"Who's Taylor Swift anyway?" teased the t-shirt worn by Taylor Sheesh as she sashayed onto the stage and was met with loud cheers from a crowd of mixed nationalities at Fed Square in Melbourne, Australia.
Life has never been the same for drag artist Mac Coronel, the person behind the persona of Taylor Sheesh, and known as the Philippines' foremost Taylor Swift impersonator.
Mac's videos performing as Taylor Sheesh have gone viral, with viewers from around the globe reacting with amusement and bewilderment.
Taylor Sheesh's timing couldn't be more perfect.
With Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour making history, marked by huge ticket sales and sold-out arenas, her impersonator, Taylor Sheesh, has been enjoying a great deal of publicity as well.
It helps that Taylor Swift has a huge fanbase, making Mac's Taylor Sheesh persona relatable and identifiable to fans from around the globe.
To be fair, Mac is a devoted Taylor Swift fan, and her act is not a mockery but a heartfelt homage to the award-winning singer-songwriter.
"I’m totally overwhelmed and grateful to the fans," Mac told the entertainment and culture news website Vulture in a story published on September 1, 2023.
"It feels weird, even when I’m not dressed as Taylor Sheesh, like I’m just walking in the streets as myself. People are like, 'Oh my God!' I’m happy that my talent is recognized."
A SWIFTIE AT 15
Born November 29, 1994, Mac lives in Antipolo, Rizal, and is the eldest of three children.
Her father is a car mechanic, while her mother is a housewife.
Mac first got into Taylor Swift's music in 2009 after falling in love with the song "Fifteen" at the age of, coincidentally, 15.
She told The Guardian how the song spoke to her feelings of being lovesick, smitten by a school crush at the time while studying at the Sta. Catalina National High School.
From swooning over "Fifteen," Mac went on exploring more of Taylor's music and becoming a big fan of the American singer-songwriter.
Mac cited Speak Now, originally released in 2010, as her favorite Taylor Swift album.
CAREER AS IMPERSONATOR
Mac didn't assume the Taylor Sheesh persona overnight.
In fact, her drag career started by accident after she was coaxed by a friend to dress up like Lady Gaga—the flamboyant singer known for the hits "Poker Face" and "Bad Romance"—during a night out at Nectar Nightclub in BGC.
There was a Lady Gaga lipsync battle going on when they arrived at the club.
Upon her friend's prodding, and since she was already dressed like Lady Gaga — "crop top and shorts similar to what Lady Gaga was wearing in her performance with Metallica" (2017 Grammys)— Mac joined the competition and won for her performance of "Bad Romance."
Mac was asked by the club owner to audition, and she became a regular drag performer at Nectar, where she assumed various celebrity personas as part of her act.
She recalled in an interview, "I had no idea what the drag industry was like then. I didn’t know how to do my make-up at the time. Eventually, I opened for a few Drag Race U.S. queens in the Philippines."
Mac credited drag queens and Drag Race Philippines contestants Viñas DeLuxe and Marina Summers for helping "improve my drag, aesthetic, how to discover my brand, and how real performances work."
BECOMING TAYLOR SHEESH
With Mac impersonating several Hollywood entertainers, it was only a matter of time before she assumed the persona of her idol.
In 2017, Mac made her idol her peg and started calling herself Taylor Sheesh.
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She didn't know what awaited her when she attended a Taylor Swift listening party in October 2022 at the Market! Market! in Taguig.
Mac was there simply as a fan and wanted to mingle with fellow Swifties in attendance.
Before Mac knew it, she was on the stage singing and unleashing her best Taylor Swift impersonation to the delight of the crowd, who took phone videos of the performance.
Mac as Taylor Sheesh went viral.
She found support courtesy of Swifties Philippines, which is the country's largest coalition of Taylor Swift die-hards.
Together, and with Taylor Sheesh at the forefront, they staged several performances mimicking Taylor Swift's shows.
When it was announced that the Philippines was not included in Taylor Swift's massive The Eras Tour, Filipino fans were left heartbroken and frustrated.
