Young interpreted the lyrical content as discussing "duplicity of identity, hubris, and objectification", which he also called "more relatable" than the themes portrayed in Perfectionist. Reception Upon release, "Mirrors" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Writing for Consequence of Sound, Alex Young highlighted the song as an "essential track" from Perfectionist, while AllMusic's Jon O'Brien also denoted it as a standout from the album, calling it "pretty stellar". Lewis Corner of Digital Spy similarly praised the song, giving it a four out of five stars rating. Blair Kelly from musicOMH described the song's chorus as "great, and very catchy"; conversely, she criticized the song's talked part. AltSounds' Jack Stevin opined that the song was "enjoyable", in spite of "uninspiring lyrics". The song achieved high positions on some European charts. On the Ö3 Austria Top 40, it spent 20 weeks and peaked at number 7; the track was listed fiftieth on Austria's 2011 year-end chart. "Mirrors" reached number 10 on the Media Control German single chart, and was 2011's 80th most successful single in the country. The song reached its highest peak of number two on the Polish Airplay Top 20, for the week ending 15 April 2011; in contrast, the song entered the United Kingdom chart at number 101. In Switzerland, "Mirrors" spent one week, peaking at number 52, whereas in Flanders, it didn't manage to enter the main Ultratop chart and instead entered the secondary Ultratip, at number 18. In North America, the single attained limited success—it reached number 35 on the Canadian Hot 100, and peaked at number 3 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs. Music video The French director Guillaume Doubet was commissioned to direct the video for "Mirrors", which was released on 2 December 2010. Idolator's Robbie Daw described it as "creepy" and "cinematic", and praised Kills' clothing. The video begins with Kills applying red lipstick, in a car mirror, while the instrumental of the song plays. She leaves the car and passes by a man, who is afterwards seen standing between two women wearing plastic masks of Kills' face. The music mutes and the sound of footsteps is heard repeatedly as Kills approaches a cracked mirror. After hearing a noise behind her, she looks over her shoulder as her reflection looks to her as well. Kills is dragged into the mirror, and the title card of the first act, "Vanity". During the section,