Adam Levine is our modern day version of the rock star. The lead singer for Maroon 5 turned TV host on The Voice not only sounds the part but looks it as well, with a body full of tattoos and a supermodel on his arm in pregnant wife, Behati Prinsloo. Recently, Adam has been accused of sexting a series of women, which some would say is the prerequisite for being a contemporary music icon. In a public apology, Adam admitted to using “poor judgement” and claimed he did not have an affair. “Nevertheless, I crossed the line during a regrettable period of my life,” he added.
While Adam does damage control, let’s take a closer look at his aforementioned body art. Perhaps we can find some insight into the current drama by examining the meanings behind his ink. While doing so, it’s important to keep in mind Adam recently trolled fans with a fake face tattoo, so we don’t want to fall for that again! In case you missed it, in December 2021, the “Moves Like Jagger” hitmaker cleared up any misunderstanding when he showed up to an event with a black rose on his temple! “This message is for my mother,” he wrote on his Instagram Story at the time. “I do not have a tattoo on my face. Those who know me know I’m too vain. I’m too f**king vain to get a tattoo on my face.”
Let’s take a deep dive, below!
Dove
The 43-year-old heartthrob was only 21 when he decided to first get some body art. The image is a dove on his upper right bicep. “This was my first tattoo,” he told People in 2013. “I was 21. It was five days after 9/11. I felt this needed to say something with this peaceful thing on my body.”
Ocean Waves
By the time Adam got to his lower body, he was ready to use the whole canvas! In video posted to his Instagram in March 2021, Adam sat for 13 hours over three days to have Japanese-style waves inked onto his entire left leg. Five months later, the daring artist went back to get the other leg inked up to match!
“California”
Adam, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, has one of his most prominent tattoos on his stomach in the form of the word “California.” The word stretched over his navel. To drive home the point of his Southern California love, Adam also has the word “Los Angeles” on his upper right bicep. “Simple case of hometown love,” he told People. “Not many people were born and raised in L.A. Gotta wear that badge of pride.”
Mermaid/Siren
Perhaps even more obvious than his leg waves tattoos in the massive design etched into his back. According to Adam’s Instagram post featuring the image of a mermaid/siren cradling a skull in her arms as a ship approaches, this was a six-month work in progress between him and Bryan Randolph of Spider Murphy’s Tattoo in California. Adam thanked Bryan for, “absolutely blowing my mind with this one!”
Tiger
In throwback snaps, Adam can be seen rocking a tiger tattoo on his right bicep and forearm long before he added any other ink in that area. “This was inspired by my love of this amazing book of Tibetan drawings,” he told the outlet.
Shark
“I’ve always had a strange fascination with sharks. I actually think they are the most fascinating creatures on Earth,” he detailed to People in 2013. “I guess the tattoo had something to do with that.” The shark is featured on his right side ribcage.
“True Love”
In 2017, Adam took to his Instagram to share a photo of himself grabbing his wife’s rear. On his fingers were the letters to spell out “true love.” It was quite a surprise as he said hands and legs were off limit back in 2013. “I don’t do below the waist. You can’t do the hands, that’s sacred too, that’s what you make things with, I’m tied to my hands. I just can’t do hands,” he told People at the time.
Butterfly In Spiderweb
All eyes on usually on Adam’s face when is performing, so one of the more noticeable tattoos is the large butterfly in a spider web on the front of his neck. After Facebook and Instagram had a temporary outage in October 2021, Adam revealed he used the time to get some more body ink, tagging tattoo artist Nathan Kostechko in his post. “Wise man once said… ‘when Instagram goes down…tattoo your throat…’ his name was @nathan_kostechko,” Adam wrote.