I Can Barely Tell the Difference Between Mariah Carey and Her TikTok Doppelgänger

“Oh, I did not understand Mariah Carey was on TikTok,” I discovered myself saying a couple of nights in the past whereas on my normal Sunday Scaries scroll by way of the app. Carey does have her personal TikTok, however the video I used to be watching wasn’t really hers. It was by Aurelio Sanchez, an illusionist who has gone viral a number of instances for his scarily correct impersonation of Carey. 

Each seemingly minuscule element of Sanchez’s hair and make-up — the minimize of the cheekbone, the metallic cut-crease, the precise shade of cool blonde with shadow roots — is a useless ringer for Carey’s signature look, to the purpose that you would barely inform the distinction between the 2 in case you put them in a room collectively. Naturally, I had to succeed in out to Sanchez myself to choose his mind about this. 

As he recollects to Attract, Sanchez has at all times had a penchant for impersonating individuals and characters. “I consider my movie star impersonations occurred from combining my love for artwork in all facets into one — music, portray, performing, and a bit of magic to make a personality come alive,” he explains. He was closely concerned in performing arts all through highschool, however the idea of doing particular movie star imitations hadn’t clicked with him till someday, at age 18, he acted out a personality for his mother and knew what wanted to occur from there. “I felt such a surge of happiness I knew that is what I needed to proceed to evolve.”

Now, Sanchez is knowledgeable illusionist who will get paid to carry out as sure celebrities as a result of his hair and make-up work are simply that correct. He had by no means impersonated Mariah Carey till a couple of years in the past when an employer of his requested her particularly. “Once I learn the e-mail, I froze,” he recollects. “I grew up watching this legend however I used to be terrified as a result of I needed to verify I gave it my all.” 

Since then, Carey has turn into a giant muse for Sanchez. “I studied greater than I knew about Mariah Carey and found not only a lovely picture however a lovely individual that allowed me to develop additional admiration and respect for her,” he says of the primary time he was requested to carry out as Carey. “I’ve been capable of regularly develop my phantasm by way of totally different make-up methods and performing methods however above all with my love for her music and exquisite lyrics.”