Fresh off of an Invictus Games collaboration with Prince Harry, country star Jelly Roll took to the stage at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville on Wednesday night. The singer, born Jason DeFord, joined Brooks & Dunn onstage for a rendition of their 2005 song “Believe,” to perform his new single, “Liar.”
On the red carpet before his performance, DeFord mentioned that he was feeling “so nervous” about the night during dress rehearsals. “I got so overwhelmed with what was happening,” he said. “I’m afraid it's gonna happen again when I walk out there.”
Though DeFord, who won New Artist of the Year in 2023, was nominated for three CMA Awards, he went home without a trophy on Wednesday, though he did get a different keepsake out of the evening. The singer was on the cover of this week’s issue of People, and when reporters presented him with a physical copy, he noticed that his new friend was featured in the magazine’s corner. “They just put out a thing with me and him!” DeFord said. “Who would have thought I would be on the cover of something and the Duke of Sussex would be in the corner of that cover? This is unreal. I am honored.”
In the cover interview, DeFord spoke about committing himself to weight loss, mentioning that he had lost about 110 pounds so far this year by running and addressing what he described as a food addiction. “I’ve never had a healthy relationship with food, so that was the hard part,” he said. ”But once you get into that discipline and commitment, it’s like an avalanche. Once that little snowball started rolling, it was on its way.”
On Tuesday, Harry’s Invictus Foundation announced that the rapper-turned-country crooner would headline the February 2025 Invictus Games closing ceremony in Vancouver. The news came in the form of a comedic video where DeFord gives the duke a tattoo of the Invictus Game “I AM LOGO” and a “Jelly Roll” signature.
In a conversation with People, the tattoo artist who costarred in the spot discussed the pair’s immediate chemistry. “Jelly is fearless and Harry knew it had to be epic, so they had a true moment where they both knew where it had to go after all the jokes,” said Josh Lord, the owner of East Side Ink in Manhattan. “Here we are, a room full of people who have seen some things, but Harry was probably the bravest and funniest of all of us, really. Behind the scenes, he’s got comedic chops that I didn’t expect.”
Lord added that Harry’s squeal when the needle touches his neck happened on the first take. “Luckily, I have a long history with fake tattoos, and they hadn’t originally planned for that part of it,” he said. “So I was able to provide a small level of assistance.”
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