Jelly Roll has many tattoos, but one of them is particularly meaningful in how it relates to his life.
While speaking to People Thursday (March 13), the country star opened up about one piece of ink on his arm depicting a broken chain. “It is just about breaking chains in life — anything that is bounding us, any bondage that we have, any addiction, anything we think God can’t get us through,” he explained to the publication. “We can break those chains.”
“I think second chances are earned,” Jelly added. “I think sometimes you can earn them in opportunity — there are opportunities to earn — but I believe that second chances are earned.”
He also revealed that he only got the chain tat after he and collaborators Taylor Phillips and Jackson Dean wrote a song together called “I Can’t Break These Chains.” “We loved the song so much we got the tattoo of the breaking chains that day,” Jelly said. “And we still never put that song out! We should put that song out.”
The “Son of a Sinner” singer has been open about his struggles with drugs and alcohol. His past also includes being in and out of jail about 40 times. Jelly has said that he knew he wanted to change his life after one particular stay behind bars when he was 23, during which he learned that he had become a father to now 16-year-old daughter Bailee.
In a recent interview on the Smartless podcast, the musician opened up about turning his life around for his child. “I had to go to court,” he said on the show. “I had to get supervised visits through the courtroom … I just had to keep going to the court every six months and going, ‘Look, I’m continuing to prove I’m changing.’ Music, being famous, wasn’t even a thought then. I just wanted to be a good dad.”
The meaningful chain tattoo is just one of countless pieces of artwork on Jelly’s body, which is nearly covered in ink. Some of his most distinguishable body art is on his face, including multiple crosses on his cheeks and near his eyes.
In March 2024, Jelly shared that he regrets “almost all” of the tattoos he’s gotten, and said that he’s done multiple coverups over his least favorites. “I regret 98 percent of these tattoos, 97 percent,” he said at the time. “Like core philosophies I rooted my life in when I was 17 and now that I’m 40, I’m like, ‘What the f–k was I thinking?’”
