User:Tomica/Sandbox22

Composition and lyrical interpretation
"Mirrors" is a song with a length of eight minutes and six seconds. Andy Kellman of AllMusic described it as mid-tempo pop ballad, while ABC News' Allan Raible characterized it as an R&B song. As noted by Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone magazine, the single has an instrumentation consisted of emo power-ballad guitar strobes, hand-claps, orchestral flares, electro blips, chipmunk synth chirps accompanied with "vocoder-squawk backing vocals that ornament the climactic last minute". He further described "Mirrors" as a, "replete with laidback soulfulness, mountain-climbing croon and falsetto butter." Brad Stern of MTV Buzzworthy wrote that it is hugely catchy and contains melodies that have arena-size. Paste's Lauren Martin described it as "Coldplay-does-r’n'b", while according to Raible, "Mirrors" is a sad answer to Natalie Imbruglia's 1997 single "Torn" (Left of the Middle, 1997). Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times wrote that the song is a cross between Timberlake's 2002 single "Cry Me a River" and "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses.

According to Universal Music Publishing Group's digital sheet music for the song, "Mirrors" is composed in the key of Eb major and set in common time signature, and has a moderately slow groove. Timberlake's vocals span from the low note of Eb4 to the high note of C6. HitFix's Melinda Newman wrote that the melody features layer upon layer of the singer's vocals stacked upon each other. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard stated that aside from the presence of Timbaland's "fantastically cluttered production", the difference between "Mirrors" and "Cry Me a River" is clear: "10 years ago, Timberlake was broken, and now he is whole". John Myers of Yahoo! Voices recalled the statement and agreed with it; according to him, that could be seen in the lyrics:

Aren't you somethin' to admire? Cause your shine is somethin' like a mirror And I can't help but notice You reflect in this heart of mine.

According to Clover Hope of Vibe magazine, "Mirrors" is a "new-age wedding reception song". Lyrically, the singer references "taking a break from the relationship", with MTV News noting that "just like he did with his now-wife, Jessica Biel": "It was easy coming back to you/ Once I figured it out, you were right here all along," he sings on the chorus. "It's like you're my mirror, my mirror staring back at me/ I couldn't get any bigger/ With anyone else beside of me." Charley Rogulewski of Vibe wrote that the strength of the song is in Timberlake's Neo Blue-eyed soul delivery of the "catchy" lyrics, "I don't want to lose you now. I'm looking right at the other half of me." During its length, a robot voice repeats the phrase "you are the love of my life" over 35 times.

Commercial performance
In the US, "Mirrors" debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold 163,000 copies in its first week. In its third week the song fell to number 97, however it rebound to 77 in its forth week on the chart. In its sixth week on the chart, the song peaked at number 13 and for the issue dated June 15, 2013, "Mirrors" reached its peak on the chart at number two. For the week dated June 1, 2013, the single topped the US Pop Songs chart and tied Timberlake for most number-ones with singer Bruno Mars; each of them has six. The song topped the chart for three consecutive weeks. "Mirrors" also topped the Adult Pop Songs chart and reached number eight on the Adult Contemporary chart. It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and sold 2,243,000 in the US alone. On the Canadian Hot 100, the single reached a peak of number four. "Mirrors" was certified double platinum by Music Canada, selling over 160,000 digital copies in the country.