An Alter Ego is a second Self, which is believed to be distinct from a person’s normal or true original personality.

A person who has an Alter Ego is said to lead a double life. An Alter Ego can help you embrace your true Self and exert confidence.

An Alter Ego can be a way to escape from your normal Self or an Alter Ego could be someone you desire to be more like. This second Self is someone you hope to be more like and develop into as you get older.

Many leading pop stars have alter-egos which they assume on stage or in different songs. It gives the artists permission to express an aspect of their personality which is somehow forbidden by their usual socially constructed Self.

It is ecstatic and it enables them to step out of their usual self and put on someone else. Alter Egos let them explore different sides of their gender identity and sexuality.

Women can embrace a more assertive and sexually aggressive side, men can embrace a more flamboyant or feminine side.

Their Alter Egos enable them to go into trance while they are performing, which in turn enables them to throw off their inhibitions and really go wild on stage, thereby getting the audience into a trance too.

This dissociative capacity may be related to a sort of schizoid tendency.

As with shamans, what could be pathological dissociation becomes controlled dissociation, or the art of trance.

lthough there is always the risk that the artist’s main personality becomes taken over and permanently possessed by their alter Ego, particularly if the public demands  they play it all the time.