"I'm Like a Bird" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado ( , ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted ...

. It was written by Furtado and produced by Gerald Eaton and Brian West for her debut studio album, '' Whoa, Nelly!'' (2000). Released as the album's first single on September 25, 2000, it became a worldwide hit the following year, peaking at number one in Portugal, number two in Australia and New Zealand, number five in the United Kingdom, and number nine in the United States. It was the eighth-most-played song on Canadian radio in 2001. In 2002, "I'm Like a Bird" was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Song of the Year The Grammy Award for Song of the Year is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. The Song of the Year award is one of the four most prestigious categories at ...

and won the

Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

. It also won the Juno Award for Single of the Year in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Composition

"I'm Like a Bird" is composed

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

in the key of B♭ major.Sheet music for "I'm Like a Bird". Nelstar Publishing. 2001. The song moves at 90

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

, and Furtado's voice spans around two

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

s, from F₃ to F₅. It is written in verse-chorus form, with a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

before the third

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

Furtado's response

In 2006, Furtado said of the song, "I've heard it sung at karaoke or by cover bands and it was awesome — I was like, wow, I've got one of those songs. Somebody once called it a 'hairbrush song', one that girls and guys sing in front of the mirror with their hairbrush. I just think I'm lucky I have it — it's paying the bills!".

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "I'm Like a Bird" was directed by

Francis Lawrence Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thriller ''Constantine ...

, and features heavy use of CGI. The video begins in the sky where the camera slowly pans down onto Furtado, who is lying in the grass. It then shows her singing on a tree trunk in mid-air. In the chorus she gets up and starts singing to the camera while birds are flying around her. The second verse shows her sitting in mid-air in a forest, while singing to the camera. The chorus consists of flashes of Furtado singing in mid-air, again, while leaning on the tree trunk. During the bridge she is singing to a bug while her eyes change colour, which changes the bug's color accordingly. The conclusion of the video shows her falling backwards from a branch into a crowd as she sings the final chorus of the song. The last shot pans out to reveal a crowd of tens of thousands. There was an edited version of the music video for European VH1, where some scenes were changed.

Track listings

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the '' Whoa, Nelly!'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded and engineered at The Gymnasium (Toronto, Canada) and Can-Am Recorders (

Tarzana, Los Angeles Tarzana () is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Tarzana is on the site of a former ranch owned by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is named after Burroughs' fictional jungle hero, Tarzan. His ...

) * Mixed at Can-Am Recorders (Tarzana, Los Angeles) * Mastered at Classic Sound (New York City) Personnel * Nelly Furtado – writing, lead vocals, background vocals, production * Gerald Eaton – micro-synth guitar, programming, production * Mike Elizondo – bass guitar * Russ Miller – drums * Allan Molnar –

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

* Brian West – production, programming, recording, engineering * Brad Haehnel – pepper shaker, mixing, recording, engineering * John Knupp – second engineering * Scott Hull – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1999 songs 2000 debut singles 2001 singles DreamWorks Records singles Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Juno Award for Single of the Year singles Music videos directed by Francis Lawrence Nelly Furtado songs Number-one singles in Portugal Songs about birds Songs written by Nelly Furtado