Ariana Grande is having a rough week. The international pop star should be celebrating her new single “7 Rings.” It debuted as the top track in many countries and the fun music video has been the year’s first viral hit.
So, why are we boohooing on Grande’s behalf? It’s because she’s being roasted for screwing up her Japanese kanji tattoo.
Grande is a self-proclaimed lover of everything Japanese and she’s been spending time learning the language. To celebrate “7 Rings,” she decided to get the kanji tattooed on her palm — which was a big mistake.
Her music video features the kanji “七つの指輪,” which translates to nanatsu no yubiwa or 7 rings. Instead, her tattoo reads “七輪.” That’s a charcoal grill.
After proudly sharing the ink on Instagram (which has been deleted), Grande was met with roasts and memes. Like, how could she make that mistake when the same kanji is in her video? Grande tried to explain that she left the middle three kanji out because the tattoo session hurt too much.
The negative feedback must have annoyed Grande because she attempted to fix it — and made it worse.
It’s as nonsensical in Japanese as it is in English. Now, Grande should have got the first tattoo lasered off, but this is way more fun.