Perfume Genius has started 2025 on a high note with “It’s a Mirror,” the achingly emotional and sincere lead single off his upcoming seventh album, ‘Glory.’
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Stream: “It’s a Mirror” – Perfume Genius
Mike Hadreas, known to most by his stage name Perfume Genius, recently released the promising and ingenious lead single “It’s a Mirror,” and it’s quite the sneak peek at what his seventh album will be like. Personal, imaginative, anxious, and bracing are a few but not enough words to describe the taste of Hadreas’ new phase in music.
What do you get from
the stretching horizon
That you’d leave me spiraling
with no one to hold?
Combing the floor with the
light from a cigarette
Something was making
you sick in our home
It’s a mirror, down
Produced by Blake Mills and co-written by Perfume Genius’ partner Alan Wyffels, as well as a whole team of musicians who have played with the American singer in the past, the lead single off Glory (out March 28th via Matador Records) is just the beginning of a grand transformation that Hadreas’ music is undergoing highly due to the changes in his songwriting process. More collaborative, more open, and more vulnerable.
The title of this single says exactly what the song is about: it reflects on the artist himself. His isolation, his feeling overwhelmed, and being captured by memories and aging are explored in the song, while also hinting at the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community. The song excels now that it acts as a mirror, for the listeners to contemplate themselves and their troubles, and especially Hadreas’. Although isolation and identity are themes that can be heard in the singer’s previous work, the fact that his work is experimental and that his style is never constant can’t be ignored.
What do I get out of being established?
I still run and hide when a man’s at the door
Polishing boots down a line in the basement
When I should be riding outside on my own
It’s a mirror
Down
“It’s a Mirror” starts out acoustic, until it picks up and becomes the expression of panic and overthinking; and yet, by the end of the song, there is a found familiarity and the slightest softness to them. Its music video, directed by Cody Critchloe, is also a way to better understand the artist and to look closely: His feelings and habits shift, and yet their core remains. The same happens with Hadreas’ musical elements and genres; they shift, they are complex, and they make each of his songs sound different, yet definitively Perfume Genius. While “It’s a Mirror,” in its beginning, could hint to a country piece, it nonetheless evokes indie, heavy rock by the chorus:
It’s a mirror, holy terror
Taking focus off the horizon
It’s a chorus reaching for us
Swarming locusts wherever you go
It’s a siren, muffled crying
Breaking me down soft and slow
It’s a diamond, my whole life is
Open just outside the door
It’s a mirror
Down
“I wake up overwhelmed even when nothing is going on,” Perfume Genius shared alongside his song’s release. “I spend the rest of the day trying to regulate, which I prefer to do at home alone with my thoughts. But why? They are mostly bad. They also haven’t really changed for decades.”
“I wrote ‘It’s a Mirror’ while stuck in one of these isolating loops, seeing that something different and maybe even beautiful is out there but not quite knowing how to venture out. I have a lot more practice keeping the door closed.”
Can I get off without reliving history
And let every echo just sing to itself?
Can I move on without knowing specifics
While memories hum like a hive shaken out?
In short, “It’s a Mirror” is the riveting approach to a new episode for Mike Hadreas’ Perfume Genius – one which he will have faced himself. Through flashes and melodramatic scenery, the music video’s ending shows Perfume Genius nearing a billboard that, with bold white letters, spells Glory. Below the billboard, there is also, of course, once again, himself.
It’s a mirror, holy terror
Taking focus off the horizon
It’s a chorus reaching for us
Swarming locusts wherever you go
It’s a siren, muffled crying
Breaking me down soft and slow
It’s a diamond, my whole life is
Open just outside the door
It’s a mirror
Down
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:: stream/purchase It’s a Mirror here ::
:: pre-order Glory here ::
:: connect with Perfume Genius here ::
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Stream: “It’s a Mirror” – Perfume Genius
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© Cody Critcheloe
© Cody Critcheloe
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