We Got Rid Of Jelly Roll's Face Tattoos & He Looks Totally Different

If country artist Jelly Roll had his way, he'd get rid of a lot of his tattoos. One of the first times the "Save Me" artist talked about his tattoo regrets was in 2023 with Audacy, telling the publication that he wishes he didn't have 96% of them. He later upped that number during an interview with GQ, saying he regretted 97-98% of the tatts, mainly for two reasons.

First, Jelly Roll received some of them as teenager, and put a few of his "core philosophies" at the time on himself in permanent ink. "And now I'm 40, I'm like, 'What the f*** was I thinking?'" he asked. The Nashville native also told Access Hollywood that he had zero business choosing lifelong tattoos at age 14. But Jelly Roll wanting a do-over with his tatts also has to do with their quality and the artists who did them. Since the country singer has talked about regretting his tattoos more than once, we at The List decided to hook him up by removing them with Photoshop, and his barefaced skin shows a night and day difference.

Some might say that Jelly Roll without face tattoos is like a time machine that makes the Grammy-nominee look like a happy middle school student — well, a middle schooler who has a beard. As for the advice he has to give others wanting to get some ink, the rapper-turned-singer said to seek out the right artist — one who's highly skilled. 

Actually, Jelly Roll advised to get just one person for the work, as opposed to using a bunch of different artists. "Don't just think of what you're tattooing on your body, think about who is tattooing on your body. Pick one artist. Spend as much money as you can on the greatest artist you can afford," he told GQ. "If you can't afford the artist you want right now, start putting money in a coffee can till you can. Do not cheap yourself."

It's probably advice that a younger Jelly Roll wished he would've taken in jail, admitting that he couldn't afford the expensive artists when he was locked up. But he doesn't regret all of his tattoos, because some represent where he is as an adult and not his past. One of those tatts lives on his forehead, and it reads "music man" since his wife Bunnie XO has "married a music man" tattooed on her leg — taken from Elton John's classic "Tiny Dancer." 

Besides the "music man" tattoo that Jelly Roll still likes, he's also fond of a cross on his face, mainly for spiritual reasons. In fact, he told GQ that the crosses were his first face tattoos, having one under his eye, and another larger one on the other side. "It was symbolic of a change in me," he noted of the larger cross. "It was symbolic of kind of a new beginning, understanding that I need to bare my own cross. I need to carry my own cross, as the good book says, so that was kind of a constant reminder."

Jelly Roll also talked about a few more of his tatts in a joint Instagram post with "Good Morning America," one being a locket that's on the side of his head. That tattoo is used to cover up an old one that he didn't like, similar to another of the Nashville skyline that's on his neck, used to cover up the words "surviving the struggle" since it's missing the letter "t." "I had 'surviving the sruggle' on my neck forever," said the father of two. "And then we put this little bitty baby t in it that looks super off and awkward [...] so I finally got it covered up."