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Support Life And Music

D.R.E.A.M.

Data Research Education Awareness and Music

III.2.

Bonus Content for Support Life and Music D.R,E,A,M, Report III. “Through the Mirror: Artist Commentary on Mirrors and the Need For Self-Reflection.”

This is a list of 25 more mirror/reflection-related music references, as seen in the original November 2025 Support Life And Music D.R.E.A.M. article. You don’t necessarily need to read that one first, but you can find it here.

Jonathan Davis sings of the mirror as a target of hostility, smashing his face into one in Korn’s “Here to Stay.”
Norwegian Pop star, Sigrid, topped the charts with her Disco hit, “Mirror,” an upbeat ode to self-appreciation and empowerment.
Country singer Megan Moroney’s “Girl in the Mirror” has lost her damn mind / She used to know who she was, but now wonders why she’s “not enough.”
A mirror is an enabler of narcissism for the object of Carly Simon’s scorn when he enters the room in “You’re So Vain.”
Nine Inch Nails – “Shit Mirror” (2018). Trent Reznor sees something hard to recognize, something with power and strength and appetite in the mirror after something has gone too far. Ominously, he seems to like this new mutation.
As Queen’s “Somebody to Love” begins, Freddie Mercury looks in the mirror and cries from loneliness. The song is affectionately Gospel-tinged Rock n’ Roll, focused on a desperate prayer to God or anybody to find him somebody to love.
UK Pop duo Ider had a hit with the song, “Mirror.” It’s an ode to insecurity after the singer’s partner has left, repeating the phrase, “Heal me.”
Uriah Heep – Look At Yourself. This 1971 song implores the listener to stop running, to stop being afraid and look at themselves. While no mirror is specifically mentioned, the “Look at Yourself” vinyl album cover featured a reflective foil square with two eyes above it.
Joe Henderson. “Mirror, Mirror.” (1980). Jazz instrumental with Chick Corea, Ron Carter, Billy Higgins. Another nod to the ubiquitous line from Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
K-Pop giants BTS have a 2016 song called, “Reflection,” which is about struggling with self-loathing and self-love, happiness and despair.
In “Mirror” (2025) from the “Twilight Override” album, Jeff Tweedy (famously of Wilco) sings of introspection and reinvention. In this case, the mirror may be metaphorically describing the object of the song, rather than a literal reflection. “You are the mirror and the face.”
Two versions of “Reflection” appear in the 1997 animated Disney film, “Mulan,” itself a movie about a young woman of ancient China pretending to be a man in order to be a soldier in the army against the Huns. The song is written by Matthew “Break My Stride” Wilder and David Zippel; the version in the film is sung by actress Lea Salonga (1997). The Poppier end credits version is the debut single from Christina Aguilera (1997). The song is about hiding her true identity, and wanting her reflection to show who she “really is inside.” Christina Aguilera would later sing about keeping a positive self-image “no matter what they say” in possibly her signature song: “Beautiful” (2002).
“House of Mirrors” by Hollywood Undead (feat, Jelly Roll) leans into a few mirror symbolisms. The lyrics find him running from his father’s tragic history and his own, running from himself, wanting to see a hero, but only seeing a terrified child. “Broken mirrors, broken glass / I’m picking up pieces of my broken past.”
In Arch Enemy’s “House of Mirrors,” you’re never alone, locked into a place, choosing between future and past. Honestly, I’m not fully sure what this line means: “Renegade are reflections made across a sharpened blade,” but it sounds cool.
In Taylor Swift’s “Mirrorball,” she’s aware that she looks impressive, but that she’s really just a number of tiny fragments, trying hard to please others, denying herself to appear as others want her to be.
In Meat Loaf’s “Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are,” from 1994’s “Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell,” songwriter Jim Steinman writes of being haunted by past tragedies, echoing Meat Loaf’s 1970s smash “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” with the repeated line, “It was long ago, and it was far away.”
Bob Dylan has returned often to the mirror over his vast catalogue. In “Mama, You’ve Been on My Mind” from 1964, he sings to a past lover: “When you wake up in the morning, baby, look inside your mirror / You know I won’t be next to you, you know I won’t be near / I’d just be curious to know if you can see yourself as clear / As someone who has had you on his mind,” suggesting that she may not understand herself as well as he does.
In Heathen’s cutting 1987 political critique, “Pray For Death,” they implore the listener to own their own responsibility, to look in the mirror and see the lies. “For it’s just a picture seen through their eyes.”
In Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew’s “La Di Da Di,” Slick Rick uses the Snow White “Mirror, Mirror” reference to comedically showcase his own vanity, asking it “Who’s the top choice of them all?” To which it replies, “You are, you conceited bastard!” The song was covered by Snoop Dogg in the 1990s.
In “My Mirror Speaks” from Death Cab For Cutie, the mirror minces no words. In it, he helplessly sees the signs of his body growing older.
In “Go to the Mirror!” from The Who’s Rock Opera, “Tommy” (1969), about a deaf, dumb, and blind pinball wizard, the mirror is a place of healing, solitary self-growth, and isolation. A doctor orders Tommy to “Go to the mirror, boy!” but remains perplexed by his unresponsiveness. “Look at him in the mirror dreaming / What is happening in his head?”
Paramore – Playing God (2010). Alt Pop Rock. Mirror as defiant empowerment; standing up to a judgmental person, saying “Next time you point your finger, I’ll point you to the mirror;” I.e., “Instead of looking critically at me, look at yourself.”
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Mirror Song (2022). The song seems to be about two self-destructive alcoholics in an unhealthy relationship. The symbolism is a bit unclear for this one; there’s no mention of a mirror, introspection, or reflection – – only a “dressing bathroom stall with alcohol,” presumably with a physical mirror nearby. Perhaps because both participants are collapsing separately but together, mirroring each others’ downfall?
Black Sabbath – Sabotage (1975). No song or lyric, but the striking, oft-derided album cover shows the impossible scene of the band facing away from a mirror, with duplicate images – – not reflections – – of themselves staring out. A generous read could find them in denial, struggling to face themselves.
Descendants – Rotten to the Core (2015); credited artists: Sofia Carson, Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart. More Snow White stuff. This Kidz Bop-adjacent song from Disney’s teen musical may be a direct reference to the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. “Mirror, mirror on the wall / Who’s the baddest of them all?” The movie centers on the ill-behaved children of classic Disney villains reinventing themselves, so maybe there is some subtext here. . .

