By Genevieve Presley
Columnist
Jelly Roll released his tenth album, “Beautifully Broken”, along with a deluxe edition titled “Beautifully Broken: Pickin’ Up The Pieces.” on Oct. 11. I had the incredible privilege of hearing the album at High Fidelity Records the week before its release.
From the first listen I was instantly captivated. The vocals were phenomenal and each song told a powerful story. “Beautifully Broken” explores Jelly Roll’s struggles with mental health and addiction in a lyrically complex way.
This is evident in the first track of the album “Winning Streak”, where he recounts his experience of hitting rock bottom and starting recovery. This song addresses the guilt, shame and hopelessness that he felt during that time until he realized that “nobody walks through these doors on a winning streak.”
“Beautifully Broken: Pickin’ Up The Pieces” includes five extra tracks featuring Halsey, Keith Urban, Skylar Grey.
My favorite part about it was that each added song was a duet. With almost every song on the initial album being solo songs, it was satisfying to hear some collaborations on the deluxe edition.
Of all the songs included on the album, my favorite was “Time Of Day” featuring Machine Gun Kelly. This was the second collaboration between Jelly Roll and MGK since “Lonely Road” was released on July 26 and it was amazing getting to hear them sing together again.
It was beautifully poetic and perfectly showcases both MGK and Jelly Roll’s songwriting abilities.
Twelve days after the album’s release, it reached number one on the Billboard 200 charts and has remained at number one since, a significant feat in Jelly Roll’s career as his first number-one album.
Overall, this album is certainly a standout in Jelly Roll’s career; every song is worth listening to and fans will be able to find a piece of themselves in it. I cannot wait to see what Jelly Roll decides to release next.
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