MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
Mirrors (Boyce Avenue)
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Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/music/mirrors-boyce-avenue-4462
Description

A love song to someone that you feel like is sort of your other half. The original song was written by Justin Timberlake, you can see his video here:

"Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake. Or sing to the karaoke version here.


The present cover here is by Boyce Avenue, featuring the girl band Fith Harmony, and it comes with more depth and passion than Justin's original song, even if the video is not quite so alluring.


Boyce Avenue are an American rock band formed in Sarasota, Florida, by the brothers Alejandro, Daniel and Fabian Manzano. The band is named after a combination of two streets the brothers lived in as children.

Transcript

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
If you ever feel alone
And the glare makes me hard to find
Just know that I’m always parallel on the other side

Cause with your hand in my hand
And a pocket full of soul
I can tell you there’s no place we couldn’t go
Just put your hand on the glass
I’m here tryin’ to pull you through
You just gotta be strong

Cause I don’t wanna lose you now
I’m lookin’ right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I’ll tell you, baby, it was easy
Comin’ back here to you once I figured it out
You were right here all along

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
And now it’s clear as this promise
That we’re making two reflections into one
Cause it’s like you’re my mirror
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me

Aren’t you somethin’, an original
Cause it doesn’t seem merely assembled
And I can’t help but stare
Cause I see truth somewhere in your eyes
I can’t ever change without you
You reflect me, I love that about you
And if I could, I would look at us all the time

Cause with your hand in my hand
And a pocket full of soul
I can tell you there’s no place we couldn’t go
Just put your hand on the glass
I’m here tryin’ to pull you through
You just gotta be strong

Cause I don’t wanna lose you now
I’m lookin’ right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I’ll tell you, baby, it was easy
Comin’ back here to you once I figured it out
You were right here all along

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
And now it’s clear as this promise
That we’re making two reflections into one
Cause it’s like you’re my mirror
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me

Yesterday is history, Oooh
And tomorrow’s a mystery, mystery, hey
I can see you lookin’ back at me
Keep your eyes on me, yeah
Keep your eyes on me

Cause I don’t wanna lose you now
I’m lookin’ right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I’ll tell you, baby, it was easy
Comin’ back here to you once I figured it out
You were right here all along

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
And now it’s clear as this promise
That we’re making two reflections into one
Cause it’s like you’re my mirror
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me

Show me how to fight for now
Cause I don’t wanna lose you now
It’s like you’re my mirror.



------ O ------



What's up everybody, Boyce Avenue here, and +++ over here with the Fith Harmony Girls -we love these girls. They're like sisters to us and they seem like the best singers we've ever worked with.
Oh, thanks


+++


no doubt


++++ and yeah, thank you for watching, bye, we love you.





------ O ------

Explanations

ARENT’ YOU SOMETHING…= (coll.) It is very common to make an exclamation using a negative sentence.
- Aren’t you beautiful! = You are very beautiful!
- Isn’t this a wonderful day! = This is a wonderful day!

CAUSE= (coll.) Because.

MIRROR= A surface that reflects an image (see picture)

I CAN’T HELP BUT [+ infinitive without to]= If you can’t help but do something, you simply can’t stop yourself from doing it. You feel like an irresistible impulse to do it.
- When I’m with you, I can’t help but feel so happy all the time.
- Every time she is near, I can’t help but feel angry.


NOTICE= If you notice something, you get that information through your senses.
- I noticed someone was in the house because I saw a light in the bedroom window.
- She noticed me when I touched her back.

If the information doesn’t get to you through your physical senses but through a mental process, then you can’t use NOTICE, for that we use REALIZE:
- I realized she was very tired when she didn’t like to dance to her favourite song
- They could never realize how much they were hurting me every time they offered money to help me.


GLARE= An intense, blinding light.
If you look in a mirror but there is a very strong light (such as the sun) behind you, you can’t see the image because the glare of that light is blinding you.

HARD= Difficult.