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Taylor Sheesh's performances were intended to further spread Taylor Swift's music, gather together Swifties, and entice the singer-songwriter to include the Philippines in her tour itinerary.
In preparation, she watched clips of Taylor Swift's performances, took notes of her nuances and body language, so she could incorporate them into her stage show.
Social media played a huge role in spreading the word and audiences comprised of devoted Taylor Swift fans and curious viewers went in droves to witness the performances.
On May 21, 2023, TriNoma Mall in Quezon City played host to an estimated 10,000 attendees, predominantly made up of Taylor Swift fans, as Taylor Sheesh commanded the stage, breaking Mac's drag persona into a wider audience in the Philippines and internationally.
YES. I DID THE ERAS TOUR. I PERFORMED FOR ALMOST 1 HOUR AND 24 MINS. YEP, I'M THAT SWIFTIE. ????????????????????? https://t.co/rUALN2kY5P
— Mac (Taylor Sheesh) (@heymacyou) May 22, 2023
The hashtag #WeWantErasTourPhilippines accompanied the online videos showing Taylor Sheesh's mall performance.
Mac lipsynched to Taylor Swift songs complete with outfit changes to replicate The Eras Tour.
The TriNoma Mall performance also had Taylor Sheesh changing outfits several times—a blue bodysuit (Midnights era), green dress (Folklore era), red-black one-piece (Red era), and bodysuit with snake design (Reputation era).
She also did her make-up, which took about 35 to 45 minutes.
Read: Andrea Brillantes trends on Twitter for her take on Taylor Swift's French fries costume
Eventually, Taylor Sheesh came up with her own tour she titled The Errors Tour, a funny wordplay on Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour.
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TURNING HEADS
Taylor Sheesh soon attracted attention from foreign press as well, thanks to videos of her performances shared on social media, particularly on TikTok.
The slant was that heartbroken Taylor Swift fans in the Philippines, deprived of the opportunity to experience The Eras Tour, found solace in their idol's foremost impersonator.
Taylor Sheesh, according to an article by the Washington-based NPR, is "uplifting the spirits of Filipino Swifties" who are "disappointed that the real Taylor did not add the country to the Asian leg of her The Eras Tour."
In its coverage of Taylor Sheesh's highly attended performance at TriNoma Mall, Rolling Stone mentioned, "Taylor Swift stans in the Philippines aren't sure if their favorite singer is going to make the trek to Asia on her Eras Tour—so they threw their own version of the sought-after show."
Other international media outlets that ran a feature on Taylor Sheesh include Vulture, The Guardian, Mashable SE Asia, South China Morning Post, and BBC, plus appearances on television programs Good Morning America and Australia's morning show Today.
WORK-DRAG BALANCE
Mac worked as a call center agent by day and a club performer at night during the weekend.
She gave up her full-time job in 2018 to focus solely on her career as a drag artist.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced nightclubs to cease operations indefinitely, prompting Mac to return to the corporate grind as a customer service agent to keep her afloat financially.
Today, Mac is back balancing her day job with her flourishing career as a drag artist, a task that gets increasingly challenging as her Taylor Sheesh gimmick continues to draw attention.
GOING INTERNATIONAL
Taylor Sheesh recently took her act to Australia, where she performed before a big crowd at the Fed Square in Melbourne.
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Interestingly, her performance coincided in the same week with Taylor Swift's concerts at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Read: Kathryn Bernardo goes viral for singing along to “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
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The next stop for The Errors Tour is in Singapore this coming March 16 and 17, 2024, at the Hard Rock Cafe.
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In a May interview last year, Mac shared her desire to showcase her talent before an audience not just in the Philippines but overseas as well.
"That's my dream," she pointed out, "to perform in drag, which I love, or as Taylor [Swift]."
In the song "The 1" from the album Folklore, Taylor Swift sings, "I had this dream you’re doing cool sh*t, having adventures on your own."
Somewhere, a fan-turned-impersonator is doing just that.