Ariana Grande and Ricky Alvarez Get Matching 'I Do Love You' Tattoos After Going Instagram Official

Ariana Grande has debuted a new 'I Do Love You' tattoo across her left collarbone, matching an existing design worn by Ricky Alvarez just days after the pair appeared together on her Instagram. The Grammy winner and Wicked star revealed the delicate script during her 15 August 2026 Eternal Sunshine Tour show at The O2 in London, giving fans another visible sign of the pair's rekindled relationship.

The timing is striking, but the tattoos do not appear to have been done at the same time. Alvarez, a photographer and former dancer on Grande's Honeymoon Tour, showed the same phrase on his left collarbone in an Instagram post dated 17 July 2025, more than a year before Grande unveiled her version. Grande's new ink therefore appears to match a tattoo Alvarez already had rather than a design the pair received together this week.

Instagram Official, Then Matching Ink

Grande included Alvarez in an Instagram photo dump on 12 August, marking the first time she had shared him on her grid since rumours of their reunion began circulating. One mirror photo showed the pair in coordinating light coloured looks, with Alvarez's arm around Grande and their faces mostly out of frame, while another blurry shot showed them embracing. Grande tagged Alvarez in the images, and he later reshared the posts to his Instagram Stories.

The social media appearance followed weeks of increasingly public hints that the former couple had reconnected. Alvarez was seen around Grande's tour dates, including her June stop in Austin, Texas, and later attended a show in Brooklyn, New York.

Grande also tweaked the Ricky reference in her 2018 hit Thank U, Next, singing 'I know he still got my back' in Austin before later changing it to 'We always find our way back' during another performance.

A Romance With a Decade of History

Grande and Alvarez first became close while he was working as a dancer on her Honeymoon Tour, and they dated from 2015 until their split in 2016. Their relationship later became part of Grande's pop history when Alvarez was namechecked in Thank U, Next, a song that looked back on several of her past relationships. Nearly a decade after the breakup, their renewed public appearances have turned that old reference into a new chapter.

The matching tattoo adds a more permanent detail to what had largely been a series of low key public signals. Grande has not publicly explained why she chose the words 'I Do Love You' or confirmed whether Alvarez's tattoo inspired hers, so the precise meaning remains personal to the pair. What is clear from their social media is that Alvarez's version predates Grande's new design by more than a year.

Grande Reveals Tattoo During London Tour Run

Grande's tattoo became visible as she performed in a pink stage look during the opening stretch of her London dates, with her official tour site listing The O2 show on 15 August. Speaking to the crowd during the London run, she said, 'I'm so grateful to be doing this with you all,' before adding, 'You've shown me so much love so I want to say thank you.' The appearance placed the new tattoo front and centre at one of the most closely watched stops of her tour.

The reveal also fits Grande's long history of using tattoos as personal markers, including ink connected to her music and Wicked. This time, however, the connection is unusually easy to trace because Alvarez had already displayed the same wording and placement publicly. Three days after Grande put him back on her Instagram grid, the matching phrase gave their reunion its most literal visual link yet.

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