noted that "There's Got to Be a Way" follows the same melodic tone as the album's opener "Vision of Love" but highlighted their stark lyrical differences, as the former is about social activism and the latter is about love. Although he praised Carey's vocals, writing that she "deploys" one of her best whistle notes of her career, he felt that "the aim for broad appeal comes at the expense of memorable lyrics." Similarly in December 2015, Kelsey McKinney of the G/O Media owned Splinter News compiled a selection of reviews of how Carey and her debut album were received in 1990; "There's Got to Be a Way" was mentioned in Alan Niester's review for the Canadian publication The Globe and Mail. He commented that, as did most critics, Carey's vocals were reminiscent of already established female singers, including Whitney Houston and Lisa Stansfield, with their vocal influences most apparent on the song as well as "Alone in Love", specifically. It was because of this, he writes, that despite Carey having a vocal ability that is "worth watching," what she is singing vocally is more interesting than what she is singing lyrically, having not yet found her own style. Music video The accompanying music video for "There's Got to Be a Way" begins with a shot of an empty street, followed by clips of disadvantaged and poorer members of society going about their daily activities. Two men play dominoes on a wooden crate outside a building, a gang make fun of an elderly man hanging newspapers outside his store and an obese woman walks down the street. Clips of Carey leaning against a wall and sitting on some steps looking on at what is happening are shown. As the first chorus begins, everyone starts to dance joyfully in the street and help those in need. A gospel choir comes out of one of the buildings as the street becomes more crowded with people of all ages and backgrounds rejoicing and getting along with each other. One of the shops in the background has a neon light outside the entrance which says "Jesus Saves." Live performance Carey performed a couple of lines of the song for the first time in a short video on May 30, 2020, in response to the murder of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Derek Chauvin, a White American police officer, in