Unfortunately, the Japanese symbol tattoo ended up being the butt of many jokes and even some serious criticism.
The tattoo was inspired by her new hit song "7 Rings", using the same Japanese Kanji symbols that appear in the music video.
The symbols used in the music video’s title card — "七つの指輪" — translate to mean "7 Rings". However, the tattoo cut out three of the main characters, changing the meaning of the phrase completely.
Separately, the two symbols mean "seven" (七) and “ring” (輪). But when you put them together they mean "shichirin" — which is a small BBQ.
Naturally, Twitter went OFF. Mainly because people were upset with Ariana for using Japanese culture, without understanding it, for "aesthetic".
Now, Ariana has attempted to fix the issue. While she initially came out and said she wasn't upset about the mistake, she has now posted a photo of her new tattoo, and a conversation she had with her Japanese tutor to make sure she got it right this time.
But boy did it go wrong.
Ariana posted a photo of the 'fixed' tattoo, showing the new symbols. Unfortunately, the symbol her tutor told her to add wasn't supposed to be placed directly under the character for seven.
When Japanese writing is read vertically from top to bottom, it’s also read right to left. The new symbol should have been added above the original tattoo.
But, because it was added under the seven (七), making it read as "輪♡七指" vertically... It doesn't make sense. People would most likely still read it from left to right, which would be 七輪指♡.
Ariana captioned the pic, "slightly better. thanks to my tutor for helping me fix ... rip tiny charcoal grill. miss u man. i actually really liked u."
Well, Ari, you still have it. Now it's just with a random floating finger.
