By Bryan Hood | To mark the release of his third studio album, “The 20/20 Experience,” the CW aired an hour-long Justin Timberlake special last night. Like many things that air on the CW, there was nothing particularly memorable about the show, except for one 8:21 segment, in which the video for the album’s second single, “Mirrors,” premiered. The first part of the video, directed by Floria Sigismondi, follows a married couple from joyful courtship in the ’50s to their peaceful elderly days in the present, with a slight detour for a tearful fights in the ’70s. Though it’s for the more conventional part of the song, there’s an epic feel to the footage, even if it’s mainly just people dancing or crying in a room filled with… mirrors. The second part is a little less grandiose — less a time-traveling meditation on love and more three minutes of Timberlake dancing around a room filled with… wait for it… mirrors. Clearly Sigismondi doesn’t want you to forget the title of the song. The video is fun, much more so than the video for the album’s more buoyant single, “Suit & Tie” — and Timberlake flashes some pretty slick moves before being joined by two or four dancing women (it’s hard to get an exact bead on the numbers because of the mirrors). It’s too long, sometimes silly, but also occasionally great. In other words it’s “The 20/20 Experience” in miniature.
After watching the video, read this to see what we (and some other critics) thought about Timberlake’s new record.
Image: “Mirrors”/Vevo
