Musically, "Fear of Flying" has been described as a "smooth, catchy, personalized mixture of street-spice soul." According to multiple critics, the album is more focused on themes than coherency of musical style. Sonically, the album's sound veers from quiet storm tracks to hard-edged Timbaland homages to cheerleader romps. The album's focal theme is "proper behavior on the dangerous grounds of courtship" and ranges from uptempo tracks to inspirational ballads. Several of the album's 18 tracks were co-written by Mýa, with "Vibe" magazine noting in an article that "Mýa tackles difficult melodic and rhythmic twists without ditching a nice conversational tone." "Fear of Flying" opens with an intro courtesy of Swizz Beatz. Titled, "Turn It Up" it features a stop-start beat and samples of a cooing baby. Next up, "Case of the Ex," a song structured around producer Tricky Stewart's "driving, Beethoven-meets-Timbaland" chord changes, where Mýa expresses distrust in her lover. It is followed by the "dramatic" "Ride & Shake", which was compared to the work of Whitney Houston. The Rodney Jerkins-produced "That's Why I Wanna Fight" served as the album's fourth track. Track five, the dance-oriented "Pussycats" is a nursery rhyme-influenced song produced by Wyclef Jean and Jerry Duplessis. A frisky jam, it samples the sound of mewing cats.