Paytas debuted her iconic show at Clowes Memorial Hall. Photo courtesy of Indy Star.
SAMANTHA RITTENBERG | STAFF REPORTER | srittenberg@butler.edu
From an appearance on the pilot of “My Strange Addiction” to playing herself in a “Saturday Night Live” skit to “The Eras of Trish Tour”, Trisha Paytas has done it all. At Clowes Memorial Hall on Thursday, Feb. 20, the internet sensation launched her tour with performances including singing her classic song “I Love You Jesus”, along with renditions of both “Shallow” and “Helena”.
Indianapolis was the first stop on “The Eras of Trish Tour”. The sold-out show filled Clowes Hall with the sounds of 2000 people singing, laughing and even crying at times.
The hour-long concert took fans through the eras of Paytas’ life, starting with a performance of “Bet On It”. This was a reference to her popular music video where she went above and beyond by dressing up as Troy Bolton with a wig and even filming in the original location where High School Musical filmed.
Some other songs that excited audience members included covers of “Say My Name” from Beetlejuice, “Popular” from Wicked and Paytas classics like “Iconic” and “Freaky”.
Emma Wheeler, a first-year speech, language and hearing sciences major, was first introduced to Paytas through Colleen Ballinger — otherwise known as Miranda Sings.
“[Paytas] has a naturally really funny personality and gets easily distracted, so between her [tour] eras, she would sit there and interact with the audience,” Wheeler said. “She read someone’s poetry that she wrote, took song requests [and] cried [during] a Trisha chant.”
Paytas made her debut on YouTube in 2007. She originally began her channel as a fan account for Quentin Tarantino, and the first video she ever posted was titled, “Ode to Quentin Tarantino, Love Trish.” Soon after, Paytas realized she wanted to center the channel around herself and has hardly taken a break from posting since she started. She has explored every area on the internet, including fashion, makeup, mukbangs, music videos, vlogs and of course, her iconic videos sobbing on her kitchen floor.
Paytas came out with her first studio album in 2015 called “Under the Covers”, has released more than 30 singles and is now on a 32-city tour over the next three months all over the US.
Rachel Burner, a senior history and anthropology major, noted the audience’s eclectic style.
“[The crowd contained] a lot of young women [and] diversely presenting individuals,” Burner said. “People showed up and showed out; everyone had dressed like the different eras of Trish, which was crazy. Someone was dressed like Bet On It Trish; some people had McDonald’s visors from when she was working at McDonald’s [and there was] a lot of pink, clutter [and] sequins.”
Trisha Paytas is a widely recognized name on the internet, but not for all of the right reasons. She is known for speaking her mind without a second thought or regard for consequences. Paytas has made very controversial statements, including when she claimed to be “one thousand percent” transgender, yet identified with her gender assigned at birth “a thousand percent.” Other examples are when she self-diagnosed herself with Dissociative Identity Disorder, when she sang and rapped using the N-word and too many other instances to count.
Despite all of her scandals, Paytas still has fans who support her through both her highs and lows.
Sophomore exploratory business major Nicholas Kroog has been a viewer of Paytas since 2016.
“Trisha Paytas is a personal choice [in] whether you decide to support [her] or not, and if you think she has changed,” Kroog said. “I feel like I have really been able to see her change through her content, whereas [with] other creators, it feels more fake. It goes back to the point of relatability, where we mess up [but] it is what you do after [and] Trisha has been a good example of growing from your mistakes.”
Many Paytas fans found her YouTube channel through other creators online such as Jeffree Star and Tana Mongeau. She collaborated with countless stars and even had a very successful podcast with Ethan Klein called Frenemies from 2020 through 2021. Paytas stormed off and quit that podcast after 39 episodes, going on to launch her own in 2023 called “Just Trish”.
Fans hope to see Paytas in a positive limelight in the future, but that is ultimately up to her. Hopefully, this tour is a start in the right direction.
Whether audience members went to the show to see their favorite childhood YouTuber or just to get a laugh, Trisha Paytas made it a night to remember.
