POPSCREEN: Jordin Sparks

Sparks may fly in Jordin Sparks’ latest video, “Like a Tattoo,” but don’t worry, nothing too scandalous goes down. Yes, there’s a boy (gasp!), and yes, the American Idol winner is singing about a tattoo; but there’s no ink on her body. She’s only singing of the impression said boy has made on her heart.

There are no roses or initials etched on Sparks’ shoulder, or at least none that we can see. Instead, squeaky clean and revealing very little skin, Jordin twirls about on a carousel. Images of Sparks on a boardwalk are juxtaposed with “serious” black and white shots of the singer emoting; clearly, she’s a young woman on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Are we alternating between memories of happiness and the inevitable heartbreak that followed? Yeah, that’s probably what she wants us to believe.

But on second thought, could we be seeing the contrast between the light-hearted, innocent Jordin and the devilish young woman hidden inside?

The video boasts another enigma: just who is this boy? He’s first seen alone, seductive and alluring, and soon reappears on the boardwalk, trailing behind Sparks. Our mystery man then proceeds to follow her onto the carousel. Ah, young love at the pinnacle of cliché.

Indeed, the moments at which Jordin appears on the carousel or along the boardwalk are almost eerily reminiscent of another young starlet’s early romantic musings. Watching Jordin’s video, it’s hard to resist thinking of the video for Britney Spears’s “Sometimes.” Tattooed on many of our minds, ”Sometimes” presented an early version of our favorite good girl gone bad and lamenting her own romantic travails on a boardwalk. And if Jordin is singing of tattoos so early on in her career—well, we can only imagine what sort of scandals lie ahead for the young star.