Julien Baker’s tattoos point to music, Memphis, a cicada sound she missed while touring, and a book she kept returning to. She has explained several of them in interviews; the sections below keep those accounts separate from what the photos show.
The two foxes on her left arm
The two foxes on Baker’s left arm face each other, their tails catching together. She told Mikiki the design was inspired by lyrics from Every Time I Die. In the same interview, she said she had also turned mewithoutYou lyrics into images after deciding she didn’t want her body covered in words; that was a separate reference, not the source she gave for the foxes.
The mockingbird and Baker’s arm collection
Baker identified the bird on her right arm as a mockingbird, familiar in Memphis, her hometown. Performance photos show larger animal shapes alongside smaller marks, linework and lettering, though stage shots don’t make every piece easy to identify.
The cicada tattoo came from life on the road
Baker told The Boston Globe that touring kept her away from the sound of cicadas and said she missed hearing them. She had one tattooed on her arm for that reason; the account is about a sound from home, not a general symbol attached to the insect.
Lettering that stays close to the skin
On her wrist, the phrase “Dios Existir” means “God exists,” Baker said. She connected it to Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, where residents post signs with words they need to remember during an outbreak of insomnia and memory loss. She chose a tattoo because it would be in her sight each morning.
Other lettering appears across Baker’s hands and arms, though live photos don’t make every word easy to read. Hand and wrist ink is hard to keep crisp; if you’re considering a phrase, check its spelling and look at the stencil at actual size before settling on placement.
The Underoath logo tattoo and music on the skin
The New Yorker reports that Baker has a stick-and-poke Underoath logo. When she was 12, she asked her father to take her to see the band; she later described the show as changing how she understood a performer speaking to a crowd. The tattoo keeps that early musical connection visible.
The small boygenius tooth
Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus each got a small tooth tattoo connected to boygenius. Dacus later said Phoebe came up with the idea and tied it to the song “Bite the Hand”; their tattoo artist advised them against placing it on their hands because the ink can fall out.
Why the collection feels personal instead of staged
In photos, Baker’s collection ranges from readable lettering to small motifs and larger animal pieces. The amount visible changes from one shot to another, and the interviews don’t explain every mark. This guide sticks to the designs with a source-backed account.
A better way to borrow the feeling
If one of these tattoos gives you an idea, start with the reference behind it, not the exact shape. A lyric, a local bird or a sound tied to home can lead to a design that belongs to your own life. Bring that story and your placement idea to an artist, then work out the scale together.
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