Jelly Roll spent more than a decade building a dedicated fanbase as an independent hip-hop artist. Now, after moving to country music, he’s one of the biggest names in the genre. Over the course of his career, he has experienced failure that would have made others quit and success that others can only dream of. As a result, he’s a perfect choice to mentor contestants on American Idol.
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Tonight, fans will get to see Jelly Roll perform on American Idol. They’ll also see him mentoring the Top 24 to help them bring their best selves to the stage. A clip from tonight’s show released last week shows the award-winning artist giving sound advice to one Idol hopeful.
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Jelly Roll Advises American Idol Hopeful Odell Bunton Jr.
The clip shows Jelly Roll speaking to Odell Bunton Jr. He is the show’s first-ever Platinum Ticket winner. About Bunton, Jelly said, “He knows what he’s got but I think he’s almost afraid of overdoing it. For him to have a great performance, he’s got to let loose.” He added, “This is the biggest moment of your career, man. So I would go all in.”
There’s no doubt that Bunton will heed Jelly Roll’s advice. After all, his 2023 CMA Awards acceptance speech inspired the Texas native to take the leap and audition for American Idol. During that audition, he revealed that his family is struggling.
At 28 years old, Bunton is almost too old to be on American Idol. Luke Bryan pointed out his age and compared him to the guest mentor. “I hosted the CMA Awards and Jelly Roll stood up there at 39 and he won Best New Artists. It’s never too late,” he said.
“I got it in my phone,” Bunton said of Jelly Roll’s speech. “He said the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason. I believe it,” he added.
A Fiery and Inspirational Speech
When Jelly Roll won Best New Artist at last year’s CMA Awards, he took the audience to church. His acceptance speech sounded like a fire-and-brimstone preacher delivering the gospel. “I don’t know where you’re at in your life or what you’re going through, but I want to tell you to keep going. I want to tell you that success is on the other side of it,” he continued.
Then, as he was running out of time, he gave everyone advice they could use. “I want to tell you that it’s gonna be OK. I want to tell you that the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason because what’s in front of you is so much more important than what’s behind you.”
Featured Image by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for CMT
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