Mirrors:
Oh JT. The 20/20 Experience was generally something I didn’t need to experience again, with the exception of Mirrors. The melody is epic and catchy, the beat light and nicely self-contained.The mirror metaphor gets overworked to the point where no songwriter, present or future, can ever use it again, but the lyrics are clever enough to be entertaining:
“Aren’t you something to admire/‘cause your shine is something like a mirror/
…If you ever feel alone and/the glare makes me hard to find/
Just know that I'm always parallel on the other side.”
Just know that I'm always parallel on the other side.”
Aw. (Those are the perfect forgot-our-anniversary-but-get-out-of-jail-free words, right there.)
It’s also the first time in a long time that JT isn’t singing exclusively in falsetto. That’s kind of exciting.
And at 5:45, where the part of the video most worth watching begins, he gets to show off some Gene-Kelly-Channing-Tatum moves in a wonderfully and tightly designed set. Will anyone ever say no to watching a good-looking man dancing in a black trench and turtleneck?
The dancers in the video are a bit weird (they’re what I imagine Capitol citizens would look like in a slutty, ill-fitting-hosiery version of The Hunger Games). And, like most of his songs these days, it’s a bit long. JT dear, not everything you perform has to be the musical equivalent of Beowulf.
But the probable reason I actually like and remember this song is because it reminds me of this exchange, one epic August night when two of my far-off friends descended into Philadelphia to rock the town:
[“Mirrors” starts to play in the background]
AH: (looking up upon hearing the song) You know, it’s a commitment.
Me: Oh, yeah. I heard that it was for his wedding to Jessica Biel.
AH: …no. I meant that listening to this song is a commitment.
Truer words have never been said.
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