Ariana Grande Debuts a New Tattoo With a Not-So-Secret Reference

Ariana Grande is a certified lover girl. Her expansive back catalog and latest album Petal are testament to that. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and more physically, in the ink that decorates her body. Her new tattoo says it all without having to say much: “I do love you.”

The pop star debuted her latest piece of body art during the first of the 10 nights on her Eternal Sunshine tour in London—her first UK show since 2019. Written in script, “I do love you” sits just on her collarbone. It is thought to match a tattoo of Ricky Álvarez: the dancer, photographer, and former boyfriend who Grande recently got back together with. His is written in a more three-dimensional script, but sits in a similar place on his chest.

Álvarez—who was a back-up dancer on the singer’s Honeymoon tour—and Grande dated between 2015 and 2016. He is referenced—alongside her previous partners Big Sean, Mac Miller, and Pete Davidson—in her 2019 hit song “thank u, next”: “wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh.” Rumors began circulating over the last few months that they had rekindled their relationship. In June, Álvarez was spotted at Grande’s birthday concert in Austin, Texas. The pair had been seen hand-in-hand in New York City together and began publicly commenting on each other’s social media posts. During one recent performance in Brooklyn, Grande changed the lyrics of “thank u, next”: “Wrote some songs about Ricky, we always find our way back.”

Grande and Álvarez became Instagram official this week and seemed to confirm their reunion with a photo dump that featured several mirror selfies of them embracing. One slide also featured a close up shot of a page with “I do love you” written in blue ink—a hint at what was to come.

Grande has up to 75 documented tattoos, the first a small heart above her toe which she had done when she was 18. Spread across her body, there’s a mix of dainty and intricate fine-line pieces and bolder scenes: a large image of the character Chihiro from Spirited Away on her forearm, album title R.E.M. behind her ear, H2GKMO (an acronym of “Honest to God, Keep Moving”) on her hand. Several tattoos pay tribute to significant people in her life, including a “for good” tattoo in reference to Wicked which she shares with Cynthia Erivo and an “E” for Erivo’s character Elphaba.

Besides body art, beauty and glam are a huge part of Ariana Grande’s storytelling: both personally and as a pop star. Within the two-hour show, Grande’s glam team, Michael Anthony and Alyx Liu, also join her onstage.

“This show, and everything that I do, would be incomplete without them,” Grande previously told Vogue in an exclusive interview. “Makeup and hair are such an enormous piece of storytelling, for both music and acting. [I wanted them to be a part of the show] because my art is nothing without theirs.” After three years as a blonde for Wicked, Grande went back to a shade of honey brunette late last year in time for tour. Across the show, she has also returned to her famous and signature high pony, which Liu alternately styles into a scrunchied ballerina bun and long and loose throughout the show.

Last night, Grande changed the lyrics in “thank u, next” once again: “Wrote some songs about Ricky, we don’t talk about that.” A clavicle-caressing tattoo debuted on one of the world’s most prominent stages to around 20,000 people is, still, quite the statement.