It’s hard to point to two stars with bigger buzzes than Lainey Wilson and Jelly Roll. They’ve both found themselves climbing the charts, receiving nominations, and winning awards. For instance, Jelly ended 2023 with the CMA Award for New Artist of the Year and two Grammy nominations. Wilson took home an armload of CMA Awards including Entertainer of the Year. Then, she won Best Country Album at the Grammys. Last Sunday (February 18) they both won at the People’s Choice Awards.
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Other awards shows are voted on by industry professionals. The People’s Choice Awards, on the other hand, are fan-voted. That means an artist needs an active and vocal fanbase to take home a trophy. Both Wilson and Jelly Roll have earned the adoration of millions of passionate fans. As a result, they both took home trophies on Sunday. She won Female Country Artist and he won Male Country Artist.
Now, they’re taking to social media to celebrate their wins.
Lainey Wilson Celebrates Her People’s Choice Award
Last night, Wilson took to Instagram to share some photos from the evening. The gallery includes a photo of her holding her award and one snap of her onstage. Additionally, it contains some behind-the-scenes shots of the Louisiana native with presenters and hosts of the show. She paired the small photo dump with a gratitude-filled post.
“Receiving a People’s Choice Award is a real high honor in my book,” Wilson wrote. “Thank you to every single one of you that voted. Big shout out to my Wild Horses,” she added, showing her fan club some love.
Jelly Roll Celebrates His People’s Choice Award
Jelly Roll missed the awards show completely. Instead, he was spending time with kids at a juvenile detention center in Nashville. He was there inspiring the youth to chase their dreams and make better choices when he won the award. Yesterday, he took to Instagram to share his thoughts on the win with a heartfelt post.
The post contained a video and a short but meaningful caption. “No plan, no speech, just from the heart. Love y’all. Eternally grateful,” he wrote.
“We won a People’s Choice Award for Male Country Artist of the Year. Voted by the fans, baby,” he began. “I’ve always said I don’t have the biggest fanbase but I have the mightiest fanbase, baby. The tiniest and the mightiest,” he added. Addressing that fanbase he said, “Y’all have never let me down. Thank you.”
[RELATED: The Heartwarming “Truth” Jelly Roll Missed the People’s Choice Awards]
He went on to apologize for not being at the awards show. “Here’s the truth, I’m actually standing in the juvenile courthouse right now. I just walked out of the juvenile facility. We partnered with Beat of Life to bring a music program to the kids. It’s been on my calendar for a long time. I promised these kids I was coming,” he explained. “I know when I was in here as a kid I got let down a lot. I didn’t want to be one of the people letting these kids down. I had to honor my word,” he added.
“I hate I wasn’t there, don’t take me not being there as a sign of anything other than love and respect and me trying to do better for my community.”
Featured Image by Amy Sussman/Getty Images
