Doja Cat or Doja Bat?
The “Say So” singer shared Instagram photos Thursday showcasing her brand-new bat skeleton tattoo, which covers the entirety of her back.
Along with a series of snaps highlighting her fresh ink from multiple angles, Doja (born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini) shared a highlighted passage that shed light on its meaning.
“Bats often represent death in the sense of letting go of the old, and bringing in the new,” the text reads.
“They are symbols of transition, of initiation, and the start of a new beginning.”
Commented one follower, “the fact that she has to post the symbolic meaning so people won’t accuse her of devil worship is wild.”
They were referring to Doja’s last tattoo depicting a mythological figure, which the Grammy winner added to her arm in April.
After followers called the design “demonic” and accused Doja of “selling her soul,” she explained on Instagram that she discovered the artwork in the 1665 edition of Fortunio Liceti’s “De Monstris.”
According to the Public Domain Review, Liceti’s work addressed “deformities in nature” such as “pygmies, supposed mermaids, deformed fetuses, and other natural marvels.”
“Unlike many of his contemporaries Licenti did not see deformity as something negative, as the result of errors or failures in the course of nature. Instead he likened nature to an artist who, faced with some imperfection in the materials to be shaped, ingeniously creates another form still more admirable,” the org’s explanation reads.
Doja tagged Mr. K, a popular artist at celebrity-loved Bang Bang in New York City, to credit him with the new bat across her back.
The ink whiz — who’s also tattooed Justin and Hailey Bieber, Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner, Matt Damon and Rita Ora, to name but a few — shared a few photos from Doja’s session on his own Instagram, writing, “What a lovely piece and lady.”
