I’d like to pretend that I’m a better person, but if I looked almost identical to a famous person I would be milking it for all I could. Instagram, YouTube, public appearances — I would dedicated to cashing in off my genetic luck.
If that famous person was someone I was a fan of? That’s a whole new ballgame.
In case you’ve somehow been living under a rock for the past five years, this is Ariana Grande.
Ariana is one of the most famous people on the planet, and she’s instantly recognizable — her style, her dimples, her high ponytail, her striking features, and her glam makeup are all unique to her and make her stand out in popular culture.
And this is Paige Niemann.
Her style, her dimples, her high ponytail, her striking features, and her glam makeup all make her unique and — wait, what?!
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Here they are, side by side.
No, you’re not seeing double. Two different people.
Paige is an Ariana fan who realized that with some makeup skills, she could look identical to Ariana, and decided to put that to use on a few different social media platforms. Her lip-syncing videos on TikTok got her a lot of attention.
Here is one of the aforementioned videos in question.
Obviously, the audio is actually Ariana Grande herself, and Paige is just lip-syncing along to it, but the resemblance really is uncanny. One of Ariana’s fans decided to share one of her videos with Ariana herself on Twitter.
Ariana’s response was not the most positive.
The audio came from Ariana’s character Cat Valentine from Sam & Cat and Victorious , and Ariana wondered why Paige would dress up as her now but use audio from a show that aired in 2010 and not dress like the character.
One of Ariana’s fans called into question her sincerity.
They implied that Ariana was not being entirely truthful when she said that she was sure Paige was “the sweetst sweet sweetheart forreal.”
Ariana basically confirmed this herself.
A fan responded to this tweet saying , “I think it’s quite nasty how you are tryna be funny but be nice at the same time. Yall gotta remember this is another human being and people do love [you] that much they wanna resemble [you].”
Ariana’s fans were even less happy with the video.
Some fans started tweeting that dedicating that much time and effort into looking like a celebrity was “creepy,” stating that there are too many girls out there who are trying to make themselves look and act like Ariana.
Some pointed out that Paige is only 15, which is too young to be imitating grown celebrities.
One fan told the others to go easy on her, writing , “she’s actually so sweet! she’s 14-15 (i can’t remember which one), and she was always told that she looks like you, so she just learned how to do makeup like yours! it’s not like she has gone out of her way to get surgeries and such. it’s sad how much hate she gets.”
Others were not sympathetic.
One fan thought Ariana shouldn’t have called attention to this girl knowing how passionate her fanbase is, tweeting , “Girl. It ain’t even that deep. If you don’t let this baby love u in her own special way. Quit calling these kids out. Sheesh.”
Ultimately, whether Paige wants to have fun by looking like Ariana or not, there’s no reason to be mean to her online.
If Ariana’s fans think it’s creepy, they’re more than welcome to not follow her accounts!
What do you think? Is her dedication to impersonating Ari cute, or a bit too much? Let us know in the comments!
