--- title: Justin Bieber's Tattoo Artist Explains Meaning of Face Ink description: Justin Bieber took to Instagram to share his brand new ink — a matching face tattoo of a cross that he got with best friend Joe Termini. canonical: https://time.com/4322795/justin-bieber-face-tattoo-reason/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-09T15:58:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:50:31.084Z og:title: This Is The Meaning Behind Justin Bieber's New Face Tattoo og:description: As explained by his tattoo artist, JonBoy og:url: https://time.com/4322795/justin-bieber-face-tattoo-reason/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d451732531a85ee/69889269cd1bbac6487009d5/justin-bieber-face-tattoo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Justin Bieber In Concert - 2016 Purpose World Tour - Los Angeles, CA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is The Meaning Behind Justin Bieber's New Face Tattoo twitter:description: As explained by his tattoo artist, JonBoy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d451732531a85ee/69889269cd1bbac6487009d5/justin-bieber-face-tattoo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Justin Bieber Gets a Face Tattoo In The Ultimate Act of Millennial Friendship > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=0524b99c-84ff-4c06-892a-56211bb8f5af&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Scooter Braun on Sticking With His Artists Through Tough Times [Watch (HLS stream): Scooter Braun on Sticking With His Artists Through Tough Times](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MkdWpnvM.m3u8) (3:46)  _Published 2015-10-12. The talent manager talks to TIME about staying grounded in the entertainment industry and guiding young stars to success_  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 9, 2016 3:58 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 9, 2016 3:58 PM UTC Forget friendship bracelets — apparently, face [tattoos](http://time.com/money/3974956/tattoo-millennials-hiring/) are the hip adornment for [millennial](http://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/) besties to share. Justin Bieber, [music world enfant terrible](http://time.com/4281839/justin-bieber-dreadlocks/) and body ink enthusiast, took to Instagram on Sunday to show off a brand new face tattoo that he allegedly got with BFF Joe Termini. The matching ink for Bieber and Termini are small cross tats placed just under their eyes. According to the tattoo artist responsible, Jonathan “JonBoy” Valena at West 4 Tattoo, the ink represents Bieber’s faith. “Justin came in last night and decided on a small cross near the corner of his eye,” Valena told [Us Magazine](http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/justin-biebers-face-tattoo-artist-explains-its-meaning-w205646). “It represents his journey in finding purpose with God.” Valena (who counts Bieber besties [Kylie Jenner](http://time.com/4081618/most-influential-teens-2015/) and Hailey Baldwin as clients) posted an Instagram with both Bieber and Termini at West 4 Tattoo on Sunday. The photo prominently features Bieber’s tattoo and also reveals that Valena has the same tattoo, although Termini’s ink is not visible in the picture. ## Transcript I didn't know this was gonna be my career path. I knew as I got older and I was reading about people in this area that I wanted to kind of follow that path and I felt like I could do it. I always compare it to like super heroes. I felt like I wasn't Superman. I wasn't born with it. But I could be Batman. [ MUSIC ] When people meet me they expect someone who's incredibly arrogant, someone who would run around and sleep around and is basically a douche bag. I want to show that you can be a successful entertainment executive, be a good husband, be a good father, be a good friend, be down to earth Be a good person and give back. I don't think anyone will remember me for it. But if I could push that message out there in the world and pass it on to my son, then I'm okay. What do you mean? [ MUSIC ] I think the first person who believed in me professionally, 100 %, was my dad. If I'm half the man my dad is, I'm gonna be okay. Every night before we went to bed, my dad would walk into our bedrooms and say, hey You know brawns are different. And after years of hearing brawns are different, brawns are different you start to believe that you can achieve things. Because I felt like everyone should be treated equally I was also never intimidated by anybody. Because I felt like they're not any better than me. I'm not any better than them. I should be able to have a conversation. Where are you now that I need you? When you're working with artists, you gotta be part of their journey. And you also have to strategically plan where they're going, but also make them comfortable with it. With Justin, the relationship with Scrillex and Diplo kind of showed me what it could be. I had a great conversation with Justin the other day, where we were saying How great is it that we made an amazing, amazing pop album. But, it's something that he loves too because he's not always the biggest fan of pop but he loves this album more than anything he's ever done because he feels like he pushes pop forward. [ MUSIC ] If you can help someone become a good young woman or a good young man, they have a better chance of surviving in this business. We tell our youth, hey, we want you to be successful, we want you to win. But the moment our youth win, we belittle their achievements and say you're too young, it's not real. Let's say Justin was 26 years old and we six number one albums, which we have. But he did it all before he was 18. He was 26 years old, you're probably saying one of the most credible, biggest artists in the world. And when you deal with people that have had a lot of success young and they've worked really hard for it and they're being told there's no credibility in what you've done because you're young, they start to rebel. If I'm gonna bring that person into this world at a young age, I have a responsiblity to them to help them get through the hard times. My dad actually gave me great advice about this. He said, Look, kids are going to **** up. And the people you represent are going to **** up in front of the entire world and it's going to be really, really hard. He goes, your job is to be a rock. When they turn that corner and they look for guidance on how to fix things, they're always going to turn to the rock. With my clients. As I've seen a couple of them now turn that corner. I find that our relationship is stronger than ever because when they look back, they know you care. And I don't think that has anything to do with business [ UNKNOWN ] I think that has just to be with family. It's you think you hang in there, for family, you don't give up. Sure you best, high to rest, I'm obviously a rest. Who will last the test of time? It's up to them. Once you get to the level a lot of them have gotten to, you only lose it mostly because of yourself. Your talent doesn't just disappear. What I always tell my acts is, no what ifs. I will give you every opportunity so there's no what ifs in your career. The rest is on you. 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