Is Halsey's New Tattoo A Message To Her Ex? Or Just A Note From Her SNL Performance?

Halsey got some new ink, and there’s more to it than meets the eye.

The singer appeared on Saturday Night Live this weekend to perform with Lil Wayne on a rendition of his Tha Carter V track “Can’t Be Broken.” She took to social media right after to document the evening: first on Instagram, where she posted a photo with Lil Wayne, then on Twitter, where she shared a first look at her new tattoo...along with some backstory.

“‘On my Libra scale I’m weighin sins and forgiveness,’” she wrote, quoting both a Lil Wayne lyric from his song “She Will” and part of the line she inked on her arm.

While the tattoo was out of sight underneath an oversized leather jacket, Halsey apparently took the stage with a memento of her lifelong fandom. “Got this yatted [sic] by @jonboytattoo seconds before walking onstage,” she wrote.

But there’s more. The tweet continued, “Thanks for writing this one out for me @LilTunechi” — the tattoo, a small sketch of a balanced scale with the words “sins” and “forgiveness” on either side, was presumably scripted in Lil Wayne’s own handwriting.

“#libragang,” Halsey added, referencing both her and Lil Wayne’s astrological sign. Along with the line’s thematic harmony — the push and pull between committing sins and granting forgiveness — the scale, too, is an homage to the stars.

The tattoo, though, might not just be a thoughtful tribute to an iconic artist. It could also be Halsey’s way of calling out past and recent pain in her life, including her tumultuous on-and-off relationship with rapper G-Eazy since 2017.

It wouldn’t be an unexpected move — both in her work and online, Halsey’s been candid about their relationship before. The pair broke up again late last month, and she had tweeted a similar thought shortly after reports of their split were made public. “@ me: life is not pain vs happiness. one does not replace the other. they exist together,” she wrote. Her tweet thread ended with a note-to-self to keep that mantra in mind moving forward — and this tattoo might just be her way of keeping true to that promise.