We Wanted To See Jelly Roll Without Face Tattoos, So We Made It Happen

It's no secret that Jelly Roll has some major regrets over some of his tattoos — so since at Nicki Swift we aim to serve, we got an exclusive look at what he would look like if they weren't there. And boy, does the country singer look different, sans the ink! 

ICYMI, Jelly Roll has spoken on several occasions about why he wishes he'd thought twice about some of his tats. Actually, make that most of them. Asked if he regretted any of his tattoos in a 2023 interview with Audacy, he didn't hold back. "Oh, 96% of them!" A few months later, he felt the same. In fact, it seemed he actually had even more regret. In an interview with GQ, he chuckled, "I regret 98% of these tattoos, 97% — almost all of them." Part of that comes down to the tattoos themselves. As the singer went on to explain to the outlet, the biggest issue was that many the tats didn't even mean anything to him anymore. "Like, core philosophies I rooted my life in when I was 17. And now I'm 40, I'm like, 'What the f*** was I thinking?'" he quipped. It was a sentiment he'd shared in an interview with Access Hollywood, too. "I got some of these when I was, like, 14. I had no business picking lifelong tattoos at 14!" he said. 

Well, Jelly Roll, your wish is our command. Working some magic (and, ahem, Photoshop), we transformed Jelly Roll to a face-tattoo-free man. 

Thanks to our exclusive peek at his face without tattoos, we can say Jelly Roll looks remarkably different (though his cheerful smile is still very much intact). That said, even if he did have a clean slate, we have no doubts the singer would do it all over again. That's not just us guessing — the singer has actually said that, himself. 

Speaking to GQ, Jelly Roll explained that while he isn't thrilled with the tattoos he has today, he'd be more than happy to start over ... just with a better tattoo artist. "I tell people I regret my tattoos, but I would not not get tattoos. If I could do it all over again, I'd have went from the tip of my finger to the back of my head, but I'd have got with the best artist on earth and took my time," he said.

Of course, a younger Jelly Roll simply didn't have the resources for that. In fact, as he joked in his interview with GQ, while he knew of incredibly talented tattoo artists in jail, during his time in prison, he simply couldn't afford to work with them. "When they were two packs of cigarettes, I only had a can of coffee," he recounted. In light of that, he advised anyone considering tattoos to save up as much as they could, and to really respect the artistry of tattoos rather than go for a quick fix. 

While Jelly Roll doesn't stand by many of his early tattoos, and he wishes he could have got some of them done by better artists, it's worth noting that he does appreciate the meanings behind some of them. 

For starters, he told "Good Morning America" that the larger cross on one of his cheeks is the favorite of his face tats. Speaking to GQ, he gave a little insight as to why that was. "It was symbolic of a change in me ... understanding that I need to bear my own cross, I need to carry my own cross, as the Good Book says, so that was kind of a constant reminder," he explained. Jelly Roll also has a soft spot for his forehead tattoo. In his interview with GQ, Jelly Roll explained that his wife, Bunnie XO, had the lyric, "Married a music man" tattooed on her leg. And, because he realized the vast majority of his own tattoos reflected his past, rather than his present, he decided to have "Music man" tatted on his forehead. Insert sweet note about Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO being one another's perfect puzzle piece here. 

Time will tell if Jelly Roll ever decides to remove any of his tattoos and re-do them with better artists and his current philosophies. Hey, our exclusive mockup of his tattoo-free face may even serve as inspo. What can we say except, you're welcome?