There's Got to Be a Way

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"There's Got to Be a Way"

Single by Mariah Carey
from the album Mariah Carey
Released	1991 (Europe)
Format	Cassette single, 5" single, 7" single, 12" single
Genre	Pop/R&B
Length	4:53
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Mariah Carey, Ric Wake
Producer(s)	Ric Wake
Chart positions
#54 (UK #46(AU)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"I Don't Wanna Cry" (1991)	"There's Got to Be a Way" (1991)	"Emotions" (1991)

"There's Got to Be a Way" is a song written by American singer Mariah Carey and Ric Wake, and produced by Wake for Carey's debut album Mariah Carey (1990). Carey had lobbied to co-produce the song, but was denied permission by her record label Sony/Columbia. The protagonist of this dance song declares "There's got to be a way to connect this world today" and pleads for other ways to help fix the state of the world. It is one of Carey's few socially conscious songs, and deals with racism and poverty.

It was released as the album's fifth and final single in the second quarter of 1991 (see 1991 in music) in the United Kingdom and some other European markets. To maintain a then-unbroken string of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, "There's Got to Be a Way" was not released in the United States. Consequently, the song received little promotion and it became not only one of the least successful singles from Mariah Carey, but one of the biggest commercial failures of Carey's career. It was released instead of "I Don't Wanna Cry" for the UK market and failed even to reach the top forty, which her previous three singles had all managed. It peaked at number fifty-four, making a brief appearance in the top seventy-five.

[edit] Music video

A scene from the music video.

The single's video, directed by Larry Jordan, starts off with Carey walking the streets as she laments homeless people and racism. She is soon joined by friends, and they all break into an impromptu dance in the street. Remixes of the song were commissioned by Shep Pettibone.