A Rather Disturbing Comparison

While listening to the radio at work today, I heard what could potentially be one of the most terrifying comparisons I have ever encountered. The song is Jordin Sparks' "Tattoo", in which a woman compares her lover to a tattoo on her heart.

Now, at first this seems like a relatively nice, straightforward comment: you can tell that she is trying to say that he will be there forever, no matter what, which is kinda nice. Similar to the "handprint on my heart" line from Wicked, except nowhere near as cute and heartwarming.

Anyway, for some reason the metaphor really bothered me, and I don't know why; the only thing I could think of is that the imagery was kinda gross (a tattoo on someone's heart doesn't exactly bring up warm, fuzzy images). However, after thinking about the metaphor for a bit, I realized there are some some pretty disturbing, messed up things that could be implied about the lover through this comparison- some messed up things that may have really been on Jordin Sparks' mind. If these are considered when listening to the song, it could take on a pretty disturbing tone
(which, in my opinion would actually make the song better, but that's a matter of opinion)



First of all, a tattoo is created by someone repeatedly stabbing a needle in to you for an extended period of time, this is painful, and results in swelling, scabbing and peeling for a while after it is done. Sparks could, therefore, be implying that it's like someone stabbed a needle into her heart a bunch of times, after which it swelled up and started scabbing; a rather gruesome image indeed.

Secondly, there is the fact that tattoo artists have to be very careful to keep up proper safety standards to ensure that you do not contract an STD from dirty needles. So, she could be implying that, when with her lover, Sparks had to be careful in order to avoid contracting a disease from him.

However, my favourite interpretation comes from the fact that getting rid of a tattoo costs a lot of money. This could imply that Sparks intends to hire a hit man to kill her ex, and is lamenting about how expensive it is to get rid of him- just like a tattoo. This is my personal favourite interpretation. Especially if you consider that tattoos are removed using lasers- so this could be a futuristic, science fiction universe in which Jordin Sparks hires a laser beam-wielding hitman to kill off her ex.

So, long story short, perhaps the seemingly crappy song "tattoo" deserves some extra consideration- all you have to do is interpret the metaphor a little bit differently than it would conventionally be interpreted, and you have an exciting, dark tale.I mean Jordin Sparks does have a bit of murder in her eyes... just look at 'er.