--- title: Rock Singer's New Harry Styles Face Tattoo Raises Eyebrows description: Rock singer Kelsy Karter debuted a new song called "Harry" and a new tattoo on her cheek — featuring the face of Harry Styles. canonical: https://time.com/5514737/harry-styles-tattoo/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-28T19:52:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T01:09:02.000Z og:title: This Face Tattoo of Harry Styles Is a Big Compliment If Real og:description: Rock star Kelsy Karter debuted some distinctive new ink on her cheek og:url: https://time.com/5514737/harry-styles-tattoo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Face Tattoo of Harry Styles Is a Big Compliment If Real twitter:description: Rock star Kelsy Karter debuted some distinctive new ink on her cheek twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Face Tattoo of Harry Styles Is the Ultimate Compliment if It's Real  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 13, 2023 1:09 AM UTCPublished: Jan 28, 2019 7:52 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 13, 2023 1:09 AM UTCPublished: Jan 28, 2019 7:52 PM UTC Kelsy Karter must really be into the musical stylings of [Harry Styles](http://time.com/5062206/harry-styles-james-corden-baby/). So much so, in fact, that the indie rock star appears to have gotten a likeness of the former [One Direction](http://time.com/4794745/niall-horan-one-direction-billboard/) singer’s face tattooed directly on her cheek. Appropriately, she also just released a song called “Harry.” Karter, who hails from New Zealand, is known for her rebellious rock ‘n’ roll-meets-pop sound. In the new song, which she dropped on Friday, she makes a number of lightly veiled references to the popular former boy bander; her adoration for him is [well-documented.](https://i-d.vice.com/en%5Fau/article/qvmjjd/kelsy-karter-rockstar-zayn-sad-sad-summer) But it still came as a surprise to many fans when Karter posted a photo of her face on Instagram over the weekend, showing off a closeup of her new Styles cheek ink alongside Los Angeles tattoo artist [Romeo Lacoste](http://www.romeolacoste.com/). By Thursday, however, Karter shared a YouTube video documenting the tattoo as an attempt to “cut through the noise” and get noticed. “What would the rock legends that inspired me have done in 2019?” she asks in the video, showing the process of getting the fake ink. Karter follows in the footsteps of famous rock stars like Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne and Van Halen who would perform wild publicity stunts to promote their work, from appearing [naked in public](https://www.digitalmicdrop.com/2016/10/13/naked-rock-star-inspired-marketing-blog/) to eating [a live bat](https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/kyle-munson/2016/01/20/everything-you-need-know-ozzy-osbourne-biting-head-off-bat-des-moines/79055858/). And face tattoos have become more popular of late, with stars like [Post Malone](http://time.com/4596550/5-songs-you-need-to-listen-to-this-week-2/item/leave-post-malone/) liberally applying permanent ink to their faces. Looks like Karter is just the latest artist to make a bold choice as she seeks to make her mark in music. But only time will tell if she also attracts the attention of Styles, with whom she’s expressed a desire to work. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5514737/harry-styles-tattoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5514737/harry-styles-tattoo/"},"headline":"This Face Tattoo of Harry Styles Is the Ultimate Compliment if It's Real","datePublished":"2019-01-28T19:52:16.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T01:09:02.000Z","description":"Kelsy Karter isn't afraid of a bold statement","url":"https://time.com/5514737/harry-styles-tattoo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5514737/harry-styles-tattoo/","name":"This Face Tattoo of Harry Styles Is the Ultimate Compliment if It's Real"}}]}] ```