Whether acting, singing, or choosing tattoos Lady Gaga is always unique. Her eclectic collection of body art and tributes reflect her strength, individuality, love for music and care for those around her.
Gain insight into her choices of ink and Gaga’s reasons for choosing them.
Like Marilyn Monroe, alter ego of Norma Jean, Lady Gaga is a larger than life version of Stefani Germanotta. It’s fitting then that she almost exclusively sports tattoos on the left side of her body to represent the two sides of Lady Gaga.
The following article delves into the body art of Lady Gaga for insight into what makes one of the entertainment world’s most interesting celebrities tick.
How many tattoos does Lady Gaga have?
Lady Gaga hasn’t held back in any area of life, and this including her approach to tattoos. She sports no less than 24 different individual designs, almost all of them etched down the left-hand side of her body.
She’s done her best to honor her father’s wish that she “keep the crazy to one side.” Although, with limited canvas left to work with Lady Gaga’s body art pieces are slowly finding their way to the right.
David Bowie Portrait
One of Lady Gaga’s only traditional style tattoos is a touching tribute to the late David Bowie. Citing the Thin White Duke as her greatest inspiration she was even chosen to perform the Grammys tribute to him after his passing.
At the time of getting inked she tweeted, “This was the image that changed my life.” It’s an incredibly appropriate choice for Gaga as the portrait she chose is the rock icon’s alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.
The piece itself is based off David Bowie as he appears on the cover of his 1972 album Aladdin Sane. The original is visually striking: Bowie’s milky white skin contrasting against a bright red and blue lightning bolt, soft red eyeshadow and red tinged dark brown hair.
Lady Gaga has chosen to have the whole piece rendered in tasteful black and grey. The exclusion of color adds reverence to the piece. With his eyes shut there’s a visible pathos in his face that fits with the grief she feels for his passing.
The artist, Mark Mahoney, is famous for his single needle, black and gray, fine line style. Putting a signature spin on a portrait is art itself.
Trumpet Tattoo
One of her rare right side pieces, Gaga has a black ink trumpet etched on to the inside of her bicep.
Rose
Always in love with music, Lady Gaga’s first tattoo was a treble clef inked under a fake ID at age 17. For those not in the know; a treble clef is the symbol placed on every line of music to show the notes which are to be sung or played.
How is this related to roses you ask?
As the years went on Lady Gaga came to regret the ‘tramp stamp’ placement and decided on a cover up. She settled on black and gray sketch style rose bushes extending from the treble clef on her spine across the left side of her lower back and hip. The design was created by the legendary Kat Von D who Gaga chose for her feminine style of application.
Gaga continued in this vein with the addition of a single needle, fine line, single stem rose which went up her spine with the script “la vie en rose” on alternating sides.
“La Vie En Rose” is the song that her character is singing in “A Star Is Born” when she meets Bradley Cooper’s character. It’s also the song she was singing when he realized she was right for the role in real life. As such, it has a special meaning for her.
Musical Notes Ink
The treble clef experience didn’t dim her love for music related ink. Gaga now has a musical notes and line tattoo on the inside of her right forearm.
Born This Way Unicorn
Lady Gaga is the poster child for free self-expression. She is unapologetic about being herself and has a legion of fans who love her for it, many of them part the LGBT community. This tattoo was her way of honoring those fans and commemorating her most famous album. The design itself is an absolute classic. It’s bold outlines, single color highlights of aqua marine with an American Traditional style banner that says “born this way”.
Lady Gaga’s tattoos generally lean in the minimalist direction – this piece is no different. There is no black and gray shading, the skin is filled in mostly with mostly negative space. The symbolism of the unicorn doubles down on the message of uniqueness, ably complementing the words.
Rainer Maria Rilke quote
Gaga has a quite from the poet tattooed on her right inner bicep, inked in German Script. The words translate to:
“In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?”
Tribute to Fans, Dad, Friendship, and Strength
On her left shoulder and upper back Lady Gaga has an old school ‘Dad in Heart’ tribute to her father, and a trio of daisies. Just above these are the handwritten words, Tokyo Love, etched by Japanese modern artist Noroyushi Araki.
Directly below her dad tattoo is the sexual abuse survivor symbol. Gaga performed the Oscar nominated song she co-wrote for documentary The Hunting Ground on stage with a group of sexual abuse survivors, and was moved to commemorate her experience with ink.
Gaga also has an awesome tribute to her legion of fans. It’s a manicured hand covered in lace and beads making a monster paw, the accepted symbol for membership of the Gaga hive.
She also has another couple of other pieces dedicated to fans, including a large ‘Mother Monster’ piece on her ribs, and ‘Little Monsters’ on the inside of her left arm.
Tributes to Joanne
Both Gaga and her father Joe got a tribute to his inspirational sister Joanne – inked in her own handwriting – in tribute. Joanne died at just 19. Gaga also has a tattoo commemorating the date of Joanne’s death: 12/18/1974
Cherub
While it’s rarely seen, Gaga has a bad ass chreub tattoo on the back of her head, etched in shades of black and gray.
Peace Symbol
Another one of her minimalist pieces Gaga has a peace symbol – purported to be a tribute reference to John Lennon – tattooed on the inside of her left wrist.
Artpop
Gaga has a very small script tattoo of her album Artpop etched on to her left arm, mid way along.