The country star filed for divorce from the podcast host on May 18
Credit: Jelly Roll/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Jelly Roll shared his first new single since filing for divorce from Bunnie Xo
- The uplifting anthem, called “Hands Up,” was released on Wednesday, June 24
- Jelly filed for divorce from Bunnie on May 18 after 10 years of marriage
Jelly Roll shared his first single since filing for divorce from Bunnie Xo.
On Wednesday, June 24, the country star (real name Jason DeFord) released the gospel-tinged country stadium anthem "Hands Up."
Throughout the track, Jelly, 41, looks at his life with grace and meditates on his determined spirit.
"GA packed in the pit / Me and all those people people called nothing but troubled kids / If there was ever a fire in me, yeah that's the night I got it lit," he sings at the beginning of the track.
In the chorus, he preaches, "Everybody get your hands up / Evеrybody put your hands up / If you ain't perfect but you try / Put ‘em way up to the sky / Touchin' heaven kinda high / Ain't that where we wanna go when we die / Whoa, whoa, whoa / Just put your hands up / Everybody put your hands up."
Ahead of the song's release, Jelly shared an inspiring Instagram Reel where he discussed finding motivation for his weight loss journey. (He has shed nearly 300 lbs.)
The video features past footage of the "Save Me" singer pushing himself to walk in the rain and later running in the rain to his new song "Hands Up."
In an interview clip featured in the Reel, Jelly spoke about finding the motivation to work out.
"Every time I said that I was. gonna lose the weight yo, I said I lied to myself. I would tell myself, 'I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna go do that.' And then I'd go tell my family that. There's a big person listening to this right now or a drug addict or somebody who wants to change some part of their life that right now is going, 'I'm gonna start next Monday'," he said.
Jelly continued: "That first Monday comes, yo, it is pissing rain, cats and dogs, dude. And I wake up and I'm like s—. My daughter was just like, 'Just wait til the rain quits or go on the treadmill.' But in my mind, I was like, 'I'm going outside. I'm done lying to y'all, and I'm done lying to me. I told y'all I was gonna do this walk, and I'm gonna go do this walk.'"
"On day 1, I walked in the rain. Today, I'm sprinting in the rain. Because one day, not that long ago I stopped lying to myself," he wrote in text over clips of him running in the rain.
Jelly continued, "I barely made it up my driveway that day. I'm alive today because I didn't lose faith. F— Monday. Start today. 'Hands Up' out at midnight."
"Make the choice. You can do it," the "I Am Not Okay" performer captioned the post. "'Hands Up' out at midnight."
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According to documents obtained and court records viewed by PEOPLE, Jelly filed for divorce from Bunnie, 46, after 10 years of marriage on May 18 citing irreconcilable differences. At the time, TMZ was first to report the news.
Reps for Jelly and Bunnie did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment at the time.
During his Thursday, June 18 show, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Jelly broke his silence about his split from Bunnie (real name Alisa DeFord).
"Me and my wife are best friends, we will always be best friends. I will love her. She will probably be the only woman I'll ever love the way I loved her," he said, clarifying that "nobody cheated on nobody."
Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty
Shortly before Jelly made his statements, Bunnie spoke about their split in detail on her podcast and revealed their divorce would be settled in the next three weeks. She also said they still planned to have a baby together (Jelly has two children from past relationships, daughter Bailee, 18, and son Noah, 9.)
Days after their divorce news went public, a source spoke to PEOPLE about how he was coping with the split.
"The reality is that he will always love her, but that doesn't mean that he wants to stay married," the source said of Jelly, adding that "he's in a very different place than he was when they met."
The source added that Jelly "feels healthy, focused and in control of his future" for the first time.
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