Critical Reception
"Fly Like a Bird" received general acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised Carey's gospel-flavored vocal performance, as well as the song's lyrical content. Critic Jim DeRogatis from the Chicago Sun-Times called Carey's voice as "one-in-a-million", and wrote "she's never been shy about showing off with frequently annoying octave-spanning trills – and her instrument seems to be intact; witness the display of bravado on 'Fly Like a Bird'." When describing the song, Dina Passaro from Newsday wrote "This songstress is back and better than ever!" and claimed Carey "sounds awesome and tears it apart". Tom Ferguson from Billboard called the track a "classic", and wrote "the re-crowned diva delivers a consummate vocal." Similarly, in a separate review for the song, Ferguson went into detail regarding Carey's performance in "Fly Like a Bird":
The Emancipation of Mimi spawns yet another career-redefining hit in the sweet, soulful "Fly Like a Bird", an honest-to-God religious mantra about redemption. Set against a low-key, organ-spiced groove that recalls mid-'70s R&B, Carey opens with a pretty, wispy vocal and buoyant harmonies throughout the first chorus before she waves her arms, parts the clouds and wails to the heavens as a mile-high wall of gospel background vocals joins in for the crescendo. The flight of 'Bird' from humble call for deliverance into a frenzied ecclesiastic hymn is utterly spine-tingling. A joyful noise.
Entertainment Weekly's Tom Sinclair outed the song as a "heart-on-my-sleeve number", and called it the "crux of the album". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine felt the song "made Mariah likeable again" and wrote " an inspirational ballad that's equal parts 'Butterfly' and 'Hero'." A writer from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune compared it to Carey's debut single, "Vision of Love", and called it one of the best cuts from The Emancipation of Mimi. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic gave the song a mixed review, criticizing the condition of Carey's voice, "As good as those Wright-helmed cuts are, they are also the times that the mixes slip and don't hide the flaws in Mariah's voice, and it sounds as airy, thin, and damaged as it did on Charmbracelet."
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