“Fly Like A Bird” is my favorite song on the album, The Emancipation of Mimi, mainly because it’s very much a spiritual message. I wrote it with Big Jim Wright. We had already written “Circles” and “I Wish You Knew” and I kind of thought we were done writing for the night. I went upstairs and the melody for “Fly Like A Bird” and the words for the chorus came to me at this moment. I was like, “What do I do? Should I finish working tonight? Should I just record this and do it tomorrow?” I was like, “Let me run downstairs.” We were in Anguilla having this writing session. So I went downstairs and I wrote this song with Big Jim. He laid out the chord structure and stuff like that. I later took it and wrote the lyrics and put the choir on it and sang it. I sang it in Capri which was so inspiring to sit there and sing the song looking out the window at the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. Actually, my pastor, Pastor Clarence Keaton, is featured on the song and he opens the song and he says a little something in the middle of the song. I just felt the message was really important to include on the album and that’s why it’s the final song on the album. It sums up everything and leaves you on a spiritual high moment.

-> AOL Music Commentary, April 22, 2005

Yes, Mariah Carey sang the song as a two song medley, which included both “We Belong Together” and “Fly Like a Bird” on the The 48th GRAMMYs in 2007:

She also performed the song “American Idol Gives Back”: