Jelly Roll likely could have never even dreamed up his recent performance. The Nashville native flew overseas to perform “Hard Fought Hallelujah” at the Grace for the World: The Live Event in Vatican City, where he also got to meet Pope Leo XIV.

Jelly Roll was one of several performers for the event, joined by Pharrell Williams and Andrea Bocelli, who directed the concert, plus the Voices of Fire Gospel Choir, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Karol G, BamBam, Clipse, Teddy Swims, Angélique Kidjo and the Choir of the Diocese of Rome.

Jelly Roll shares a photo of him meeting Pope Leo XIV on social media, captioning it by saying, “From rock bottom to holy ground. ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them,'” the latter a Bible verse.

 

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Jelly Roll Performs “Hard Fought Hallelujah”

Jelly Roll performed “Hard Fought Hallelujah” by himself, but the song is currently at radio as a duet with Brandon Lake. It’s Lake who first released the song as a single, later adding Jelly Roll after seeing Jelly Roll sing “Believe” with  Brooks & Dunn at the 2024 CMA Awards.

“I watched the CMA Awards with Brooks & Dunn,” Lake recalls to K-Love, as part of a joint interview between the two singers. “You performed this song called ‘ I Believe.’ So this is some time before I heard back from Jelly and his team. I fell asleep during the awards show. I’m chilling in bed, it’s late at night. I wake up the next morning, and the first thing I see on my phone is a video of Jelly’s performance, and Brooks & Dunn. I opened it up, still laying in bed and I watched this happen. I had never seen church like this happen in this place. It was so unexpected, and I’m literally laying there, and I start bawling my eyes out.

“I felt the spirit of God translate through my phone, from that moment, after the fact,” he continues. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is the dude. He just led the world in worship.’ I don’t think anyone saw it coming. People were standing up, lifting their hands, there are tears rolling down their face. I was just so moved. It gave me all the confidence in the world that this is a dude we have to ask to get on this song.”

Jelly Roll’s phone call with Lake was transformative for him, forming an unlikely friendship as a result.

“He said to me on the phone everything I wish the church would have,” Jelly Roll tells K-Love. “The way he made me feel is like, ‘Man, if I felt this way on Sunday when I went to a couple of churches, God knows where my journey would be at right now.’ Maybe the things people are still mad at me at for not being where they think I should be, maybe I’d already be there.”

 

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Jelly Roll’s Strong Christian Faith

Jelly Roll has been vocal about his Christian faith.The singer-songwriter credits his faith with turning his life around, going form inside the walls of a prison to becoming an international superstar.

“I’m called to be shameless about it,” Jelly Roll says on The Jennifer Hudson Show. “He’s done so much for me, even when I didn’t deserve it. I’ve actually done the opposite of being deserving of His grace. I’ve done everything I could to spit in His face, and not get His grace. And He continued to just pour it on me and love on me. At times where I felt unlovable, He taught me to love myself. My faith is nothing short of everything in my life.”

Even Jelly Roll can’t believe how far he has come, especially recently.

“If you knew how I was talking at interviews five years ago, and it’s all over the internet. Go look it up.” Jelly Roll says. “And then you see how I’m talking today, imagine what God can do with me in five years. And then look at what God’s already doing with me.”

Jelly Roll recently shed about 200 pounds. He is also one step closer to receiving a pardon, which was recently unanimously approved by Tennessee Board of Parole, one year after Sheriff Daron Hall recommended Governor Bill Lee grant him a full pardon.