Arm Tattoos

Monica Brown

Lee Roth / RothStock / PR Photos
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Monica used to have the word “knot” above the portrait of Jesus on her upper left arm. “Knot” is the nickname of her boyfriend Jarvis Weems and she got this tattoo as a memorial to him after he died by suicide in 2000. A few years later, she covered up his name with a flower over each letter.

His passing caused a major upheaval in her life. She felt unable to work and took a hiatus from her music career in order to heal. She cared for his daughter during that time and considered the young girl “the best therapy.”

The death was all the more traumatic because she witnessed it firsthand. She and Knot were visiting the grave site of his brother, who had died in a car accident two years earlier, when he pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head. “Someone passing is very different than seeing someone take their life, or if you’re there when someone else has taken their life. I think those situations make me the person I am today,” she told MTV. “People would never expect some of the things I’ve experienced and some of the things I’m not shy to talk about.”

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Boyfriend Gothic / Old English Memorial Name Nickname Suicide Upper Arm

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Julia Michaels

Landmark / PR Photos; Instagram / @jimsylviatattoo
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Julia Michaels has a faceless woman tattooed on her right upper arm. The portrait has a geometric pattern on her face, while the rest of it is very vibrant and colorful. The ink piece was done by artist Jim Sylvia across multiple sessions in February and March 2016.

Back then Julia was still writing songs for other artists and the concealed face symbolizes herself being unseen. She told Vevo:

I have this faceless woman here. It kind of, at the time, was describing my anonymity in the music industry…I’ve always kind of felt like this is who I am on the inside. Everything’s just kind of changed so much this year that I feel like this is me, this is me showing myself, this is me at my most vulnerable.

She made the transition to being a performer after she wrote her breakout hit “Issues,” a song that was so personal she couldn’t imagine anyone else singing it.

“I’m a very nervous person, and I’ve never really been much of a confident person. I think it took a song like ‘Issues’ for me to realize that [being a singer] was something that I wanted, and something that I’ve suppressed because I’m so fearful of it,” she told Jimmy Fallon.

She had been hiding her face from the world in large part because of her severe anxiety. In an essay for Glamour, she opened up about her journey towards overcoming the anxiety which had plagued her since she was 18 and caused her to have panic attacks. Putting her face out into the public eye was not easy for her, but she is happier now that she’s done it. She wrote:

I was scared of not hiding anymore. I was scared of reaching a level of potential I had never reached.

When I see people sing “Issues” with me, it’s the most incredible feeling in the world…This is what I’ve always wanted. To be understood, to be heard. To be seen.

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Being True To Yourself Career Geometric Design Jim Sylvia Music Portrait Traditional Upper Arm

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Julia Michaels

Landmark / PR Photos; Instagram / @imjmichaels
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Julia Michaels added a pink lotus flower tattoo on her right elbow on February 25, 2015. She chose the lotus, which is a symbol of rebirth, because she had just gone through a break-up.

Of all her tattoos, this is the only one that she’s not quite happy with. She told Power 93.3:

I do kind of regret this one. It’s my lotus, but it looks like an artichoke. And I got it the day my ex broke up with me the first time — I know, I’m a mess.  And I thought, like an idiot, that I could combat emotional pain with physical pain. Don’t do it, guys — not smart.

She joked around about it with Maxwell:

It ended up looking like a colorful artichoke. And every time I look at it I just — I can’t stand it…This just looks so ridiculous. So I want to get that covered up so badly…Choose your artist well.

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Elbow Lotus Rebirth Traditional Watercolor

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