Are Rihanna’s New Tattoos Real?

Sexy Barbadian pop icon Rihanna is no stranger to the world of tattoos, already known for her collection of cute, girly tats inked on her ears, hip, back and hands, among other places.  However she surprised celeb watchers this week when pictures of her holidaying in Brazil showed her with some new and seemingly out of character designs on show.

These pictures show a large dagger design on her inner forearm, and the words “THUG LIFE” across her knuckles.  Some have, somewhat unkindly, described these new additions as “huge and gross”, but one can’t help likening the knuckle art to your stereotypical prison tattoo – if these tats are real she may as well have love “LOVE” and “HATE” (or “LUV” and “HÃT”, channeling Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons).  As for the dagger, it is rather on the large side, and compared with her existing dainty cutesy stars and astrological symbols seems a pretty weird choice, and it definitely has that “number 173 off the poster” look about it.

So, is Rihanna trying to crack the biker market, or going for some kind of fierce ex con image?  Personally I can’t see California King Bed being a great floor filler at a Hell’s Angels rally, and while “whips and chains” may very well excite her, I just can’t picture this pop princess as being remotely dangerous. Temporary henna tattoos are a popular thing for people on beach holidays in Brazil to get done, if a little lame, so we can only hope that it was all just a misguided attempt at fun after a few too many mojitos.

Rather than prison chic (if such a thing exists), Rihanna’s tattoo collection is very much at the girly end of the spectrum, with each of the 13 (not counting the new candidates) spread around her body carrying a personal meaning.  She has her best friend’s birthday in Roman numerals on her left shoulder, a musical note on one of her ankles (because all pop stars have to have a music related tattoo by law now), and her star sign of Pisces behind her ear.  Slightly more interesting is the design on her hand which supposedly originally started out as a guitar, but which matches a tattoo Chris Brown has.  She also got a tattoo of a handgun on her ribcage during the period when allegations that her relationship with Chris Brown had turned violent and abusive, the symbolic meaning of which she has never explained.

The closest thing to the new knuckle tattoos that Rihanna had before were some words on the inside of her fingers.  She has the word “Love” in delicate italics on the middle finger of each hand, and the word “Shhhh” on her index finger (you know, so when she goes “Shhhh” you see the word “Shhhh”…). So maybe her taste isn’t about the Sideshow Bob look after all…

Henna tattoos only last a few weeks, so it should become clear in due course whether these new tattoos are real or not. We’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled.