The Way (Ariana Grande song)

"The Way"
Grande is seen with her hands facing up above her head in front of a light blue background. The artist name and song title are written in capitalized white font underneath
Single by Ariana Grande featuring Mac Miller
from the album Yours Truly
ReleasedMarch 26, 2013 (2013-03-26)
RecordedFebruary 2013
Genre
Length
  • 3:46 (Original and Spanglish version)
  • 3:10 (Solo version)
LabelRepublic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Harmony Samuels
Ariana Grande singles chronology
"Popular Song"
(2012) 		"The Way"
(2013) 		"Baby I"
(2013)
Mac Miller singles chronology
"Loud"
(2013) 		"The Way"
(2013) 		"S.D.S."
(2013)
Music video
"The Way" on YouTube

"The Way" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande featuring American rapper Mac Miller. It was released on March 26, 2013 by Republic Records as the lead single from Grande's debut studio album, Yours Truly (2013). The song was written by Amber Streeter, Al Sherrod Lambert, Jordin Sparks, Brenda Russell, Miller, and the producer Harmony Samuels. The song samples Big Pun's 1998 song "Still Not a Player", which itself samples Russell's 1979 song "A Little Bit of Love".

"The Way" received positive reviews from music critics for its 2000's R&B sound and Grande's vocals, which drew comparisons to those of Mariah Carey. The song became Grande's breakthrough hit and peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, earning both Grande and Miller their first top-ten song on the chart. "The Way" has since sold 2.4 million copies in the United States as of 2020 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for surpassing three million units. An accompanying music video was directed by Jones Crow and released on March 28, 2013. It depicts Grande and Miller dancing inside a room covered in balloons, as Miller takes several photographs of Grande. A Spanglish version was also released featuring Miller and Colombian rapper J Balvin.

  1. ^ Weiner, Natalie (October 8, 2013). "Ariana Grande's 9 Best Deep Cuts: Critic's Pick". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 11, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  2. ^ Leight, Elias (August 17, 2018). "Ariana Grande's Sweetener Proves That Trap Is the New Pop". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference NMEFortnite was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Billboard inside album 2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).