Behind the Music: Mirror Mirror

I wrote the first verse to this song many years ago as I was thinking about a previous relationship that clearly didn’t end well. As I was mining through all the material I had while producing the album, I decided to finish this one and record it. However, by that time, I felt much differently about the situation. It is long passed. I even tried to re-write all the lyrics to be more relevant to where I’m at now, but that just didn’t work. I’m learning that we need to accept that we grow and change and our art will evolve with it. So this started out as a song to my ex, but it became a message to myself about blaming others. As my grandma always used to say - “when we point a finger at someone else, we have three more pointing back as ourselves.” Usually the things that bother us the most in our relationships with others are things that we struggle with. He was my mirror for a time and showed me some important things about myself.

I once saw an interview with Adele where she mentioned that the first verse of Rolling in the Deep was about a reporter she talked to in a bar, but then the rest of the song was about something else. Although it’s important to tell a story that people can relate to, it seems that many other songwriters I’ve studied pull from various life experiences to articulate a cohesive storyline that resonates with others. Another thing I’ve observed is this: that first time your heart gets broken can fuel the emotion for many songs over the course of your life. Maybe a defining characteristic of an artist is the ability to tap into an experience that may not be present in order to empathize or relate to someone else. The best thing about that though is that although you can remember the feelings you had, you can (hopefully) look back on that experience with more wisdom and impart a much more meaningful message to those listening.

Lyrics

You opened with a lie

I trusted you with everything

How did I miss the signs?

Was it pride or pure naivety? 

How much of us was real or just a tragical, magic show?

Chorus

You shut me out and then you’re back

Just like a toy up on the shelf

You only come around when you don’t want to be alone

I wish that you could comprehend the broken pieces of my heart are in your hands

And there’s a consequence to everything

You’re secrecy to hide your ghosts from me

You’re love was just a lie in a clever line

And your words became a gun, of the smoking kind

Just look me in the eye

The mirror shares your new disguise

Your worth you can’t derive from flattery and shiny things

How much of you is real or just a tragical, magic show?

CHORUS

Bridge

Mirror, mirror tell him what you see

Introduction to reality

It’s black or it’s white

It’s wrong or it’s right

We all pay the price for closing our eyes

I wish that you could comprehend, the broken pieces of my heart are in your hands (repeat)

CHORUS