Jelly Roll is manifesting who he wants to see win at the 2025 ACM Awards.
Speaking with PEOPLE on the event’s red carpet, the “Save Me” artist — born Jason Bradley DeFord – says he’s rooting for one particular peer to win the Entertainer of the Year award.
Jelly, 40, reveals that he has “a lot of acquaintances” in the music industry and “very few friends,” but notes that Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson are two of his best friends.
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Cody and Brandi Johnson in May 2025
In fact, he’s rooting for the “Dirt Cheap” musician, 37, to take home the coveted award at this year’s ceremony.
“I love Cody Johnson so much,” says Jelly. “Since Lainey won it last year, I’m cheering for Cody to win Entertainer [of the Year] this year.”
The “Need a Favor” artist also showcased his slimmer physique on the red carpet, just one month after he shared a milestone regarding his ongoing weight loss journey while appearing on Pat McAfee’s Big Night AHT live show.
“It looks like you’ve lost a person,” McAfee, 38, told his guest in front of the live audience as Jelly stepped back to show off his new look.
“I started at 540 lbs.,” he said. “I’m 357 lbs. [as of] this morning, baby!”
Check out all of PEOPLE’s full ACM Awards coverage here.
Jelly then revealed that planned to lose another 100 lbs. “to go skydiving with my wife in Sweden, baby!”
In December 2024, he joined his wife, Bunnie Xo, on her Dumb Blonde podcast where he opened up about his weight and his goal to lose more of it.
“I wanna be on the cover of Men’s Health by March of 2026,” said Jelly, which made his wife, 45, “giddy.”
He added, “That’s my new goal. I wanna have one of the biggest transformations”
The country star is nominated for three awards at this year’s ceremony, including entertainer of the year, male artist of the year and album of the year for his 2024 LP Beautifully Broken.
The 60th Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Reba McEntire, are streaming live on Prime Video from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
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