"You Will Know" is a song written and recorded by American R&B singer-songwriter

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

, taken from his 1987 '' Characters'' album. It is the opening track on the album, and is the second single from the album as well. This is Stevie Wonder's 20th and final number-one R&B hit single. Wonder performed the song along with R&B quartet

Jodeci Jodeci ( ) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B quartet consisting of members DeVanté Swing, Dalvin DeGrate, Mr. Dalvin, K-Ci, and K-Ci & JoJo, JoJo. Formed in 1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jodeci began as a duo of DeVanté Swing and JoJo ...

and

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

on an episode of ''

The Arsenio Hall Show ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall. There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989 ...

'' in late 1992.

Chart performance

In March 1988, the song reached number 77 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 1 on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

, "You Will Know" also peaked at number 16 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

charts.

Critical reception

Karen Swayne from '' Number One'' wrote, "This isn't one of the best tracks, but there's a warmth and humanity to it that means all but the hardest hearted will forgive him (for) crooning trite platitudes like 'problems have solutions/trust and I will show.' Some people might even believe him. And why not." Ed Hogan of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

took note that "Originally starting out as a romantic love song, "You Will Know" evolved into a song about the greatest love of all, the love of God. The song's main character has lost his way in life,lost his hope and is comforted by: "You will know/Troubled heart you'll know/Problems have solutions/Trust and I will show."

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

described You Will Know as "a typically lush Wonder ballad with verses about a drug user and a struggling single parent; the chorus, presumably a voice from heaven, says, ''Trust and I will show. . .Every life has reason/ for I made it so.''"

Charts

References

Stevie Wonder songs 1987 songs 1987 singles Songs written by Stevie Wonder Motown singles Song recordings produced by Stevie Wonder {{1980s-pop-song-stub