Tattoo artist Bang Bang shares details on how Gomez's latest tattoo came to be.
Selena Gomez got a meaningful new tattoo!
Celebrity tattoo artist Bang Bang, owner of Bang Bang Tattoo in New York City, tells ET that the 28-year-old "Baila Conmigo" singer visited his parlor last Sunday for her newest ink; a small cross on her collarbone. Gomez was accompanied by a group of friends when she got the tattoo.
"She loved it. No pressure though, right?” Bang Bang jokes. "It’s right on her collarbone where everyone will see. It’s a couple straight lines and it looks easy. But I was sweating."
Before getting this cross, Bang Bang says Gomez texted him that she was thinking of getting another tattoo. The artist has done about eight to 10 tattoos for Gomez over the years that are "hidden throughout her body." Among those include her "rare" neck tattoo and a back tattoo with an Arabic phrase.
"She told me she was filming in NY and was here for a couple more weeks,” Bang Bang shares. “She thought she maybe wanted something big. I get this a lot. I showed her a couple [cross] designs that were larger and photoshopped them onto her body. We did a bunch of renderings imposed on different body parts."
Ultimately, Gomez -- who is filming her Hulu series, Only Murders in the Building in the city -- settled on a smaller design. And like this cross tattoo, Bang Bang explains that a majority of the tattoos he has given her have been spiritually related. The last tattoo he gave Gomez, before the cross, was praying hands and was much larger. Gomez showed off the ink in November of 2019.
"Tattoos are a really deeply emotional thing,” Bang Bang explains. "When someone gets a tattoo that’s in any way religious, I don’t even need to ask. I know that this tattoo is giving them power, and I like to be part of that."
Bang Bang says that while sometimes a tattoo experience is a healing one, the experience can also be like a party, adding that this experience with Gomez was one. And when it comes to pain, he says that Gomez is a trooper.
"A collarbone is a little more sensitive than some other areas on the body,” he adds. "But she’s tough and never makes a peep.”
Regarding plans to work with the former Disney Channel star in the future, Bang Bang teases that he may design something else for her very soon.
For more on Gomez' newest work -- including her recent Spanish EP, Revelación and Rare Beauty line -- see below.
Reporting by JoeJoe Corral.
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