Jelly Roll unveiled a new look that even shocked himself, reacting to his recent milestone: receiving three nominations for upcoming 2026 Grammy ceremony.
The 40-year-old musician uploaded a vlog to YouTube on November 20, marking his “long overdue” return to the video style he used in the early days of his career. 15 minute clip began with footage of him on a farm in Nashville and ended with Jelly Roll deciding to shave his beard for the first time in over a decade.
He shared that he wants to shave his beard while continuing to do his business. weight loss journey.
“At this point, I'm sure some of you are tired of hearing about my weight loss. But a lot of things change when you start losing weight. You realize things. One of the things I realized is that I don't know what I look like. I had a beard to try and hide my double chin,” he said.
Jelly Roll added: “The last time my face was shaved, I had just gotten out of prison.”
He predicted that after shaving his facial hair he might resemble a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but said he wanted to go through with it to surprise his family with his new look. He shared that he only told his wife: Bunny XOabout his plans to shave his beard and that his daughter, Bailey Annnever saw him without it.
The “Get By” singer used slow motion to show him slowly removing his beard as his wife watched and filmed the moment on her phone. About halfway through the process, he turned to Bunny XO, who looked stunned.
“Oh my God,” she said as he laughed. Later, when he had finished, she gave her approval, telling her husband, “I like it.”
He blurred out his face in the frame, saving the reveal for the final minutes of the video. Before introducing his look to fans, he showed off his clean-shaven face to his daughter, who immediately responded with laughter.
“Stay there!” she playfully told her father. “Oh God, I'm going to cry. I don't like this! You look like a turtle.”
Without further ado, Jelly Roll finally turned the camera towards himself to see the grand spectacle.
“You’ve probably already guessed that I look like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle,” he joked as he strolled through a wooded area. “Yeah, it was crazy.”
Taking a more sentimental tone, he continued, “You know, one of the reasons I even started growing a beard was because I was so obese that it was easier to hide what was going on here.”
He then talked about the “craziest thing” that has ever happened to him: his latest Grammy nominations. When the Recording Academy announced list of 2026 Grammy Award nominees On November 6, Jelly Roll was one of many stars to receive the coveted recognition. He was nominated for Best Contemporary Country Album for “Beautiful Broken,” Best Country Duo/Group Performance for his collaboration with Shaboozey called “Amen,” and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for “Hard Fought Hallelujah.”
In his vlog, Jelly Roll recalled receiving his first Grammy nomination at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024 for Best New Artist. He said he had no idea at the time that the Recording Academy would recognize him again.
“I don't care what artists say. I don't care how artists behave. I'll tell you the real truth. There's not an artist in the world who didn't grow up watching the Grammys when he was a kid and then go into their bedrooms and practice their speech,” he said. “God will either take something normal and make it extremely abnormal, or take something already incredible and make it absolutely mesmerizing, and that’s exactly the case in this case.”
He said he would now be able to celebrate the achievement from a “better headspace.”
“I see all my friends in that category. But then I just see there's an album called 'Beautiful Broken,'” he added. “Man, if that doesn't reflect what's going on in the world right now. I think more than ever… I think we can find beauty in what's happening. Win, lose or draw. Damn it, man, we won.”
He once again expressed his gratitude to the Recording Academy and said that without his faith he would not have achieved anything.
Before ending the recording, he encouraged his fans to make fun of his beardless face.
“I thought my chin was at least half an inch further than it actually was, damn… I didn't know. Science experiment gone wrong, y'all!” – he said.
Jelly Roll uploaded a snippet of his freshly shaved face to Instagramtoo much. Celebrity friends praised him for his Grammy nomination under the post.
Charlie Puth said: “Very inspiring man.”
Country singer Carly Pearce echoed the sentiment, calling the Jelly Roll an “inspiration.”
Meanwhile, fans approved of his look.
“Fresh figure and clean face,” one fan commented.
Another said: “Shut up I love it!!! You look so good!!!!!”
“Hey I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” a third wrote.
This is the latest dramatic transformation that Jelly Roll has shared with his fans. He's also talked about losing weight multiple times over the past year.
While appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in April, he said his goal was to weigh under 250 pounds before explaining why losing weight was important to him.
“To do all the fun things in life, you have to be under 250 years old,” he told host Jimmy Kimmel, before mentioning skydiving, roller coaster rides, bull riding and alligator wrestling. “I have a list of things I want to do.”
In August, he provided an update on progress in a speech to Tennessee TitanWith. “I lost 200 pounds“, he said. “I told the coach that I would get a contract if I lost another 50.”
