Ariana Grande wanted to celebrate her 7 Rings single by getting the phrase tattooed on her palm in Japanese. It did not end well. But what did her tattoo actually say?
Instead of “7 Rings” Ariana Grande’s tattoo reads “Small Charcoal Grill”. This was due to some missing kanji characters. In an attempt to fix the mistake, the tattoo now reads “Small Charcoal Grill Finger”.
Grande’s Small Charcoal Grill
The small charcoal grill or shichirin is a small portable, charcoal-fueled grill that originated in Japan. It was noted to have been used since the Edo era, around 1603 AD, and was usually made out of ceramic. (Source: Cookeryaki)
If written in kanji, shichirin is a combination of seven and rings or 七輪. Upon the release of Ariana Grande’s hit 7 Rings, she had this kanji tattooed on her left palm, without knowing that two kanji characters together wouldn’t mean seven rings.
When Grande tweeted her new tattoo on Twitter, many fans who read and understood kanji were quick to call out that her tattoo didn’t mean seven rings. The correct kanji spelling for Grande’s song was supposed to read out 七つの指輪, and it was shown in the song’s official music video.
Before deleting her tweets, Grande did acknowledge that there were missing characters on her tattoo. She tweeted that the tattoo hurt, and she wouldn’t have taken the pain if another character had been added. She said that the skin on the palms peels more than any other body part, and the tattoo should be gone. (Source: The Guardian)
In less than 24 hours, Grande tried to fix the tattoo with her Japanese tutor; however, she wasn’t able to have her tattoo artist follow the exact advice of her tutor. The tutor told her to add the kanji character for finger, 指, above and between her existing tattoo. However, another character was added below, now making it read Japanese barbeque grill finger. (Source: Entertainment)
The Story Behind 7 Rings
Grande’s 7 Rings have been open to several interpretations. But the story behind the hit song was related to numerous events that happened to Grande’s life and how her friends helped her through it. Grande claims that the song is more of a friendship anthem, a flex, how the homies want you to feel.
The song borrows The Sound of Music’s My Favorite Things melody. The song is about seven rings Grande bought in Tiffany & Co. for her and six of her friends when her engagement with Pete Davidson, a comedian, actor, and producer, in 2018.
According to Grande in her interview with Billboard magazine, Grande and her friends were on a retail therapy session or shopping. They went to the famous jewelry store and got drunk over the served champagne while they waited. She ended up buying seven engagement rings, one for each seven of them present that day. (Source: Elle)
Other Celebrities with Misspelled Tattoos
Grande was not the only celebrity with a misspelled tattoo. Here are a few other artists who had a similar experience.
Rihanna
Her neck tattoo, Rebelle Fleur, means rebellious flower when directly translated from French as two separate words. But when translated as a phrase, it means rebel flower.
Orlando Bloom
Bloom had the name of his son Flynn in morse code. However, fans who knew how to read morse soon pointed out that the tattoos spelled Frynn.
Christina Aguilera
Aguilera’s Hebrew tattoo was supposed to read JB, the initials of her then-husband Jordan Bratman. Fans explained that her tattoo actually meant the number 12. (Source: Insider)