Trans woman dazzles TikTok with jaw-dropping duets she sings with herself

A trans woman has gone viral on TikTok for singing beautiful duets with herself in a mix of low and high pitches. Marlene, who uses the handle @avelosongs, has posted several videos touting the fact that being a trans woman has given her the ability to sing typically male as well as typically female parts in songs using both feminine and masculine voices.

Marlene told Pink News she struggled a lot with her voice at the beginning of her transition since hormone therapy does not affect the voices of trans women the same way it does trans men. Many, including Marlene, turn to voice therapy to learn how to speak in a way they feel aligns better with who they are.

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For Marlene, voice therapy has given her unbelievable control over her wide vocal range. Her videos show her singing duets with herself to everything from Taylor Swift’s Love Story to Disney’s Love is an Open Door from Frozen to Summer Nights from Grease.

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@avelosongs

I think this one works pretty well as a duet #fyp #foryou #trans #lgbt #swiftie #taylorswift

♬ original sound – Avelo

In one video, she explained why she’s able to change her voice that way. “Estrogen does not change your vocal cords,” she said. “Only testosterone does… [Voice training is] a series of exercises and techniques to slowly, I guess, stretch the muscles… It’s a lot more complicated than just going up or down or higher or lower… as you do it more regularly and as you practice it’ll get easier.”

@avelosongs

#fyp #foryou #trans #lgbtqia #disney #frozen #pride

♬ original sound – Avelo

She said that now that she uses her more feminine voice all the time, it requires “a lot of concentration” to access her deeper voice.

@avelosongs

Replying to @Rebecca Arroyo #fyp #foryou #trans #lgbtqia #transition

♬ original sound – Avelo

TikTokers have praised her incredible abilities.

“This is just incredible, this level of talent is just amazing,” one user wrote. “I’m obsessed.”

“People do not understand the incredible amount of control you need to have to be able to do this!” added another.

@avelosongs

Replying to @Em🌞 #fyp #foryou #trans #lgbtqia #music

♬ original sound – Avelo

Marlene also posts responses to hateful comments she receives. In one response video, she took a stand about why what she’s doing is so important.

“You would think that getting so much hate like this would make me feel insecure about being trans, but it only affirms to me how necessary it is to be honest about my experiences,” she said, adding that she used to be ashamed she could still use her deep voice and would never do so.

“Through these TikToks,” she continued, “and through the wonderful response I’ve seen from trans and nonbinary people, it has affirmed to me how important it is to show the diversity of trans voices, and even if someone doesn’t want to do voice training, even if they want to keep the voice that they have all through transition, there is nothing wrong with that, and I think it is so important to say that.”

@avelosongs

Replying to @alabama #fyp #foryou #trans #lgbtqia #transition

♬ Aesthetic – Tollan Kim