100% Melanie C - The ANGEL Tattoo...

The ANGEL Tattoo...

12th September 1998

When this one first appeared back in April, it caused no end of puzzlement because for quite some time there weren't any clear pictures of it, no-one had seen it close up, and Melanie herself hadn't mentioned it. Eventually, however, after much speculation as to what it said, the truth decided it had had enough of being out there, and decided to come inside to join the rest of us :-)

From The Sun, Tuesday 26th May:
"Sporty Spice Mel C has had 'Angel' tattoed on her tummy. She said: 'It really hurt - but it was worth it.'"

So, that answered the question "what?". The next question then became "why?". Again, we all had a damn good speculate about it, with various suggestions being made. But then Melanie spoiled our fun by telling us the answer...

"You know when you feel there's an angel watching over, you know, and like
recently I lost somebody very close to me, and it's just sort of like,
just to say, you know, I know you're there, kind of thing."

(The complete reply)

Now, although I understand this sentiment all too well, having gone through the same sort of experience myself, and therefore I can accept the tattoo as being more than just a piece of ink, that doesn't mean I have to like it. Because learning why she had it done hasn't changed my opinion of it one bit, I still dislike it intensely. Not sure I'd go so far as to say I hate it, but I'm fairly close.
Who knows, maybe I'll slowly grow to like it (or at least, not dislike it), in the same way that the cross has slowly lost it's unappeal. But whereas the cross has always had artistic merit in its favour, this one has nothing other than the reason for having it done, and I don't think that's enough.

Was that first tattoo real or not???

Compare this shot to the ones above... Even allowing for the higher quality of this picture, it still seems as if this isn't quite the same "ANGEL" tattoo that was present in the photos above - the shape of certain letters (particularly the A and G) seem just different enough for me to wonder if that first ANGEL was just a temporary thing, with this version being the final permanent one. And whether this guess is correct or not, either way at least it doesn't look like a quickly scrawled piece of handwriting anymore. Still don't like it, but it's less unlikable than it first seemed...

The final one...

From the July 1998 Loaded interview:

"I love me tattoos... Me last one, `Angel', was across my stomach. That's it. I don't want a new one..."

I was relieved to hear this at the time... but now she's just had another new tattoo done. So what happened to your "I don't want a new one" resolution, Melanie???