"You Gotta Be" is a pop song by British singer Des'ree, written by the singer with the track's producer, Ashley Ingram. It was the third song on Des'ree's second album I Ain't Movin', and the first song on that album's US version.

It was released as a single around the world in 1994 and 1995 and became a top-40 hit in several countries and a top-10 hit in the United States. The song was used in several television advertisements over the following years, and a 1999 remix single became a top-10 hit in Des'ree's native UK and a number one hit in Spain.

Described by Stuart Elliott in The New York Times as "an infectiously sunny tune about the affirmative powers of self-confidence," "You Gotta Be" according to Des'ree is, like all the songs on its parent album, "about having the inner strength to figure out who you are" with "You Gotta Be" specifically being "born out of me stopping myself and thinking everyday how you gotta be something. You have to be cool and calm in [one] situation, and then you have to be bold and strong in another situation." Des'ree drew inspiration for "You Gotta Be" from the Shakti Gawain book Creative Visualization which had abetted the singer's recovery from a painful romantic break-up; "I've always been blindly optimistic, and that [book] helped me rise from my melancholia," explains Des'ree who it is said "swears by daily affirmations."

"You Gotta Be" was released several times in the United Kingdom: first in March 1994, it was then re-released in February 1995 after it had become a USA top 10 hit, and in 1999 in a remixed version because of its use in the 1999 Ford Focus advertising campaign and following the success of Des'ree's previous singles "Life" and "Kissing You". The latter release of "You Gotta Be" charted in its highest position out of all three releases in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 10. This version, entitled the "1999 Mix" was added to a re-issue of her third studio album Supernatural. The original release first charted in September 1994 in the United States and slowly climbed the charts peaking at No. 5 in March 1995, and staying 44 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. The remixed version of the song was a number one hit in Spain for two weeks, in February/March 1999.

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