SOUL= Spirit, the non-physical part of a person.

THERE’S NO PLACE WE COULDN’T GO= This sentence may be a little bit confusing because it uses two negatives. In English, two negatives cancel and produce a positive statement, so this sentence means: We can go everywhere.

PULL YOU THROUGH= Since they’re talking about a mirror, made of glass, if I’m on this side of the mirror and you are on the other side of the mirror, I can reach out, take your hand and pull you through the mirror to bring you to this side, with me.

GOTTA= (coll.) Have to, have got to, must.

WANNA= (coll.) Want to.

VACANCY= A vacancy is an empty space. In this case it is the void (emptiness) he feels in his heart because he feels alone and needs someone to love and fill that void inside of him.
If we are talking about hotels, vacancies are empty rooms that you can use. When a hotel is complete and can’t accept more customers they hang out the sign “No Vacancies”.


HOLD= Have in your hand; possess.

FIGURED IT OUT= If you figure something out, you solve that problem. In this case it probably means that he finally was able to understand how much she meant for him, he finally realized she was like his reflection on the mirror, the person who could perfectly match him, so when he realized that, it was easy going back to her and telling her all the things he’s telling her in this song.

RIGHT HERE= We can use RIGHT to emphasize time and space:
- She lives right there, next to the bank.
- We’re leaving right today so I’m in a hurry.


ALL ALONG= All the time, always.


LIKE= (conjunction) as if.

STARING= To look directly and fixedly.

I COULDN’T GET ANY BIGGER WITH ANYONE ELSE BESIDE OF ME= When I’m with you I feel very big (good, important, fulfilled, strong). If I were with any other girl, I wouldn’t feel so big as I feel when I’m with you.
ANYONE ELSE= Any other person; someone different.
BESIDE OF ME= By my side, next to me. (in BrE we would say "beside me", without "of")

CLEAR= Obvious

AREN’T YOU SOMETHING!= (coll.) Again we find a negative exclamation, which has a positive meaning. This means: You are very important! You are great!

AN ORIGINAL= Someone special, unique, original, with personality.


MERELY= Simply, just.


ASSEMBLED= Something assembled is manufactured by joining (assembling) pre-made pieces together, so they are produced in series and they are all the same.

WHITHOUT YOU / ABOUT YOU= Notice in these two cases the assimilation rule number one:
T + Y = CH
(You can find more cases of this kind of assimilation in other parts of the song)

BACK= This verb particle is often used to express the idea that the action goes from A to B and then returns to A, so when they say “I can see you looking back at me”, it means that I looked at you (from A to B) and then you looked to me in response (from B to A), so I started the action and then I got the same action back:
- She phoned me three times this morning, but I’m not going to call her back (= return her call)
- That’s the book I gave you last month, give it back! (I gave you the book, now I want you to give it to me)

WHAT’S UP= (coll. esp. AmE) Hello.

DOUBT= /daʊt/ Hesitation. NO DOUBT= It's obvious; I'm totally sure about it, I know for certain.

Meaning

This song expresses the joy of finding someone who perfectly matches you, and when you change, you both change in synchronicity, so it is like looking in a mirror and finding on the other side someone who changes and evolves, but always in the same direction as you, like your reflection.


In this song the man met her but at first he didn't realize how perfect for him she was. Later he does realize that, and so he comes back to he:


It was easy comin’ back here to you once I figured it out


And tells her everything that he is singing in this song: I love you, we are meant to be together, you are the only one who can fill my void so completely, you are my mirror and this time I don't want to lose you again.


Cause I don’t wanna lose you now
I’m lookin’ right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I’ll tell you, baby
It was easy comin’ back here to you once I figured it out
You were right here all along


------------------------------------------


”One of the most valuable things in a relationship is being able to constantly change and be individual, but look to the other side to the person that you’re with and know that they’re changing as well individually, but somehow you two can mirror each other and be the other half of that world that you both create".


Justin Timberlake.