5 Celebrity Alter Egos

Many celebrities have alter egos – from Nicki Minaj to Justin Bieber – and these are our top five.

If you want to listen to a fuller discussion on this topic, we covered all things alter egos on episode eight of the Boom Tequila Podcast.

1. Nicki Minaj

Nick Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Miraj-Petty, has been public about her many crafted alter egos. I’m about to expose my real Barb status on this one, but let’s go… When Minaj first started gaining popularity, she already had several alter egos to roll off and integrate into her music and public persona. In one of her earlier hits, “Itty Bitty Piggy,” Minaj rattles off several alter egos that we will continue to see utilized in later work saying “It’s Nicki Minaj, Nicki Lewinsky, Nicki the Ninja, Nicki the Boss, Nicki the Harajuku Barbie.”

Nicki’s Harajuku Barbie is girly, fun, lighthearted and sweet. We see the Harajuku Barbie character come to life throughout songs like “Bedrock,”Bottoms Up,” “Monster” and “Barbie Tingz.”

Roman Zalanski is likely the most well known of Nicki’s alter egos… Roman was a sassy, gay, sharp-tongued boy from London, England. He makes appearances on many hit songs such as “Roman’s Revenge.” “Roman Holiday,” “I Am You Leader,” and more. It is rumored that Nick has since declared him dead since she no longer uses this character.

Ms. Minaj (or do we say Mrs. Petty now?) has many alter egos and has leaned into these characters in interviews, songs and on social media. If you want a quick break-down on all of Nicki Minaj’s alter egos… some Barbz put a FanWiki breaking down all of Minaj’s alter egos and they didn’t miss a beat.

2. Beyonce

Beyonce has Sasha Fierce, who was supposedly developed during the writing of Crazy In Love in 2013. Sasha Fierce is a character that allowed the Queen Bey to lean into a more provocative and assertive side of herself that we didn’t really see a lot in the days of Destiny’s Child or her early solo career. She also has Yonce and “B” who raps and I think/hope we will see more of… because she a bad B. <– See what I did there? 😉

3. Marshal Mathers

I think we all better know Mr. Mathers by his alter ego… Eminem, who is is primary stage persona. He also has Slim Shady though which stepped on the scene early in Eminem’s career and has been described as a deranged and violent character that allows Mathers to express some of his darkest or more twisted thoughts.

4. Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber has an alter ego that I’m pretty sure he doesn’t use anymore, but is still noteworthy. Shawty Mane is a glasses-wearing rapper that Justin used a few years back and I only discovered recently when I was doing some research for the Boom Tequila Podcast. According to a Fandom FanWiki, the Biebs has several other alter egos, but to be honest I haven’t heard of most of these. (Maybe it’s because he isn’t as public or loud about them as Nicki.. or maybe it’s because I just know too much about Nicki… I don’t know.)

5. Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga’s real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, making Gaga herself a bit of a stage alter ego. But Lady Gaga’s most infamous alter ego is none other than Joe Calderone, a male character who smokes, and wears disheveled suits. Lady Gaga has performed in character this celebrity alter ego and Joe Calderone makes an appearance in her “You and I” video. I came across a site that listed some other alter egos for Lady Gaga, but I wasn’t sure if these were really alter egos or more characters featured in a few videos for the sake of the music video.