The TikTok phenom expertly spoofing faves like Lorde
The TikTok phenom expertly spoofing faves like Lorde
Rachel Sandy has been on TikTok for six days, and every one of her videos imitating popular female artists has gone viral.
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Because more up-and-coming movie soundtrack composers should be TikTok stars. —Kate
It’s wild to think that 18-year-old Rachel Sandy only posted her first TikTok six days ago, because she is clearly made for the app. She imitates the musical style and vocals of popular artists with scary accuracy, and not one of her three videos has received fewer than 300,000 views; her take on Lorde has almost five million.
Sandy, a London-based musician, already has her videos down to a tried-and-true structure: “Phoebe Bridgers fans make me sick because she could literally write a song like…” she says, before breaking into a loving spoof of the indie music princess that includes lyrics like, “I walked with you round the garden / where my old pet dog died,” and really, really sounds like a Phoebe Bridgers song.
“...And the Pharbz would eat that right up,” she ends the video.
“Ur right I did eat it up,” one comment reads.
“I didn’t get the joke maybe you should keep going 👀” another playfully suggested.
Her next two videos begin the same way—“I hate Lorde fans because she could literally write a song like…”; “Never trust Taylor Swift fans because she could literally be like…”—before she breaks into what are really just odes to the musicians she loves. The videos show Sandy playing the instruments in the songs, and she adds comic little visual touches, too, like her Phoebe giving a thumbs-up to an imaginary “soundcheck guy” and her “outraged Kanye West” screaming she rocks out as Taylor.
Sandy is an aspiring film composer, according to her Instagram, and when she’s not recreating the music of female pop stars, she’s putting her own twists on movie soundtracks, including the soundtrack to end all movie soundtracks: the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
She also has her own original piano music on Spotify, which appears in four official Spotify editorial playlists, including “Piano in the Background” and “Calm Vibes.” Her most recent piece, “The Winds,” is very nice!
Sandy has spent less than a week on TikTok but all three of her videos appeared organically on my For You page before I even followed her. People are already requesting other artists, like Paramore, Maggie Rogers, and of course, Olivia Rodrigo. Rachel, if you're reading this: Please, please do Liv next.
Recommended in this post Rachel Sandy’s TikTok spoofs of Lorde, Phoebe Bridgers, and Taylor Swift; Pride and Prejudice rescore clip on Instagram; “The Winds” on Spotify.