One final reference: Not a lyric, but who can forget Jerome Benton bringing a mirror onstage so Morris of Morris Day and The Time could check his hair?

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Conclusions:

The examples and usages listed here continue many of the themes and trends identified in the original D.R.E.A.M. “Mirror” article. A few new observations are listed below. The analysis provided here is based on this selection of 25 songs, as well as my personal professional music background. My own knowledge gaps and fallibilities must be acknowledged as factors. This is not an attempt to encompass all musics and all of the myriad uses of mirrors as metaphor and literal objects in songs.

The following common themes can be found in the song lyrics referenced above:

Awareness of aging and mortality.
Self-confrontation.
Insecurity.
Vanity.
Discomfort/dissatisfaction with the reflection.
Drug use. Specifically cocaine.
Mirror as symbolism.
Reflections of others/society, often with defiance.
Distorted views and/or presentations of self and others.

While mirror lyrics often refer to literal looking glass views, they are commonly used as metaphors for introspection, self-reflection, or reflection of others. The more you dig, the more callbacks you find to the Evil Queen’s “Mirror, mirror on the wall” dialogue from the 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” film. This apparently struck a cultural chord.

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Articles used as resources:

Sources and methodology:

(Section 1) Through research and expertise, Jack Mangan selected a sampling of twenty different song lyric uses of mirrors as metaphors or images, spanning many different musical genres.

Korn (2002). Untouchables [Album]. Epic Records

Sigrid (2022). How to Let Go [Album]. Universal Island Records Ltd.

Megan Moroney (2023). Lucky [Album]. Columbia Nashville

Carly Simon (1972). No Secrets [Album]. Elektra

Nine Inch Nails (2018). Bad Witch [Album]. The Null Corporation, Capitol

Queen (1976). A Day at the Races [Album]. EMI – Elektra

Ider (2019). Emotional Education [Album]. Glassnote Records

Uriah Heep (1971). Look at Yourself [Album]. Mercury Records

Joe Henderson (1981). Mirror Mirror [Album]. MPS – Pausa

BTS (2016). Wings [Album]. Big Hit – Loen – Pony Canyon

Jeff Tweedy (2025). Twilight Override [Album]. Legacy Recordings

Lea Salonga (1997). Mulan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack [Album]. Walt Disney Records

Christina Aguilera (1997). Mulan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack [Album]. Walt Disney Records

Hollywood Undead (feat. Jelly Roll) (2022). Hotel Kalifornia [Album]. Dove & Grenade Media – BMG

Arch Enemy (2022). Deceivers [Album]. Century Media

Taylor Swift (2020). Folklore [Album]. Republic

Meat Loaf (1994). Bat out of Hell II: Back Into Hell [Album]. MCA Records

Bob Dylan (record: 196, released 1991). The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. Columbia

Heathen (1987). Breaking the Silence [Album]. Combat Records

Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew (1985). The Show [Single]. Reality – Fantasy

Death Cab For Cutie (2009). The Open Door EP [EP]. Atlantic – Barsuk

The Who (1969). Tommy [Album]. Track – Decca

Paramore (2010). Brand New Eyes [Album]. Fueled By Ramen

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (2021). New Fragility [Album]. Self-released – Secretly Canadian

Black Sabbath (1975). Sabotage [Album]. Warner Bros.

Descendants Cast (2015). Descendants [Album]. Walt Disney Records

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The Support Life And Music D.R.E.A.M. Team who helped with this article:

Jack Mangan
Dr. Sheila Unwin
Sarah Hyde

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D.R.E.A.M. – Through the Mirror (cont’d)