Zayn Malik appears to have some new body art and it’s shocked his teenaged fanbase. The singer already sports a large collection of tattoos, but on Instagram yesterday he showed off what appeared to be some new ink on his temple, leaving some fans praying it wasn’t real.

A photo posted by Zayn Malik (@zayn) on

The ink looks to be of a bird, possibly a phoenix, with the letters M.O.M. At first some wondered if it was a tribute to his mother Trisha, but since the singer’s not an American that seems unlikely. Instead it’s probably a reference to his new album Mind of Mine.

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Zayn captioned the pic ‘Like I Would’, the name of his latest single, released earlier this week. On Instagram one fan told the singer, ’You are goin too far with all the tattoos thing.’ Another added, ‘This is honestly the worst thing he could've done.’

The 23-year-old will release his debut solo album Mind of Mine on March 25th, exactly one year after he announced his departure from One Direction. The album’s cover features a photo of the singer as a child, which has been updated to include his hand tattoos.

When the album cover was unveiled last month he was accused by some of copying Lil’ Wayne, whose Tha Carter III and Tha Carter IV covers also feature the rapper as a child with his distinctive tattoos added on.

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In response to the criticism Zayn tweeted: "I'm not tryna be no rapper , my album is me a child .. My ideas have been with me a long time... Use your brain, appreciate art don't discriminate what you don't understand".