By Giselle Medina | 31 July 2023
Everything happens for a reason - it’s a cliché saying, but it rings true. Lauren Spencer Smith embodies this throughout her newly released album, ‘Mirror.’ This 15-track album brings love and heartbreak - not just in romantic relationships - to perspective, making them immediate adds to your sad songs playlist.
The album consists of songs that the Vancouver artist has slowly been releasing, including her singles “Fingers Crossed,” “Flowers,” and her collaboration with GAYLE and Em Beihold “Fantasy.” Now with 345 million streams on Spotify, “Fingers Crossed” is all about regrets and realizing that you can give your all to someone and it still not be enough. ‘Now I remember when you'd call me late at night / I gave you my hours and advice just tryna fix you / And all your daddy issues / But now I don't even miss you anymore,’ she sings. It makes you think of that one relationship where things felt one-sided and as Smith sings, ‘Wish you said you loved me, when you didn’t have your fingers crossed.’
Smith has the amazing ability to sing as if she’s speaking to your soul. ‘You don’t always choose the ones you love,’ she sings in “Bigger Person.” This autobiographical album can be best described as the Sparknotes of your relationship trauma. There are some songs that I had to put off listening to because I was going through it at that moment (cue “Best Friend Breakup”).
Before she released ‘Mirror,’ on May 25th, she showed her range with “That Part.” ‘When you hold me, I see the end of a movie,’ is the beginning of the chorus. A drastic difference from a section of the chorus of “Love Is An Overstatement,” ‘If there was a line, then you crossed it / If we had a chance, then you lost it.’ There’s a tone shift with the love ballad that is “That Part” - that dreams of wanting to skip to the part where you’re spending the rest of your life with your soulmate. Her deep and raw vocals beautifully depict the thoughts of a hopeless romantic.
‘Mirror’ is a well-thought-out album from the lyrics to its cover. Smith is pictured sitting on top of a mirror touching her own reflection. Staying on the theme of how everything is a reflection. But it’s deeper than that–your mirror is always watching you, sees all of you that’s covered up to everyone else. Smith has even admitted to taking photos of herself crying, truly a relatable thing. Those are moments for one’s self. Not to keep, but to remember how you felt at that moment.
It’s a way to process your emotions, and that’s exactly how Smith tackled this album. Tracks like “Aftermath” and “Do It All Again” are like when you’re in the last stage of grief. Acceptance. Realizing that the aftermath of ending a relationship is the hardest thing to go through - romantic or not. “Do It All Again” is the last track of ‘Mirror’ which is the perfect song to end her album. In the last verse she sings, ‘I could say, "I'm sorry," but I'm not / I got exactly what I want / And I'm so thankful you had your fingers crossed’ an ode to “Fingers Crossed” because, in the end, everything comes full circle.
‘Mirror’ Tracklist:
Never Been In Love
Love is An Overstatement
Fingers Crossed
Fantasy (with GAYLE & Em Beihold)
Narcissist
Bigger Person
Aftermath
28
Best Friend Breakup
Too Hurt To Fall In Love
Hey
Flowers
That Part
ily
Do It All Again
