There Are Other Ways Lyrics – Epic: The Musical

Song Overview

I still remember the first midnight I hit play on There Are Other Ways: the room felt suddenly bigger, strings swelling like moon-lit surf while Jorge Rivera-Herrans slid into that velvet tenor and Talya Sindel countered with quicksilver soprano. The lyrics unfurled a chess match between Circe and Odysseus—desire versus devotion—yet the groove bumped like modern pop, stitched with orchestral muscle. No wonder the track has rocketed past 45 million Spotify streams and now sits among EPIC’s five most-played songs. Released as part of EPIC: The Circe Saga on 14 February 2024, it quickly topped US iTunes’ soundtrack chart and flooded TikTok with more than 4 000 user videos. Here are the essentials:

• Genre-bend: cinematic pop meets Broadway belting, laced with trap-hi-hats and a choir-swell bridge.
• Core conflict: temptation, loyalty, and raw power—Odysseus won’t trade Penelope for immortality-tinged pleasure.
• Key line: “Show me that you’re willing to burn.” It’s both flirtation and philosophical dare.
• Legacy: the song’s animatic alone has crossed 9.5 million YouTube views, inspiring hundreds of fan storyboards.

Song Meaning and Annotations

There Are Other Ways opens with hushed harp arpeggios, Circe cooing about “other modes of control.” The lyrics paint seduction as strategy, her voice dancing atop pizzicato strings that echo Greek lyre patterns. Then the beat drops—sub-bass, cymbal-splashes—and Jorge Rivera-Herrans, as Odysseus, answers in wary half-rap cadences. It feels like Florence + the Machine crashed a Lin-Manuel Miranda session. By the second minute the track swells into full-choir grandeur; every new layer mirrors Circe tightening invisible strings around her would-be puppet.

The emotional arc swerves. At first Circe flexes dominance, but Odysseus counters with raw vulnerability—“my wife awaits for me.” The tempo slows, horns sigh, and acoustic guitar slips in like a camp-fire memory of Ithaca. That pivot cracks Circe’s façade, and her reprise turns almost tender: “Maybe showing one act of kindness leads to kinder souls down the road.” The push-pull is storytelling gold—desire versus home, autonomy versus enchantment.

“There is so much power, so much power / But there’s no puppet here.”

That refrain pivots on double meaning: divine power versus agency; musical power versus subtle underscoring. Notice the pulsing D-minor pedal under the word “power” each time—composer’s wink that Circe’s grip never quite resolves.

Verse Highlights

Verse 1

Circe’s opening spell uses internal rhyme (“persuasion…deceit…soul”) to hypnotize. The instrumentation is sparse—just cello harmonic slides—so her phrases feel serpentine.

Chorus

Heavy drums kick in; the chorus is almost gospel. Choir responses (“so much power”) supply Greek-chorus commentary, situating the tale inside mythic theatre.

Bridge

When Odysseus invokes Penelope, the melody leaps a perfect fifth, signalling moral high ground. A lone French horn shadows him, a nod to Homeric war horns.

Final Reprise

Circe’s last lines soften into 6/8 sway; suspensions resolve, hinting that mercy —not manipulation-can —can move the plot.

Annotations

The subtlest weapons

· There are other ways of persuasion

This is the only moment the exact phrase appears. Every later repetition tweaks a word, underscoring how Circe pivots from brute force to quieter subversion — a softer tactic after losing the fight.

· There are other means of deceit

If she keeps Odysseus close until the moly fades, her spells return and she can control — or erase — the victor she now flatters.

Lessons and tests

· You have so much left to learn

Circe reminds the war-scarred hero that her centuries of experience outstrip his. She already sees the hard road ahead and knows he may have to act before he finds a gentler option.

The bargain in fire

· Want to save your men from the fire? Show me that you're willing to burn

Ancient audiences excused the goddess’s demand under a double standard that let men stray while women could not. Modern ears hear the power imbalance — the scene plays as manipulation, even SA. Epic steers the moment toward Odysseus’ devotion to crew and wife, framing any surrender as sacrifice rather than pleasure.

