Selena Gomez's Tattoo Artist Shares Close-up Photo of Her Massive New Back Tattoo
Two weeks after she stepped out with some new ink, Selena Gomez's tattoo artist is giving fans an up-close look at the singer's massive back tattoo. On Tuesday, Gomez's celebrity tattoo artist Keith Scott "Bang Bang" McCurdy shared the first full image of the stunning new piece: a pink rose with a black stem and shading that appears to be dripping down her back.
McCurdy, who is based out of New York, where Gomez is currently filming the second season of her hit Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, shared the image on Instagram. Although he didn't offer many details on the piece, he captioned the snapshot, "watercolor on [Selena Gomez]. Thank you for always being wonderful." In the image, Gomez has her back to the camera, her short bob parted down the middle to reveal the new ink between her shoulder blades.
The reveal comes just two weeks after photographs first surfaced of the tattoo. When Gomez stepped out in New York City on Dec. 15, the back tattoo was on full display as she wore an all-black ensemble. In a black-and-white photo shared by McCurdy, Gomez stood in an empty room, her fresh tattoo just barely visible to the camera. Gomez herself has not yet commented on the piece, and the possible significance of it remains unclear.
The tattoo appears to be Gomez's largest. The singer and actress has a total of 16 tattoos decorating her body, according to Page Six. The Disney Channel alum received her first tattoo in 2012 when she got a tiny black music note inked on her wrist. In an interview with Access Hollywood at the time, Gomez said she got the tattoo because "music is a big influence in my life. I was named after a singer, I'm a singer and a lot of other personal reasons. So, that's what I got."
In the years since getting her first tattoo, Gomez has continued to place new ink on her skin. The 19-year-old also has the word "Rare" on her neck, a nod to her album of the same name, an ampersand she got with the cast of 13 Reasons Why, an Arabic phrase that means "love yourself first," and the Roman numerals "LXXVI" on her neck for the year her mom was born. Gomez also recently had inked a small cross on her collarbone, telling Vogue in March, "I'm very, very spiritual. I believe in God, but I'm not religious. I've been a Christian for a while now. I don't talk about it too much – I want to, but it's gotten a bad rep. I just want to make it clear that I love being able to have my faith and believe in what I believe in and that truly is what gets me through."