“Yeah, it’s true [I’ve been using a doppelgänger]. I just thought it would be funny, nothing more to it,” Japanese-Australian singer Joji admitted in his recent Genius interview, unzipping his coat and settling into his seat. The catch? That wasn’t actually Joji, either – it was a body double, which fans have dubbed ‘Joe G’. The stand-in, which was later identified to be model and actor Robert Birdsall, has been all over Joji’s press activities as of late, from replacing the star in official press pics, to even appearing in the music video for recent single “PIXELATED KISSES”. 

The Genius video released earlier this week, however, seems to suggest that this is more than just a one-off gag (Joji himself is no stranger to pranks, having previously found early internet virality as unhinged comedian Pink Guy before launching his music career in 2015). Currently four singles deep into the campaign for his fourth studio album, Piss in the Wind – his first since leaving pioneering Asian hip-hop label 88rising – the project seems to cast Joji grappling with his own identity. Looking back with the hindsight of the recent ‘Joe G’ appearance, it’s clear that Joji had also purposely blurred his face in the music video for the preceding single “Past Won’t Leave My Bed”, lending doubt to whether Joji has actually appeared in any of the recent videos thus far. As for how it all ties together, however, we’ll have to wait for the album to drop on February 6. 

Fans online, meanwhile, have been quick to point out that this isn’t the first time artists have dabbled in doppelgängers. Only last year, rap gigabrain Earl Sweatshirt documented the process of hiring a body double for his Live Laugh Love album listening party on 2025 single “Crisco”, and, deeper still, “Locked Up” singer Akon is reported to have got away with using his own brother as a stand-in for numerous headline concerts throughout the 00s.

Across this surprisingly rich history, the body double trend seems to trace the evolving nature of celebrity in the digital age. It’s telling, for instance, that, where earlier stars like Akon used body doubles to cope with copious live bookings, today’s artists are using stand-ins for digital press commitments, often as a knowing wink to fans that will be able to tell the difference. In an age where musicians are expected to keep fans updated on their every move on social media, it begs the question: how well do we really know our idols? Is it not enough to just enjoy their music? 

Below, on top of the ‘Joe G’ enigma above, we break down seven other times artists used body doubles. 

AKON

Following the release of the double-platinum R&B album Trouble in 2004, Akon was on top of the world. He was receiving bookings left, right and centre, and, in a 2022 interview with podcast The Morning Hustle, Akon admitted that he used his brother, Bu, as a stand-in to keep up with the shows. “We cannot leave all this money on the table,” he explained of the decision. “This was before the internet. If you saw Abou in one place and you saw me, you couldn’t tell the difference.” Could Bu sing at least? “No, he can’t do any of that,” Akon responded in the interview, laughing. 

MF DOOM

The late, great MC MF Doom was renowned for having body doubles replace him at shows before his tragic death from angioedema in 2020. Sometimes, fans would catch on, and sometimes Doom would even appear to dethrone the imposter mid-performance, but the internet remains full of fake Doom appearances which never saw resolution. “I went to a MF Doom show at MJQ in Atlanta like 2007/8 where an imposter showed up lip syncing over the album cuts,” one Reddit user writes. “Everybody caught on and the fake doom got chased out of the back of the venue, jumped in a car and peeled out of the parking lot. They ended up coming back the next day and giving away a truckload of custom Doom Nikes to make up for it.”

While many were quick to criticise the artist, whose real name is Daniel Dumile, for the dupes, it is nonetheless in keeping with his enigmatic rap persona, having frequently expressed a disdain for fame in his later years. This appears to have been rooted in Dumile’s first hip-hop act, KMD, who were dropped from their Electra Records after the death of group member, and Doom’s own brother, DJ Subroc, in 1993. Following this painful experience, Dumile donned the iconic metal-face mask and adopted his anti-hero identity. In the words of biographer Dan LeRoy, Dumile had vowed revenge “against the industry that so badly deformed him.”

