GettyAt last count, there are almost 7.5 billion people in the world, and somehow, someone, somewhere has found one that looks exactly like Selena Gomez.
Now, with the man power of social media, you might think that’s pretty unsurprising.
What might come as a surprise is the fact that, when every other day there’s a shit celebrity doppelgänger roaming around the depths of Instagram riding on someone else’s coattails, this particular lookalike actually looks like Selena.
Her name is Sofia Solares, and she’s a Mexican social media influencer who spends a lot of time modelling for jewellery and fashion brands.
As much as it pains me to jump aboard the doppelgänger train, admittedly, Sofia is a dead ringer for the 25-year-old Fetish singer, whose father is also Mexican.
Speaking to E! News Sofia said:
I love Selena Gomez and I declare myself a fan of her and of course it would be a dream to know that she knows of my existence and will devote a few seconds to write me something!
I would cry with happiness.
Gomez endless body positive, anti-bullying campaigns and her work with 13 Reasons Why to tackle child suicide means Solares has lucked out with a pretty sound role model.
Could be worse. The only lookalike I’ve ever been compared to is Jigglypuff; a rotund, pink Pokemon whose melodies bore its enemies to sleep, and in the process endanger its own life.
Hardly comparable to a singer who’s won fifteen Teen Choice Awards, as well as nine Guinness World Records.
However, 22-year-old Solares wishes to retain her own identity in a sea of curated social media copycats:
I always try to be myself. I say it’s okay to look like her, but I do not want to lose myself for trying to be someone I’m not.
And thus, the young woman will forever live her life in the shadow of Selena Gomez because Internet Detectives with zero concept of chance or probability cannot fathom two in 7.5 million people looking alike.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.