Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors”: Listen To The New Track From ‘The 20/20 Experience’

Robbie Daw | February 10, 2013 9:10 pm

“Suit & Tie” may have left you feeling cold, but perhaps Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z‘s performance of the single at the Grammys tonight made you warm up to the track? No? Well, if it’s more “traditional,” pop-leaning JT you’re craving — something straight out of 2006 with a mid-tempo Timbaland beat and layers of slick production — then try on new The 20/20 Experience jam “Mirrors.”

The string-laden cut starts off with triumphant-sounding synths before a familiar drum loop kicks in. (We hear you, “What Goes Around… Comes Around”!) And then there’s the buoyant chorus, which has Timberlake harmonizing with himself via multi-tracked vocals, lamenting, “I don’t wanna lose you now, I’m looking right back at the other half of me!”

Hear “Mirrors” below.

Justin Timberlake — “Mirrors”

Clocking in at over eight minutes, “Mirrors” also recalls Justin’s epic FutureSex/LoveSounds single “LoveStoned/I Think She Knows” — except this is even longer than that one. The song just keeps going, and going, and going, almost wiping out any bad taste “Suit & Tie” initially left. (Though, we admit, the latter is sort of growing on us. Sort of.)

A classic Timbaland breakdown, complete with alien-esque, distorted vocal samples kicks in around 5:34. That said, overall, “Mirrors” sounds much more polished than the majority of the producer’s output from the last seven years.

Upon the third listen of this, we can’t help wondering: Are we hearing the epic moment off The 20/20 Experience, over a month before the album drops? Or, dare we think it, maybe it’s just one of several such highlights.

What do you think of JT’s “Mirrors”? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!