Yet nothing has been more successful in getting Paytas attention than what she does best: pissing people off. She has written 11 “self-help” books and recorded ten albums (mostly dance pop, but she did recently come out with a mid-aughts emo-inspired EP under the name Sadboy2005), none of which made the charts. Throughout her career she estimates she’s been on 30 reality-TV shows. Some have worked: In 2010 she attempted to beat the Guinness World Record for speed-talking, and despite failing to do so still scored appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and America’s Got Talent. This is, in fact, the essence of Trisha Paytas, who has spent the last decade and a half trying on different identities to see which ones will make her the most famous. “So right now my phase is, ‘I want to be him.’ I’m sure in six months I’m going to be someone else.” More in the genre of “I just spent thousands of dollars on at least a dozen of his actual movie costumes.” “He’s Jewish and funny and schlubby and gets really attractive people in all his movies,” she explains. Paytas is recounting her current obsession with Adam Sandler, and not in a “I’m rewatching 50 First Dates” way. Seated in the kitchen of her still mostly empty five-bedroom, eight-bathroom new home in Ventura County - where everything is white and tan and has that California casual-chic look that’s become standard issue for the YouTube famous - she looks so … normal.

She’s in full L.A.-influencer drag: platinum-blonde extensions, baby-pink acrylics, cut-crease smoky eye, and a stiff, plump beige pout. Within seconds, Trisha Paytas has already managed to shock me.

Photo: Shaughn & John for New York Magazine

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