Tattoos don’t seem to be Taylor Swift’s style. While she has incorporated fake tattoos into her marketing—like when she sported a stunning mosaic of butterflies and snakes on her back to promote You Need to Calm Down—it appears she’s never committed to getting a real one. At least, not any visible ones. In a 2012 interview with Taste of Country, Swift shared her thoughts on tattoos, saying, “People are always asking like, ‘Would you get a tattoo?’ and I don’t think I could ever commit. I don’t think I could ever commit to something permanent… I don’t want to get a tattoo.”
Of course, over a decade has passed since that interview, so it’s possible Swift’s views have changed. Plus, she once hinted that she could have secret tattoos in a Lucky magazine interview. When discussing her habit of hiding her midriff, Swift joked that it would be the perfect spot for a hidden tattoo. “As far as anyone knows based on my public appearances, they haven’t seen evidence of a belly button,” she said, teasing the idea. “It could be pierced. They have no idea. If I’m going to get some sort of massive tattoo, it’s going to be right next to my belly button because no one’s ever going to see that.”
Though she’s never gone under the needle, Swift has sung about tattoos in her music. In the 2010 track “Ours” from her Speak Now album, she drops a hint that she may have inherited her aversion to tattoos from her father, singing, “And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored ’cause my heart is yours.” By the time she released Reputation in 2017, Swift was using tattoos more positively, as in the track “Dress,” where she croons, “Make your mark on me, a golden tattoo.”
In her 2024 release “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift once again touches on tattoos, this time in a playful way. She sings, “You smoked, then ate seven bars of chocolate. We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist… I scratch your head, you fall asleep. Like a tattooed golden retriever.” Fans speculate that the song might be about Matty Healy, whom Swift briefly dated before getting involved with NFL star Travis Kelce. Whether or not Healy is the subject of the song is still up for debate, but it’s clear that Swift continues to associate tattoos with more rebellious traits, like smoking, which might explain why she has yet to get one herself.
