Grammy-nominated singer and rapper Jelly Roll says he wants to do “anything he can” for independent artists.
Speaking on Tana Mongeau’s CANCELLED podcast, the Son Of A Sinner singer opened up about his soft spot for unsigned artists, explaining why he chose Alexandra Kay as an opener for his Beautifully Broken tour.
“Because she’s doing it independent, it was the only one that we [Jelly Roll and wife Bunnie XO] totally agreed on together,” he said. “We were like, ‘Yo, her. Take the independent girl.’”
Jelly Roll reminisced on his time as an unsigned musician, saying, “Dude, I never got a good look when I was independent.”
Before he was a hit country singer, Jelly Roll was an independent hip-hop artist. Releasing a range of mixtapes by himself, he knows the struggles of being unsigned. Now he uses his own fame to give independent artists a chance to be seen too.
Kay posted a response to Jelly Roll’s mention of her, saying in a video, “He understands how hard it is to be independent, how you really can work and work and work and only get so far because people in this business just won’t mess with you if you’re not signed to a major label.”
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She continued to sing his praises: “He keeps sharing his spotlight with me. Jelly, I love you and I’m so grateful, and this is so freaking cool, and I cannot wait to open for you every single night of this tour.”
As Bunnie XO said on CANCELLED, “He’s re-writing history for independent artists.”
Jelly Roll recently teased his Beautifully Broken tour, saying it’s “so big it scares [him] a little.” You can buy tickets to the shows here.
It comes off the back of a massive triumph for the artist at the CMT Music Awards earlier in April. Taking out the win for three categories for his hit single Need A Favour – Video Of The Year, Male Video Of The Year and CMT Performance Of The Year – Jelly Roll took home a third of the titles that were up for grabs.
It hasn’t all been flowers for the country singer, though. He was recently sued by Philadelphia-based band Jellyroll for trademark infringement, after “Philly’s favourite wedding band” were no longer able to be found on Google in a search for “Jellyroll”.
