While the piano part in his new single “Mirror” is an element of the song’s framework that is as irreplaceable as his lead vocal is, there’s no getting around the significance of the guitar strings Belle VEX is strumming in his latest release. His voice has a sweet quality that implies both vulnerability and confidence, which is quite the rare combination of elements to encounter in any track, let alone a contemporary pop single. Belle VEX commands all of our attention in this song and projects a melodic sensibility that I want to hear a lot more of in the future.
“Mirror,” as its title suggests, is a song about and built on duality, and this begins and ends with the voice at the center of the mix. Rather than being the soul of this single alone, Belle VEX wants to be the muscle nudging the percussion along and ensuring that we’re going to feel the depth of the beat much as we will the passion in his verses. He’s got a lot of panache for an underground player, and his willingness to put himself out there with these lyrics is something worth giving some acclaim to all by itself.
The easy-going sway of the rhythm in “Mirror” is most definitely one of the biggest elements our singer uses to seduce his audience here, and I think that he’s able to show us even more of his talent at this pace compared to anything faster. When we’re moving at a relaxed tempo like this, Belle VEX can illustrate things with a harmony that words can only do so much to describe, and while I think it would be compelling to hear what he can do with a slicker beat, there’s nothing wrong with pumping out a few more slow jams like this one, either.
One of the most annoying elements I come across in pop music on the indie level is a fear of being exposed within an artist’s lyrical output, but I’m not getting that from anything Belle VEX is singing in this performance. From what I can tell in “Mirror,” he’s using the melodies as a means of being raw with the listener as opposed to hiding behind their majestic tone or texture, which is what a lot of his peers on either side of the dial have been prone to doing when they can’t meet elaborate expectations.
A telling ballad that demands one or two extra listens right out of the box, I love the catchiness and the cavalier depth of “Mirror,” the latter because it’s highlighting a detail in Belle VEX’s artistry that has the potential to bring him mountains of credibility in the mainstream. This isn’t a song that pushes us into a repetitious groove as a way of getting us into its hook, but instead one that presents us with its creator at his most unguarded and receptive to contemplation. His words and his harmonies are ace here, and I for one cannot wait to hear more.
Mindy McCall
