Everything about Taylor Sheesh, the Drag Queen Taylor Swift impersonator
Filipino swifties made headlines as they create their very own Eras concert. Swifties flocked malls in Manila and Quezon City to see the next best thing: Taylor Sheesh.
Taylor Sheesh, alter ego of Mac Coronel, headlined local and international news for recreating Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. With performance gigs left and right, it’s basically Taylor Sheesh’s world and we’re just living in it. Here’s everything to know about Taylor Sheesh, the fairytale journey from drag to becoming the Philippines’ favorite Taylor Swift impersonator:
Everything about Taylor Sheesh, a Drag Taylor Swift impersonator
Drag career beginnings
For Mac Coronel, his drag queen origin story is always a funny story to tell. According to him, his friend invited him to Nectar and told him to wear a Lady Gaga-themed drag. Nectar Nightclub is a Gay bar in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) frequented by the local LGBTQIA+ community. It turns out, there was a Lady Gaga lip sync battle that night and his friend pushed him to join. Mac emerged victorious in the lip sync battle, setting his career as a drag queen in motion.
In 2018, Mac decided to do drag full time, leaving his call center agent job behind. However, when the pandemic hit and all the bars were closed, Mac had to work full-time again.
Despite being a huge drag fan, Mac never imagined being a drag queen and much less performing in front of a huge crowd. Even with six years of drag experience under his belt, Mac admits experiencing stage fright and self-doubt every now and then. Thoughts like ‘what if the crowd don’t like my performance?’ or the pressure of exceeding previous performers clouds his mind. However, the show must go on. Mac shared his confidence comes back when the audience clap and cheers for him.
As a full-fledged Swiftie, Mac tried impersonating the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, his idol, for fun at Nectar. However, longer in his drag career, he became more invested in embodying Taylor Swift, watching and studying Taylor’s performance mannerisms.
Nightclub impersonations to mall tours
Taylor Sheesh, alter ego of Mac Coronel, garnered local and international media attention for his witty recreation of the Eras Tour. Mac shared that even though he has been impersonating Taylor since 2017, he only recently dubbed himself as ‘Taylor Sheesh’.
Last year. Mac attended the listening party in Market Market in full drag, sporting Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ outfit. He caught the attention of the event organizer. The organizer asked him to perform. He further went viral when his profile picture in full Taylor Swift ‘Red’ outfit captioned ‘Taylor Sheesh’ garnered media attention. These canon events in Mac’s life led him to embrace the persona as Taylor Sheesh in her drag shows.
Photo courtesy of Mac Coronel
Why Taylor Sheesh? According to Mac, Taylor Sheesh is a synthesis of Taylor Swift’s name and ‘sheesh’, a popular slang term. ‘Sheesh’ is a colloquial term that is an alternative to saying ‘damn’ or ‘that’s cool’ in a surprised manner. For Mac, the term ‘sheesh’ describes his drag persona which is cool and thug-like.
After this event, new doors opened for Mac as he embraced his alter ego, Taylor Sheesh. He reached out to Swifties Philippines to perform at their listening party for Taylor’s new album, Midnights, at Mall of Asia. All of his performances singing ‘All Too Well’ and ‘You Belong With Me’ went viral on TikTok. The hustle never stops for Taylor Sheesh as he graced bigger crowds for a recreation of the Eras Tour.
Internationally recognized Taylor Swift impersonator
The road to becoming an internationally recognized Taylor Swift impersonator started with humble beginnings. Swifties Philippines reached out to Mac to start their very own drag mock-up Eras Tour. The first leg of the Fan Nights: Eras Festival Tour in Manila commenced at Ayala Malls Manila Bay. Mac shared he prepared one outfit for a 30-minute performance.
After their tour in Cebu and Davao, Swifties Philippines brought back Eras Tour in Manila for an encore in TriNoma. The organizer wanted to make the biggest and grandest encore to conclude the successful run of the Eras Festival tour. Mac gave kudos to Swifties Philippines for exceeding expectations event after event.
The fan-created gathering with a whopping estimate of 10,000 audience garnered and headline international outlets, skyrocketing Taylor Sheesh to fame. From a 30-minute performance to a 1 hour and 24-minute performance, Swifties Philippines went all or nothing with this encore. Sheesh took the stage by storm with five costume changes, full set choreography, and confetti. His sensational performance caught the attention of Rolling Stone, Gay Times, and Pop Crave.
@swiftiesphl “One day, we will be remembered”💜 #SpeakNowTaylorsVersion #SpeakNowTVPHLaunchParty #FanNightsatMarketMarket #SpeakNowTVAsia #AsiaTSTheErasTour ♬ Long Live (Taylor's Version) – Taylor Swift
As a Swiftie
Mac has been a hardcore Swiftie since 2009 after hearing Fifteen on the radio. Mac shared how much he resonated with Taylor Swift’s songs when he was about the same age. From Taylor’s ‘Fearless’ album, he started to find more Taylor Swift songs that he can relate to. In his words, ‘there’s a Taylor Swift song for every situation’.
Performing Taylor Swift’s song in front of her fans is such a dream and Taylor Sheesh is living it. In an interview, Mac said it was fulfilling to perform his idol’s songs in front of fellow Swifties. After being recognized by international outlets, Mac hopes Taylor Swift sees their efforts and reconsider.
LGBTQIA+ representation
With newfound fame, Taylor Sheesh becomes a preeminent public figure of the LGBTQIA+ community. In an interview, Mac felt scared and worried over his family’s reaction with what does. Fortunately, it’s a fairytale ending for Mac as his parents and siblings were proud of what he has accomplished.
For sure, we’ll be seeing more of Taylor Sheesh as his influence in the community today is unmatched. As a proud drag queen, Mac says to fellow allies— ‘just be you and make the whole place shimmer.’
