The Chainsmokers are back — or, at least that’s what their label wants you to believe.
The EDM duo activated their TikTok last week to tease their new music, but fans soon noticed that the Alex Pall and Drew Taggart appearing in the videos were not actually them. That realization, paired with the group’s nearly three-year hiatus from the music world, caused Chainsmokers-related conspiracy theories to spread on the social media app. Some fans even wondered if we were witnessing 2022’s version of the 1969 urban legend about Paul McCartney — where some believed the Beatles legend secretly died and was replaced by a trained lookalike.
The Chainsmokers added even more fuel to the fire on Thursday in a brand new video that confirmed Alex and Drew are MIA. The post, titled “SORRY, THE CHAINSMOKERS ARE BACK,” featured their doppelgängers taking over their lives — from hanging out with their friends, controlling their social media, burning their mountains of cash and, most importantly, making music.
The promo also features people commenting on The Chainsmokers’ new appearance, with one higher up remarking, “We had to replace the original guys because they took two f****** years to make an album. But nobody knows what they really look like, so, it doesn’t matter.”
The video offers a twist at the end, with the lookalikes realizing being a Chainsmoker is a heavy burden to bear and quit, causing the label to come crawling back to the real Alex and Drew.
The video ends with the real duo celebrating their return and teasing their brand new single, “High,” which is available to pre-save now. It will be the first single from their upcoming album, which is currently dubbed TCS4.
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