is created and designed… He is painting a picture for them.”

Exactly. The writing favors frames: fields “framed with trees,” a day posed for comfort. It’s scrapbooking as self-preservation.

“À La Mode is actually a real ice cream parlor in Ocean City… Evan includes this to make them think that Connor still remembered the days when they did this.”

A concrete noun sells the fiction. Specificity is the liar’s best friend.

“Here, Evan is describing the Orchard, a place he’s never seen… he only incorporates it because Connor’s parents mention that they used to go there often.”

He builds from their prompts. The story is collaborative, even if they don’t know they’re co-writing.

“Most of us know this isn’t really what most high school boys do… he’s never really had a true friend.”

His fantasy friendship is built from clichés about closeness. It rings slightly off, which is the point.

“Even Evan’s wildest dreams don’t involve much but simply talking.”

That line always hits me. He doesn’t crave fireworks. He wants conversation and a place to put it.

“‘All we see is sky for forever’ – repetition… a metaphor that if Evan and Connor were to stay in their own world it would be calm and peaceful.”

The show reuses the motif elsewhere, a soft thread connecting scenes that promise visibility and safety.

“Here, a rhyme is noticeably subverted… the word ‘die’ seems to fit much more accurately than ‘go on’.”

The rhyme scheme almost gives the secret away. Prosody as plot twist.

“This string phrase is only on the record.”

On the album, a brief interlude replaces dialogue - a studio choice that deepens the hush before verse two.

“As we later learn… Evan’s ulterior motive for climbing… was part of an effort to end his life.”

The tree isn’t just scenery. It’s a stand-in for threshold - up where the sun feels like permission and the ground feels far.

“He revises history so that Connor was around to help him after he fell.”

And that’s the ache of the final chorus. Evan sings himself into a rescue he never got.

Style and instrumentation

Piano-led balladry with light acoustic guitar, brushed drums, and strings that bloom at each narrative crest. The groove is slow walk tempo - enough pulse to move the story, enough space for subtext.

Emotional arc

Starts tentative, turns radiant, then bittersweet. By “buddy, you and I,” hope is practically shouting. The last “perfect day” lands like a smile you hold a beat too long.

Cultural touchpoints

In the Broadway tradition of the “I want” song, this one doubles as an unreliable confession. It sits near “Giants in the Sky” or “Santa Fe” in that it dreams out loud, but here the dream is taped together in real time.

Key Facts

• Artist: Ben Platt (Original Broadway Cast)
• Composer/Lyricists: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
• Producers (album track): Alex Lacamoire, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul
• Release Date: February 3, 2017
• Album: Dear Evan Hansen (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Label: Atlantic Records
• Length: 5:01
• Genre: Broadway pop ballad
• Language: English
• Instruments: piano, acoustic guitar, strings, bass, drums
• Mood: wistful - luminous - aching
• Music style: narrative ballad with recurring chorus motif

Questions and Answers

Who produced “For Forever” by Ben Platt?

As heard on the Original Broadway Cast Recording, it was produced by Alex Lacamoire with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for Atlantic Records.

When did Ben Platt release “For Forever”?

February 3, 2017, as part of the Dear Evan Hansen cast album.

Who wrote “For Forever”?

Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Is “For Forever” in the 2021 film adaptation?

Yes. Ben Platt performs it in the movie, and it appears on the 2021 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

Was “For Forever” released as a standalone single?

No. The album’s pre-release singles were “Waving Through a Window,” “Requiem,” and “You Will Be Found.”

Awards and Chart Positions

• Billboard 200: the cast album debuted at No. 8 in February 2017 - the highest debut for a cast recording since 1961.
• Grammy Awards: the album won Best Musical Theater Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
• RIAA: the Original Broadway Cast Recording was certified Gold on March 6, 2019.
• Tony Awards: the stage musical won Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, and more in 2017; Ben Platt won Best Actor in a Musical.
• Film tie-in: “For Forever” appears on the 2021 film soundtrack released by Interscope.

How to Sing For Forever

If you’re taking this on, here’s the practical roadmap I give young tenors:

• Key & range: the published “Platt key” centers in A major; common editions outline roughly A2–Bb4, with alternate transpositions in E and D for different belt thresholds.
• Breath plan: mark two anchors - the end of “this way” in each chorus and the climb sequence before the fall - and reset the ribs before each.
• Mix strategy: keep “sky,” “light,” and “alright” in a resonant mix; think vowel purity over volume.
• Story beats: verse 1 = invention, chorus 1 = invitation; verse 2 = buy-in; bridge = revision of the fall; last chorus = wish granted, briefly.
• Orchestra cues: the light guitar figure often signals a new “detail” - time your dynamic lift with it rather than outrunning it.

Additional Info

Notable versions: Ben Platt’s 2017 cast recording; Ben Platt’s 2021 film version; multiple promotional performances by Broadway and West End casts.