Halsey recently told Glamour that her job is to “make art, not headlines.” But with her newest tattoo, she’s managed to do both. While in Adelaide, Australia, the “Without Me” singer added to her 20-plus tattoo collection with a very sizable piece inked down the side of her torso. The design? A minimal-meets-trash-polka portrait of ... Marilyn Manson’s face.
The singer proudly showed off the work, penned by tattoo artist Celia Dunne, in an Instagram post captioned, “adelaide today. absolutely obsessed. Manson by mega babe @celiadunne_tattoos”
A similar post by the singer on Twitter ignited a hellscape of confusion, with many fans mistaking the name "Manson" to represent cult leader and convicted murderer Charles Manson. Halsey was quick to clear up any misunderstanding, tweeting, “Marilyn. Not Charles. Sheeesh lol.”
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But even after the clarification, followers on social media didn’t quite know what to make of the new ample design. Some praised the ink on Twitter, commenting, “this is honestly 100000% goals,” while others showed surprise by her display of fandom. “You don’t even follow him ?,” one wrote. Still others were flat-out bewildered by Halsey's choice, given Manson’s sometimes violent, misogynist lyrics and past allegations of abuse and harassment against him (some of which were dropped).
No matter how much the tattoo has people talking, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at all. Last fall, Halsey was seen performing in a button-up shirt adorned with Manson’s image. And last month, the singer turned to another musical influence when adding a neck tattoo to her collection. (The design? “I’m a loser baby,” lyrics from the 1994 Beck song.) If three makes a trend, we're interested to see what music-inspired ink she chooses next. If her latest SNL performance is any indication, something tells us a G-Easy homage is off the table.