Nicole Atkins – “Singing In The Mirror”

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New MusicNicole Atkins – “Singing In The Mirror”TBBy Tom Breihan

11:52 AM EDT on July 23, 2026

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The Nashville-based singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins has been making really good music for a long time. It's the kind of sharp, classicist pop music that's easy to take for granted, but you shouldn't do that. Every time I hear a new Atkins song, I'm surprised at how good it is. At this point, I shouldn't be surprised anymore.

She might not be a household name, but Nicole Atkins definitely has the respect of her musician peers. Wilco multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone produced her upcoming album Drama, and it's her first for Chris Isaak's new Sun Records imprint Wicked Game. I was really impressed with lead single "When The Night Falls," and I'm just as impressed with her new single "Singing In the Mirror." It's a huge, hearty '80s-style synth rocker with that prime Pat Benatar feeling. I also thought of Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten," and I really wish more songs made me think of "Unwritten." Naturally, this track is inspired by the experience of a "Weird Al" Yankovic live show. I'll let Atkins explain it:

I wrote it after coming home from having a blast at a "Weird Al" show. When I got home, I found myself alone and crying, looking at my own eyes in the mirror going, "Where are you?" And then I started singing the chorus verbatim because I was embarrassed that I was even doing that, and then was like. "Waaaaaait! Record this because it’s cool!" The song came out finished in like a 10-minute trance. I recorded the demo to voice notes with the slow disco beat on the Omnicord and kept it that way for the recording.

Hear "Singing In The Mirror" below.

Drama is out 9/28 on Wicked Game/Sun.

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