“It's Okay Not To Be Okay”: Jelly Roll Delivers Heartfelt Message to Fans During Intimate Show

Jelly Roll has shared a touching video of him offering some words of wisdom to fans, recorded during an intimate show on the ‘Need a Favor’ hitmaker's recent Australia tour.

While performing at Nova's Red Room and getting ready to play ‘I Am Not Okay’, Jelly confided in the audience that he'd been struggling during the tour. The caption, which was uploaded via Jelly's @jellyhq fanpage, reads, “It's okay not to be okay”.

The Nashville native reflected, “Today I realised that I'm singing it for both of us, because this is the first day I woke up a little not okay”, to which a fan cried out, “We love you Jelly!”

We know that Jelly has an endearing tendency to cry on-stage, such is the level of emotionality and intensity he laces into his music, and naturally, this started to set him off.

He replied to the adoring attendee, “Oh God, you're gonna make me cry. I said I wasn't gonna cry in Australia! But I love y'all”, before finishing his stirring speech, “The message of music is so, so powerful...That the way music has this unique ability to meet us exactly where we are in that moment of our life, right then, that those three minutes can help us, right when we need it at the absolute most”.

The fan - Bonni - that offered some encouragement to Jelly as he explained his mental struggles has taken to the comments of the video, shedding further light on the heartwarming moment, “I'm the girl who yelled we love you jelly. The face he pulled at me will forever stay with me. We were less than 5m away from him and it was such a dream. We love jelly in Australia. I saw him twice that week, once in a stadium and the second time in this small intimate venue. What a dream”.

She went on to underline how Jelly's music has comforted her family in recent months, “You could see across the stadium show and this show that he was struggling and needed some love. The little pout brought tears to my eyes. His music has helped my mum through tough times so to show that love back in such an intimate way was something I'll NEVER forget and I'm so grateful that @novas_red_room caught this video”, adding, “We've had a rough year but seeing jelly helped a lot”.

The ‘Son of a Sinner’ singer-songwriter has been honest about the low-points he faced while on tour Down Under, sharing during his appearance on Mamamia’s No Filter with Kate Langbroek, “I'm falling apart. It's a horrible week. Yeah, I'm doing the worst mentally I've done for a long time...I'm really far from home, and it's really hitting me that I'm really far from home, like, in an anxious way”.

Jelly continues to stand as a beacon of light in today's musical landscape, with the ‘Winning Streak’ chart-topper lifting up those who are “beautifully broken” through his songwriting. He makes a point during his live shows of reassuring and empathising with those who are fighting their own personal battles, whether that be addiction, mental health challenges or something else, as well as utilising his platform when accepting awards as a means of preaching his uplifting message.

Jelly has been increasingly infusing a faith-based cri-de-coeur into his music, with the ‘Save Me’ crooner collaborating with Brandon Lake on the rousing ’Hard Fought Hallelujah’, and teasing a potential foray into the Contemporary Christian space. Whatever Jelly's next musical move might be genre-wise, you can guarantee his forthcoming body of work will be fuelled by his relentless mission to inspire.

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