Balancing Artistic Individuality and Industry Influence: The Story Behind Nelly Furtado’s Debut Single I’m Like a Bird

And correct me if I’m wrong,
you wanted on the radio to be the debut single, right?
Not I’m like a bird? Yeah,
cause I think, like,
I knew the album was so cool and had so many different sounds,
and to me, I’m like A bird was like,
the most Poppy song. But, um,
I was lucky. So when I signed to Dreamworks,
there were, like,
really amazing people working at that,
a label who had worked with, like,
Jimmy Hendrix, Mo Austin.
He’s since passed on. I think he lived well into his 90s,
God bless him. But he was like, no,
I’m like A bird needs to be the first single.
And, uh,
I was like, okay,
they must know something. Cause I think, like,
you need to listen to, like, you.
That’s the balance, right,
with being an artist. You should have your own voice and everything
and individuality. We also have to listen to people or experience.
And, like,
these guys have been doing it for a long time,
and it was like, so, anyways,
um,
yeah, so.
So they picked I’m like A bird when I’m glad they did.
But, shit,
on the radio, I also wrote on guitar, actually.
Actually, yeah,
that’s my whole little guitar part in there.
But, um,
I think that.
I don’t know, I’ve always liked both,
to be honest. I’ve always collaborated with DJs too.
Like, even as a teenager,
like, my friends,
we would make, like,
trans Music in their basements or whatever.
Just like.
Just. Yeah.