Cover Harry Styles and Blackpink’s Lisa’s lookalikes (Photo: Instagram / @1.d.memes and Facebook / @KiNG Street Food)
Harry Styles and Blackpink’s Lisa’s lookalikes (Photo: Instagram / @1.d.memes and Facebook / @KiNG Street Food)
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Our need for stronger parasocial relationships with our favourite celebs has been clashing with their need for more privacy. Solution? Finding their lookalike online
Lookalike contests have been taking over the internet—and the world—over the past weeks. It all started with a YouTuber-hosted contest to find the New York City man who looked most like Timothée Chalamet in late October. Since then, these copycat contests have been popping up worldwide—so far lookalike contests have been held to find Harry Styles’ double in London, Paul Mescal’s doppelgänger in Dublin and Dev Patel’s twin in San Francisco.
Celeb copycats aren’t new—but the rules seem to have changed in recent years. In the past, looking like an idol was seen as a homage to the celebrity’s work or fame—such as the long-lasting culture of Elvis Presley’s and Michael Jackson’s impersonators.
But now, thanks to social media, any passing resemblance to an idol—whether staged or not—gives the celeb lookalike default access to fame and online virality. Take, for example, a Thai fried chicken seller who went viral for looking like Blackpink’s Lisa or TikTok user @Kylemendozza who gained followers for bearing a resemblance to BTS’s V.
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Above Timothée Chalamet and his lookalikes (Photo: Instagram / @tchalametdaily)
Above This TikTok user gained followers for looking like BTS’s V (Photo: Instagram / @kyle_mendozza)
Timothée Chalamet and his lookalikes (Photo: Instagram / @tchalametdaily)
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One of the reasons for the collective obsession with doppelgangers might stem from our need to form stronger parasocial relationships with our favourite celebs—which clashes with the said celeb’s need for privacy.
Parasocial relationships are defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as relationships involving a connection between a person and someone they do not know personally, for example, a famous person or a character in a book. While these relationships can happen at any time in one’s life, they’ve been used as a commercial technique by the entertainment industry to encourage consumption—and have been primarily targeting teenage girls. The transaction is simple: fans support celebrities in exchange for content and interactions.
Parasocial relationships aren’t necessarily bad—they’ve been proven to help adolescents, in particular, form an identity and develop autonomy, according to a 2017 study by peer-reviewed academic journal Frontiers in Psychology. But capitalism and its snowball effect have normalised these expectations—so much that they’re now taken as a given.
Above American pop star Chappell Roan denouncing “entitled” fans for “creepy behaviour” (Photo: Instagram / @chappellroan)
Above BTS’s Jungkook denoucing sasaeng behaviour during a live stream (Photo: Instagram / @jungkook_bighitentertainment)
American pop star Chappell Roan denouncing “entitled” fans for “creepy behaviour” (Photo: Instagram / @chappellroan)
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So, what happens to celebrities who didn’t sign up for this? What about the introverted idols who debuted in showbiz for their love of the craft and don’t want to live through their public persona? Well, they try to break out from it or get really private.
Recently, several celebs have called out toxic fan behaviour. American pop star Chappell Roan denounced “entitled” fans for “creepy behaviour” in a TikTok video in 2024 and Doja Cat tried to establish boundaries with her fans on X (formally Twitter) in 2023. Even K-pop idols like BTS’s Jungkook, Seventeen’s DK, Aespa’s Winter and NCT’s Renjun have started to denounce the abusive behaviour of sasaeng [stalkers, obsessive fans in Korean]—however, most of them have denounced it to other fans during live streams, entertaining the idea of “good fan” vs “toxic fan”.
Above Aespa’s Winter denouced sasaeng behaviour (Photo: Instagram / @imwinter)
Above Taylor Swift is known to navigate parasocial relationships well (Photo: Instagram / @Taylorswift)
Aespa’s Winter denouced sasaeng behaviour (Photo: Instagram / @imwinter)
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But let’s be honest: calling out toxic fandom behaviour is still highly criticised within the industry. The cost of losing support from both fans and management is too high for many, resulting in a very limited number of celebs addressing the issue publicly. The preferred—and less controversial—method is to retreat from the public eye by avoiding social media.
There are several examples of this: Harry Styles is only active on social media during a tour, BTS’s Jungkook deleted his Instagram account and Blackpink’s Jennie sometimes limits her interactions with fans outside of working time—which has unfortunately resulted in some backlash.
On the other hand, some idols like Taylor Swift thrive on parasocial relationships. But individual communication skills aside, it’s clear that the industry hasn’t found yet a solution to address both fans’ and idols’ needs.
Until a healthy balance is achieved, lookalike contests and doppelgänger content on social media can be a harmless way of feeling closer to our idols, without encroaching on their privacy. Indeed, some celebs seem very much on board with this idea—case in point, Chalamet showed up at his doppelgänger contest in New York, much to his fans’ surprise. Who would you like to see next in such a contest?
Salomé Grouard was Digital Editor and Front & Female Content Lead at Tatler Hong Kong. Primarily focused on managing Tatler Hong Kong’s digital platform and content, she also covers gender equality, the music scene and sports through interviews with industry leaders, experts and trendsetters.
Interview highlights include renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, Korean actor Park Seo Jun, singer Jorja Smith, Chinese TV host Yue-Sai Kan, YouTuber Kimono Mom, Japanese rapper Awich, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Mikey Musumeci.
She has also produced stories on revolutionising sexual wellness in Asia, activism within the surfing community, Asian trans musicians reclaiming their narratives through music and looked at the toxicity of gym culture through the lens of the plus-size community. She also covers music festivals, such as Hong Kong’s Clockenflap and Bali’s Suara.