WILEY

Anyone who was following grime in the early 2010s will remember the trope of genre godfather Wiley not showing up to his music videos. He reportedly no-showed the shoot for breakout commercial single “Wearing My Rolex”, leading to a bizarre video in which women dressed up as foxes prance through the streets of East London, while subsequent releases “Never Be Your Woman feat. Emile Sande and Naughty Boy”, Double S’ “Get Paid feat. Wiley and Dr. Ofori”, and “Boasty feat. Sean Paul, Stefflon Don and Idris Elba” all featured stand-ins for Wiley. 

It was only in 2013 that Wiley, who has since appeared in numerous music videos like “Bring Them All / Holy Grime” and “On A Level”, explained his reasons for no-showing the shoots. In an interview with the Voice Online, he recalled how he was stabbed in the face three days before the “Wearing My Rolex” video shoot. “I’m not trying to be a hunk or anything like that, but I’ve got a scar on my face now and that definitely ruined my self-esteem,” he explained. “People were like, ‘Wiley doesn’t turn up to his videos’, but I just didn’t want my face on the screen. Having a scar on my face might scare off kids who have never seen a scar like this before.”

His absence from the “Boasty” video, however, was slightly less personal. In a now-deleted Twitter/X post, Wiley explained that he decided to no-show the shoot after his manager cut his verse from the track without his permission (Wiley’s relationship with his ex-manager John Woolf would later make headlines after the grime star used anti-semitic stereotypes to criticise Woolf on social media in 2020, leading to his MBE being revoked).

DEAN BLUNT

When enigmatic English musician Dean Blunt was crowned best newcomer at the 2015 NME Awards, host Jarvis Cocker was surprised to find himself face-to-face with someone who looked nothing like Dean Blunt. “I finally made it, power!” shouted the imposter, who was later revealed to be Blunt’s bodyguard. Even NME’s own Twitter account fell for the stunt, failing to spot the imposter in their live feed from the night.

Cocker, however, shouldn’t have been so surprised. Blunt has long maintained the reputation of a musical trickster. He reportedly listed a toy car filled with weed on eBay in 2016, and also urged media guests to check in under pseudonyms at a New York concert that same year. Blunt has since expressed a disillusionment with the music industry as a whole, having described record labels as inherently ‘anti-art’, suggesting that the body double stunt was in some way tied to a commitment to artistic integrity.

TWO SHELL 

British electronic duo Two Shell love a prank. They exclusively perform in disguises, hide their releases behind encrypted websites, and send fans on cross-internet easter egg hunts that sometimes culminate in nothing at all. But perhaps their favourite prank of all is duping journalists. This included an email interview with Mixmag, which featured photos of the duo that are widely recognised to be imposters.

So, when Guardian writer Shaad D’Souza was offered an interview with Two Shell in 2024, he was promised by their PR agent that Two Shell would actually show up this time. Instead, D’Souza was met by two women named Flat Earther and Ghost Shrimp, defying the fact that every other DJ set from the duo had obviously hidden men beneath their masks. On some level, this tomfoolery is in tune with Two Shell’s music itself – an electronic acid trip of garbled vocal chops and shifting rhythms that never let the listener rest easy. As a music writer myself, I feel like I should view Two Shell as my mortal enemies but, honestly, I find their antics pretty entertaining.

EARL SWEATSHIRT

“Earl was not looking forward to his album listening party,” read title cards in the intro to 2025 Earl Sweatshirt single “CRISCO”. “Instead he decided to cast someone to embody his overall essence on stage. We filmed the whole process behind the label’s back.” Throughout the subsequent video, a panel consisting of Earl, his mother and fellow rapper Zack Fox audition four Sweatshirt lookalikes, ultimately settling on a gray-haired man named Gary Murakami (who, admittedly, looks nothing like the rapper). Next, Earl drills Murakami in the arts of smoking weed and wearing baggy clothes before letting the body double take the reigns at his Live Laugh Love album listening party while Earl stayed at home. 

“I didn’t want to go to it,” Earl explained on the New York Times’ Popcast a few days later. “I don’t like playing my music for strangers and them looking at me [...] I was at my office moving furniture.” I don’t like shit, I don’t go outside reads the title to one of Earl’s earlier releases, and it seems he really wasn’t lying.