Counting the cost

· Who's to say, with the mistakes I've made...

He weighs every choice; most of his crew are dead, Poseidon hunts him and even Eurylochus doubts him. Another wrong move could finish the journey — or the captain.

Power in two directions

· There is so much power, so much power

The line works both ways: Circe flatters the man who beat her, while Odysseus feels the pull of her still-potent allure.

No strings — or are there?

· But there's no puppet here

Circe calls the meeting one of equals, claiming she has set aside her puppeteer role. Yet the very claim buys time until she can reclaim control. Odysseus later echoes the phrase, bargaining for his crew, so the irony runs both ways.

The price of love

· This is the price we pay to love

Casting the ordeal as devotion, Circe argues that true love — for comrades or a distant wife — demands painful sacrifice. Her own history with Glaucus and the cursed Scylla proves she knows how passion can twist into harm.

Only human

· I'm just a man

The callback to Just a Man rekindles his earlier doubt: then he held an infant’s life, now his men's. The phrase could excuse weakness, yet he breaks the spell.

Moving the boundary

· There is no line, never enough

Circe flips the chorus of Puppeteer, insisting heroism sometimes crosses lines — a seductive argument meant to blur Odysseus’ limits for the sake of his crew.

Whispered apology

· Forgive me

Spoken toward Penelope across the sea, it echoes earlier pleas before grave acts, yet here he manages to hold fast.

Forks in myth

· [ODYSSEUS, spoken]

Some tales let Odysseus accept Circe, father their son Telegonus, and die by that son's hand. Rivera-Herrans nods to that variant yet chooses fidelity.

Refusal

· I can't

In Homer, Odysseus stays a year with the sorceress; Epic updates the morality, tying him closer to modern monogamy. The quiet Penelope motif slips under the dialogue the moment he refuses.

All my power

· And she's all my power, all my power

Penelope anchors his will in multiple songs — Full Speed Ahead, Horse and the Infant, Keep Your Friends Close. Remembering her eclipses any promise Circe offers.

Ten becomes twelve

· But it's been twelve long years...

It should be ten. Rivera-Herrans later joked about the slip, offering head-canons: Odysseus exaggerates, miscounts or mirrors the composer’s own oversight.

The sea-god's shadow

· And now the god of tides is out to end my life

A direct nod to Poseidon, whose wrath first struck in Ruthlessness.

Appeal for mercy

· So I beg you, Circe, grant us mercy

Odysseus trusts reciprocity — grant what you hope to receive — and expects even a goddess to heed it.

· And let us puppets leave

He names himself a puppet to flatter the puppeteer he has just denied, hoping humility wins freedom.

Two Olympians, one grudge

· Ah, Poseidon, eh?

Helping Odysseus lets Circe needle a fellow deity; better to irk Poseidon than kill his quarry outright.

The underworld detour

· I know of a brilliant prophet — problem is, this prophet is dead

The line tees up the Underworld saga and the quest for Tiresias.

· I can't get you home, but I'll get you to the Underworld instead

The music darkens, foreshadowing the next track; later lyrics in No Longer You recall that literal voyage through hell.

· I'll release your men

The promise turns threat to aid, prompting Odysseus’ surprised Wait, you're helping us?

A kinder power

· There are many ways of persuasion...

Circe revises her opening claim, now wielding choice rather than fear. By setting an example of mercy she hopes to shape gentler visitors — control through kindness.

· Maybe showing one act of kindness leads to kinder souls down the road

She imagines reciprocity rippling outward, tempering Aenea’s brutal arrivals.

Old wounds

· I remember actions of passion — I have been in love once before

Her lone romance with Glaucus ended in jealousy and Scylla’s curse. Other tales mention Picus, but Epic keeps only one tragedy — enough to color her cynicism.

