Jelly Roll had an emotional evening on Thursday when he performed at the FireAid Benefit Concert for California Fire Relief in Los Angeles.
The country music star delighted the crowd with his rendition of “I Am Not Okay” before he was joined by Blink-182’s Travis Barker on the drums for Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band’s “Hollywood Nights”.
“I think it’s important while I’m on this stage to sing a song about one of my favorite cities in America,” he told the crowd ahead of Travis’ arrival, adding: “But I can’t do that without someone from Los Angeles. I would like to bring my big brother Travis Barker out to play tonight.”
Jelly Roll appeared to go through a range of emotions during his performance as he displayed his 120lb weight loss in a black T-shirt, black pants, and a gray and black jacket.
The musician, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, once tipped the scales at over 500lbs but has lost a significant amount of weight over the years, mostly in 2024 after changing his lifestyle.
His weight loss transformation was evident at the 2024 ACM Awards in Frisco, Texas, in May, with the singer dropping 70lbs in four months alone.
© Getty Images for FIREAIDThe country star admitted that he was feeling “really good” after upping his fitness regime in preparation for the 2 Bears 5K race he ran in Los Angeles on May 7.
Explaining his healthier lifestyle, he said: “I’m probably down 70-something pounds. I’ve been really kicking ass, man.
© Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FIR“I’m doing two to three miles a day, four to six days a week. I’m doing 20 to 30 minutes in the sauna, six minutes in a cold plunge every day. I’m eating healthy right now,” he added.
After the race, Jelly Roll wanted to keep on the fitness bandwagon.
He confessed one of the best things about it was that people would stop and tell him “they were motivated by us, other big guys”.
© Getty Images for FIREAID“I feel really good,” he told People. “I was thinking, I plan on losing another 100, 100-and-something (pounds). If I feel this good down this weight, man, I can only imagine what I’m going to feel like by the time I go on tour.”
Since losing even more weight, Jelly Roll has set himself a new goal – to be on the cover of Men’s Health by March 2026.
© Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FIRIn a December 2024 episode of wife Bunni XO’s podcast “Dumb Blonde,” Jelly Roll publicly revealed this goal which he’d only ever shared with his wife.
“I wanna be on the cover of Men’s Health by March of 2026,” he said. “That’s my new goal. I want to have one of the biggest transformations.”
The “Need a Favor” hitmaker admitted that sharing such a personal aspiration with the world wasn’t easy but was entirely intentional. “I did this publicly for a reason,” he explained. “I wanna be honest about my struggles with it with people.
© Daniel DeSlover/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock“I think that people that become as big as I became, when they lose the weight, they’re kind of ashamed,” he reflected.
“They’re so ashamed that they go hide and lose the weight, and then they come back out [and] they don’t really know how to interact with the world looking different or feeling different. They kinda gotta find their whole new way.”
