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Alessia Cara got a band-aid tattoo on the back of her upper left arm in June 2018. The band-aid relates to her new music and seems to be a symbol of this album cycle, as she added a band-aid to her beanie girl logo. The lead single “Growing Pains” from her upcoming sophomore album includes the lyrics “No band-aids for the growing pains.” There may be other references as well–we’ll have to wait and see!
Halsey has the lyrics “i’m a loser baby” tattooed along the left side of her neck in delicate cursive writing. This phrase was made famous by alternative singer-songwriter Beck’s 1993 hit song “Loser,” however these lyrics are also used in the 2017 song “Loser Baby” by indie band La Bouquet. She is a fan of both artists but has more of a personal relationship with La Bouquet and has actually tweeted about their song, which is more likely the direct inspiration for the tattoo. La Bouquet band member Bryan Sammis was one of the opening acts for Halsey’s American You(th) Tour with his solo project Olivver the Kid.
Halsey’s tattoo was done by artist Jon Boy at Bang Bang Tattoos in New York City in January 2017. She was accompanied by her boyfriend G-Eazy for the second time. He got an angel and devil on his arms which Halsey drew for him.
Halsey has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist featuring the lyrics “the crazy kind” from her duet “Him & I” with rapper G-Eazy. They sing the song from the perspective of two lovers but were also a real life couple at the time. In Halsey’s sung chorus to the song she describes their love as “the crazy kind” of love.
G-Eazy didn’t have any tattoos when they started dating, but Halsey changed that. The couple visited artist Jon Boy together for their first joint tattoo session in December 2017. While Halsey’s tattoo pays homage to the single “Him & I,” G-Eazy got his own tattoo representing the album that the song appears on. His tattoo was of his The Beautiful & Damned TB&D skull logo on his right forearm. Halsey got him hooked on the art of tattoos and he’s since gotten many more.
Maggie Lindemann has a tattoo on the back of her right arm which says “Depression & Obsession,” inspired by the song of the same name by alternative rapper XXXTentacion. She was a fan of his music and was saddened by his June 2018 murder. This song in particular relates to her own emotions. She has struggled with depression her whole life, has written a song of her own called “Obsessed,” and once tweeted his lyrics “depression and obsession don’t mix well.”
Kelsea Ballerini has a tattoo on her left forearm with the line “how sweet the sound” from the song “Amazing Grace.” It’s special to her because it was the first solo that she ever sang in her church choir. Singing was always a big part of her life, but she never thought that she wanted to make it a career until she discovered her passion for songwriting at age 13. She told CMT:
“I grew up loving music, like, loving it. I was involved in church choir, leading worship and all the choirs in my school — even glee club. I always loved performing and music.”
She got the tattoo in June 2014 and posted a picture on instagram captioning it:
“First song I learned, first solo I sang, and now first tattoo. #amazinggrace”
Kelsea Ballerini has a tattoo of a square inside a circle on her left wrist as a tribute to her song “Square Pegs” and its message of non-conformity. She told Ty Kelly and Chuck:
“My third tattoo is because of my song called ‘Square Pegs.’ The hook is ‘square pegs make the world go round’ and it’s about embracing what makes you different and knowing that flaws are not a bad thing. It’s what makes you who you are and embracing that. I got that tattoo in L.A.”
The feeling of not fitting in isn’t unique to Kelsea. She wrote this song trying to capture a universal feeling that everyone deals with sometimes, telling Radio Disney:
“A square peg, it’s someone who doesn’t necessarily fit in the mold of whatever normal might be. And I think we all have those moments of feeling like we don’t fit, like we’re the square peg….I’ve spent a lot of my life wondering where and how I fit, and I’m starting to find that there’s a lot of beauty in not fitting. I really wanted a song to capture that….Being normal can be a little boring sometimes. I think that being different is exciting.”
Many fans of the song have their own versions of this tattoo — including fellow country singer Levi Hummon. They got their tattoos together following their sold-out concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA on November 23, 2015. He told Mega Country:
“After the show we got very, very excited. I ended up getting a matching tattoo with Kelsea Ballerini. It’s currently on my hand. It’s actually her song, square peg in round hole.
And it’s about being a creative person, not being able to fit in necessarily, so I thought it related to me.”
Her makeup artist Meegan Pearson and some other members of her crew were also part of the matching tattoos.
Maren Morris’ back tattoo says “It’s a wondrous world of ridiculous things / but nothing so rare as the love that it brings” which is a line from the song “Christina” by folk singer-songwriter Patty Griffin. There’s actually a tiny error in the tattoo since the second line should start “with” instead of “but.”
She got this tattoo in April 2013 after putting a lot of thought into planning it. She shared a photo on instagram back in August 2012 where she edited the lyrics onto her back in two different fonts, trying to decide which she liked better.
Patty Griffin is one of her influences and musical idols. “Going to see Patty Griffin at the Ryman this evening. I may never come back down,” she tweeted before seeing her in concert in October 2013.
Noah Cyrus has a tattoo on her left forearm with the title of her favorite song by her dad, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. It says “Bluegrass state of mind” in large cursive letters.
Noah Cyrus has some of her own lyrics tattooed on her bicep. The cursive ink on her inner right arm says “I’ve been on fire lately” which comes from the chorus of her song “Lately” featuring her boyfriend Tanner Alexander.
When it comes to fans getting their own tattoos inspired by her music, she told NME:
You know what, I’m not, it’s your body, whatever you wanna get tattooed on your body, I’m getting song lyric tattoos, so I can’t say not to do that. But my reaction was like ‘oh my god! You may not love me forever. Are you sure you want that on your body?’
Chiara Ferragni has the inspirational quote “I swear I’ll never give in / I refuse” on the back of her upper left arm in her own handwriting. These lyrics come from the song “Best of You” by The Foo Fighters, who she described as “one of my forever favourite bands.” She wrote on her website The Blonde Salad:
It’s a sentence with such a big meaning to me, from one of my favourite songs, written so thin that it looks like it is only written by pen. I’ve been wanting this tattoo for months and in Los Angeles I finally made my decision and made it.
She got the tattoo in April 2012. It gives a strong message to always keep fighting even when faced with adversity. She told Glamour:
My favorite [tattoo] I got done on my last night in L.A. after Coachella by Dr. Woo, who is super good, and it’s in my handwriting; I just wrote it on paper.
Though that was back in 2013 when she only had five tattoos, so it might not be her favorite anymore.