Do we still need strings?

· Maybe one day, the world will need a puppeteer no more

She dreams of a future where justice enforcers like herself become obsolete. The reprise — maybe one day, the world will need a puppeteer more — admits Odysseus could still discard mercy and prove the job unfinished.

After the spell

• · [CREW]

  The sailors harmonize the moment they regain human form.

• · No, she's not a player, she's a puppeteer

  Their blended chorus admits Circe still holds the title — but now the strings lie slack.

Song Credits

• Featured Vocals: Talya Sindel (Circe), Jorge Rivera-Herrans (Odysseus), Cast of EPIC
• Producer: Jorge Rivera-Herrans; co-production & sound design by JP Warner
• Composer & Lyricist: Jorge Rivera-Herrans
• Release Date: February 14 2024
• Genre: Cinematic Pop / Symphonic Trap / Musical-Theatre
• Instruments: strings ensemble, brass trio, electric guitar, synthesized 808, choir, harp, taiko-style drums
• Label: Winion Entertainment LLC
• Mood: seductive; resolute
• Length: 3 : 27
• Track #: 17 on EPIC: The Musical
• Language: English
• Poetic Meter: alternating trochaic & iambic phrases
• Copyrights: © & ? 2024 Winion Entertainment LLC

Similar Songs Exploring Themes of Temptation & Resolve

1. No Good Deed – Idina Menzel (Wicked)
   Both tracks thrust a powerful woman into moral grey zones. Where Elphaba’s anthem rages, There Are Other Ways smolders, yet each questions how far power should stretch before it snaps.
2. Stay With Me – Bernadette Peters (Into the Woods)
   A guardian tries to cage love; Circe mirrors the Witch’s possessive plea, though Odysseus resists where Rapunzel can’t. The orchestration—dark strings, ascending woodwinds—feels cousin to EPIC’s palette.
3. A Thousand Years – Original Broadway Cast (Hadestown)
   Orpheus promises fidelity across hellish distance, echoing Odysseus’ devotion. Both songs weave myth, longing, and propulsive folk-pop grooves that bloom into choral thunder.

Questions and Answers

Why did Circe shift from seduction to mercy?

The lyrics hint she recognizes sincere love as a rarer power than lust, sparking empathy.

Is There Are Other Ways considered canonical to Homer?

Rivera-Herrans condenses several Odyssey passages, but frames Circe’s choice as character growth absent in the epic.

What’s the vocal range required?

Circe soars from A₃ to E₅; Odysseus sits G₂-B₄. Warm up head-voice flips.

Has the song been officially covered?

Yes—YouTuber Annapantsu released a duet with Chloe Breez in 2024, racking up 1 million streams.

Will it appear in a stage production?

The creative team has teased a workshop for 2026; early drafts keep the number intact as Act I’s climactic hinge.

Awards and Chart Positions

While There Are Other Ways hasn’t snagged traditional awards, its digital footprint is massive: 46 million Spotify plays, peaking at #2 on Kworb’s global musical-theatre chart in July 2025. It also reached #1 on US iTunes’ soundtrack singles on release day.

How to sing

Keep verses conversational; lean into chest voice on “so much power.” On the climactic “burn, woah,” shift to mixed belt, aiming for twang to cut through orchestration. Breath marks every two bars—those 16th-note cascades will steal oxygen. A metronome at 120 bpm helps lock the hemiola in the bridge.

Fan and Media Reactions

“SO MUCH POWER.” DefNotTelemachus, SoundCloud

“Goose bumps.” Celeste, SoundCloud

“The staccato strings playing Circe’s motif? Chef’s kiss.” u/EPICSongsBreakdown

“Circe isn’t dumb; the spell is metaphorical—mind blown.” u/ThereOtherWaysMakesNoSense

“Used the line ‘other modes of control’ in class discussion on ethics—got an A.” u/FewApartment2712