"There's Got to Be a Way" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey for her eponymous debut studio album (1990). Columbia released it as the fifth and final single from the album only in the United Kingdom on May 20, 1991. It was one of four songs Carey wrote with Ric Wake during their first recording session together in February 1990, but "There's Got to Be a Way" was the only composition to make the final track listing. Carey released a five-track digital extended play containing remixes of the song in July 2020 as part of her 30th-anniversary celebrations of her debut album.
"There's Got to Be a Way" is a socio-political conscious R&B-pop song which denounces the existence of poverty, racism and war in the world which gradually becomes aspirational and hopeful as it progresses. The track garnered a mixed reception upon the album's release in 1990; while Carey's vocals were praised, it was seen as too political. An accompanying music video for the song highlights social injustices. The song reached number 54 on the UK Singles Chart. In May 2020, Carey performed a snippet of the song in a video posted online in response to the murder of George Floyd.
Background and release
"There's Got to Be a Way" was composed by Mariah Carey and Ric Wake for Carey's self-titled debut studio album (1990); the lyrics were written by Carey, while she and Wake composed the music. It was written during Carey and Wake's first recording session together. They composed four songs, but only "There's Got to Be a Way" was chosen for the final track listing. Co-produced by Wake and Narada Michael Walden, it appears as the second of eleven songs on the track listing.
The track was recorded in February 1990 and engineered by Bob Cadway at Cove City Sound Studios and The Power Station, both located in New York City; he was assisted by Dana Jon Chappelle. It was mixed by David Frazer at Tarpan Studios in San Rafael. The keyboards, bass and rhythm engineering was carried out by Louis Biancaniello, while Joe Franco performed the percussion, Vernon "Ice" Black played the guitar, and Rich Tancredo also performing on the keyboards. Walter Afanasieff played the synth horns. Carey provided her own background vocals along with Billy T. Scott, Jamiliah Muhammed and The Billy T. Scott Ensemble. The song was released in the United Kingdom as the fifth and final single on May 20, 1991.
On July 24, 2020, Carey released a five-track digital extended play of the song as part of her 30th-anniversary celebrations of her debut album Mariah Carey. Titled There's Got to Be a Way EP and released in tandem with an eight-track EP of "Someday", it contains "hard-to-find and unreleased makeovers" of the original album track, including both the 7-inch and 12-inch versions (the latter of which was previously only available on vinyl), the "Vocal Dub Mix" and "Alt. Vocal Dub Mix", as well as the "Sample Dub Mix", with the third and fifth being previously unreleased. Gil Kaufman of Billboard called its release a "revelation" for fans in the United States, owing to "There's Got to Be a Way" originally released only in the United Kingdom.
Composition
"There's Got to Be a Way" is an R&B-pop music song with elements of gospel, lasting for a duration for four minutes and 52 seconds. The song begins with Carey publicly decrying the existence of war, poverty and racism in the world, and she uses the bridge to shift the lyrics towards an uplifting and aspirational tone. A "peaceful, political anthem," the theme of social activism can be heard in the lyrics "There's got to be a way/ To connect this world today/ Come together to relieve the pain/ There's got to be a way/ To unite this human race/ And together we'll bring on a change." Carey goes on to suggest that we should be more tolerant of each other and not resort so readily to war in the lyrics "Couldn't we accept each other / Can't we make ourselves aware."