Jelly Roll just shocked fans with a transformation nobody saw coming. The 40-year-old “Save Me” singer — Jason Bradley DeFord — jumped on Instagram Thursday to reveal his clean-shaven face after more than a decade behind a beard.
“By now you have probably figured out that I look like a ninja turtle,” he joked in the video.
He admitted the beard originally helped him hide the weight. “One of the reasons I even started growing a beard is I was so obese, it was just easier to cover up what was happening here.”
Fans lit up the comments with encouragement and jokes.
“Somebody call Gillette ‘cause Jelly lookin’ SHARP!” one wrote, while another told him, “You are so deserving, Jelly. You truly are.”
Supporters praised how far he’s come. “You are an amazing human… An inspiration for all be proud Brother,” one fan added, echoing the sentiment from thousands of others.
The big reveal came right as the 2026 Grammy nominations dropped — and Jelly Roll scored three of them.
He broke down in the video discussing the moment, calling it “probably the craziest thing that's ever happened in my life.”
He said he never expected to make it past his “new artist” nomination years ago.
“To be coming back three years later with more nominations than I’ve ever had is just… first of all the gratitude.”
And he didn’t pretend the Grammys don’t matter.
“I don’t care what artists say… There’s not an artist in the world that didn't grow up watching the Grammys… and rehearse their speech.”
Choking up, he celebrated the country album nomination with his team.
“Win, lose or draw, dude, holy f--- we won,” he said, grateful for how far he’s climbed.
Jelly Roll has been openly documenting his weight-loss journey since December 2022. Earlier this year he told fans he had dropped 183 pounds, going from 540 to 357. “I want to lose another 100 pounds so I can go skydiving with my wife,” he said.
He admitted that his biggest challenge isn’t the gym — it’s food.
“If you're really battling obesity, you got to start at the dinner table,” he explained. “You got to fight that addiction at the dinner table.”
By September, he hit another milestone many thought he'd never reach.
He told fans he can finally fit into designer clothes — joking, “Pray for my bank account.”