When Jelly Roll released his Beautifully Broken album last month, he surprised fans by also dropping Beautifully Broken (Pickin’ Up the Pieces), with six more songs, all collaborations, with Keith Urban, ERNEST, Halsey, mgk, Russ, and Skylar Grey.
The Nashville native recently headlined the Season Three premiere of Amazon Music Live, where he brought Urban out as a surprise guest to join him on “Don’t Want To,” their duet from Beautifully Broken (Pickin’ Up the Pieces).
Urban praised Jelly Roll after the two projects were released, revealing he had been hoping to work with the “Save Me” singer for a long time.
“The song might be called ‘Don’t Want To,’ but I’ve been wanting to collaborate with this guy for a looong time,” Urban shared on social media. “My man – I love playing with ya, love singing with ya, and am just damn grateful to be on this ‘same journey’ with you. You know exactly what I’m talking about !! Congrats on BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN.”
View this post on Instagram
Jelly Roll is celebrating his sixth No. 1 single, with “I Am Not Okay.” The success of the song means much more to Jelly Roll than his previous hits, because the song tackles the important subject of mental health.
“I believe in the power that music has to connect with people, and being able to see the response out on the road touring and seeing and hearing from people about this song – it’s been unreal … Thank you for continuing to shine a light on therapeutic music.” Jelly Roll tells Billboard.
Jelly Roll’s success is hard-fought. The 39-year-old has been vocal about his troubled upbringing, which resulted in him being in and out of incarceration, both as a juvenile and adult, and being charged with a felony when he was just 16 years old.
“I’d gotten a fight with a kid and back then they had the chain wallets,” Jelly Roll recalled on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast (via People). “When we were wrestling, I grabbed a chain wallet to try to hit him with it, and that was a strong-arm robbery case. So I ended up in the system for like 20-something months when I was 13 for that strong-arm robbery.”
It was when Jelly Roll found out he had a daughter, Bailee, now 16, that he realized he needed to make a change.
“I look back at those years, and I’m so embarrassed to talk about them,” he later admitted. “I was still a bad person in my early 30s, but I mean, I was a really horrible kid all the way into my mid-20s. People are always like, ‘You’re the nicest dude I’ve ever met.’ I’m like, ‘I’m so glad y’all haven’t met nobody that knew me 20 years ago.’”
Jelly Roll is nominated for three CMA Awards,including the night’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year. The 2024 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 20, on ABC. The ceremony will also stream on Hulu the next day.
Find all of Jelly Roll’s music and upcoming shows at JellyRoll615.com.