Epic Fail: Ariana Grande's New Japanese Tattoo Doesn't Mean What She Thinks It Means
Bright side? She says she's a "huge fan of tiny BBQ grills."
When planning to get a tattoo in a foreign language, you should probably get it double-checked before getting it. Or you could learn this lesson the hard way, as Ariana Grande did with her unfortunately spelled Japanese tattoo. Scroll on to read about the Ariana Grande Japanese tattoo.
Ariana Grande Japanese Tattoo: Intent vs. Execution
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard Ariana's latest hit "7 Rings", a tongue-in-cheek bop about female friendships and materialism. The song quickly made its way up to the top of worldwide charts, and to celebrate the song's success, Ari decided to get a tattoo to commemorate it.
Her tattoo was supposed to spell "7 Rings" in kanji, but after posting the photo on Instagram (it's now been deleted), the internet was quick to inform her that her tattoo actually translates to "shichirin" or "barbecue grill".
Ariana Grande’s new tattoo “七輪” means Japanese style bbq grill, not 7 rings. ? If you want to know about 七輪, just google “SHICHIRIN” pic.twitter.com/HuQM2EwI62
— *amo* (@hey__amo) January 30, 2019
But the thing is, Ariana knew the correct Japanese spelling of "7 rings". In fact, it even appeared at the beginning of her single's music video:
In now-deleted tweets, Ariana explained that she decided not to use all of the characters as "it hurt like f*ck and still looks tight. I wouldn't have lasted one more symbol lmao. But this spot also peels a ton and won't last so if I miss it enough, I'll suffer through the whole thing next time."
"Also.... huge fan of tiny bbq grills," she added.
This explanation didn't sit well with a lot of netizens, who called Ariana out for cultural appropriation.
Another reason why I can't listen to Ariana Grande's music: language is an aesthetic in her world. Also, the top of your foot is more painful & I've still seen people get a full color tat there so that's the worst excuse I've heard for getting a half assed crappy tattoo but okay. pic.twitter.com/mSMSMxLahd
— Lynn | Just waiting on new Ryeowook selfies? (@RyeowooksThighs) January 30, 2019
ariana stans: ariana has a deep appreciation for the japanese language and culture and has been studying it for years
ariana: gets a tattoo that says bbq instead of 7 rings— morgi 22 (@renminluvr) January 30, 2019
In Ariana's defense, it's not like she didn't do her research. The character 七 does translate to "seven", and 輪 does translate to "wheel" or "ring", but together, they mean something else completely.
Though omitting the three characters for aesthetic and comfort wasn't the wisest decision, Ari seems to be genuinely interested in Japanese culture, and has even been taking Japanese language classes for a few years now.
Ari seems genuinely mortified about her boo-boo, posting a series of photos of herself with her hands covering her face.
As for her tattoo, she's already made plans to correct it. On Instagram stories, she posted a conversation with her Japanese tutor about what she could do to fix her mistake. "We have a plan," she said, tagging her tattoo artist Kane Navasard. "See you tonight. Thankful for the guidance and correction."
UPDATE: She's "fixed" it.
"Slightly better," she wrote. "Thanks to my tutor for helping me fix and to [Kane Navasard] for being a legend. And to my doctor for the lidocaine shots (no joke). RIP tiny charcoal grill. Miss you man. I actually really liked you."
But it STILL doesn't mean what Ari thinks it means.
Unfortunately, Ariana didn't put the new character above and between the first two characters, as her tutor advised. So now, instead of reading "seven finger circle" (or "seven rings"), it now just reads "Japanese BBQ finger <3".
Why... how... now Ariana’s tattoo reads “Japanese BBQ finger” ? pic.twitter.com/zC2LxSKJtI
— Eimi Yamamitsu | 山光瑛美 (@eimiyamamitsu) January 31, 2019
You tried, Ari. You tried.
Despite these unfortunately funny mishaps, I just wanted to shout my respect to Ari, her tutor & all Japanese learners! As someone who learned Japanese at home, I know how learning/teaching this language(or any language really) can be SO?DAMN?HARD. But it’s definitely worth it.
— Eimi Yamamitsu | 山光瑛美 (@eimiyamamitsu) January 31, 2019
But perhaps the lesson we should learn from this is that you shouldn't make other cultures your aesthetic, or it'll bite you in the ass.
What do you think about the Ariana Grande Japanese tattoo debacle? Was it cultural appropriation, or appreciation gone wrong?
READ: These Gorgeous Alibata Tattoos Will Make You Want To Get Inked