"I Believe" builds a staircase out of hope. R. Kelly wrote it in 1996 as a song about transcending limitation, about a man who decides that the ability to fly is not a physical fact but a spiritual choice. Airplanes and superheroes are not the subject. The subject is deciding that the forces holding you down are weaker than the decision to rise. The metaphor works because everyone has felt trapped. Kelly offers wings made of pure conviction.