"Fly Away" is a song by American singer Lenny Kravitz. It was released as the fourth single from his fifth studio album, 5 (1998). Released to the radio on May 11, 1998, "Fly Away" peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "Fly Away" topped the charts in Iceland and the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in several countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Republic of Ireland. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Performance in 1999.
Background
"Fly Away" emerged from Kravitz testing an amp that was brought to the studio. After plugging in the available guitar, Kravitz started playing the song, stating, "I was listening to the way different chords were ringing, just moving between A, C, G and D, and the next thing I knew I was telling the engineer to hook up the mics and record."[5]
By the time he wrote "Fly Away", Kravitz had already turned in the completed album to Virgin Records, and he considered releasing the song as a b-side. However, after playing the song for a friend, they responded, "If you don’t put it on the album, I’m gonna be so pissed off at you." After Kravitz contacted his label about the inclusion of the song, they were reluctant, but he sent them the song anyway. Upon hearing the track, they added it to the album.[6]
Critical reception
Birmingham Evening Mail commented, "If you watch TV you'll already be familiar with this - it's the song from the Peugeot TV ad which seems to have rarely been off the screen during the past few weeks. It's about time Kravitz returned to the big time - remember when he sold out the NEC in `91? - and this could see him back in the chart big time."[7]
In Canada, "Fly Away" peaked at number three on the Canadian Singles Chart and stayed in the top 20 of the chart for six weeks.[11]
In Iceland, "Fly Away" topped the Íslenski listinn, becoming Kravitz's first number one song on the chart.
In the United Kingdom, "Fly Away" debuted at the top of the UK Singles Chart, becoming Kravitz's first chart-topping song in Britain. His previous highest-charting song on the UK Singles Chart was "Are You Gonna Go My Way", which peaked at number four in February 1993. [12][13] The song's success in the United Kingdom is attributed to its appearance on a British television commercial for the Peugeot 206Supermini car.[14]
The song helped to expand the success of his fifth studio album, 5, in Europe and earned Kravitz a Grammy Award in 1999 for Best Male Rock Performance, his first of four consecutive wins in this category.[18]
Music video
The music video for the single was directed by American director Paul Hunter. It features Kravitz and his band playing in a club, surrounded by a crowd dancing to the song, with some of them having fun and others making out. Special effects were added to the video to make it look beat up and grainy. A girl in the crowd is briefly shown topless several times during the video. The video is featured on the DVD for Kravitz's Greatest Hits album tour edition.
Kravitz also appears in a 2010 video in which he joined the Voice of Praise Choir from the First Baptist Church of Lewisville, Texas, as they performed "Fly Away" on a street in New Orleans.[19]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Internet personality Neil Cicierega made a lyric video of the song with the vocal tracks heavily altered,[60] which received coverage from several websites.[61][62][63] The song has also been used in a tourism campaign for The Bahamas, featuring Kravitz who is of Bahamian descent.[64]
In August 2024, Kravitz and American rapper Quavo teamed up for a remix of the song, simply titled "Fly". This remix was featured in Fortnite Festival and Madden NFL 25.[65]
Charts
Weekly charts
Weekly chart performance for "Fly Away" (Quavo Remix)
^Tannenbaum, Rob (September 23, 2020). "How Lenny Kravitz Keeps His Cool". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2021. He's sold more than 40 million records worldwide, and despite playing throwback music, has released four Top 40 hits, including the gorgeous Philly soul tribute "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" and the funk-rock stomper "Fly Away."
^Fly Away (UK cassette single sleeve). Lenny Kravitz. Virgin Records. 1999. VUSC 141, 7243 8 95549 4 6.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Fly Away (Australian CD single liner notes). Lenny Kravitz. Virgin Records. 1998. 8955492.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Fly Away (European CD single liner notes). Lenny Kravitz. Virgin Records. 1998. VUSCDE 141, 7243 8 95548 2 3.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Fly Away (French CD single liner notes). Lenny Kravitz. Virgin Records. 1998. 7243 8 95772 2 8.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
