Jelly Roll Discovers Unlikely Connection to Taylor Swift

Though Jelly Roll didn’t officially meet Taylor Swift until the 2024 Grammy Awards, the rapper-turned-country artist developed an appreciation for the pop superstar a long time ago.

As the “Son of a Sinner” revealed during a recent interview with People, he had Swift to thank for the playground he visited with his daughter Bailee, who is now 16, when she was younger.

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The playground in Hendersonville, Tenn., a city just outside Nashville, suffered serious water damage in 2010. It was later rebuilt with help from a $100,000 donation from Swift, who attended high school in the area.

“I used to push Bailee on that swing set that Taylor donated to Hendersonville,” Jelly Roll, 39, told People, adding that he has “a ridiculous, probably abnormal, amount of pride” in being from the Nashville area. Though the Grammy-nominated artist said he’d wanted to mention that connection to Swift when he met her at the awards show in February, “I was so nervous I couldn’t even remember what swing set it was.”

The father of two recalled seeing the Eras touring artist heading toward him at the Grammys and thinking, “I’m looking at Taylor Swift and I have a reason to explain to her why I like her so much, and I’m going, ‘You built the swing set somewhere, my daughter, I pushed her on it.’ I did so bad!” Despite his urge to explain the connection, he was “at a loss for words at that moment."

Swift, who turns 35 next month, partnered with Little Tikes Commercial to help rebuild the playground more than a decade ago, the magazine reported. A press release issued at the time of Swift’s donation explained that the Kids Kingdom playground was flooded prior to the storms in early 2010, but that particular round of rainfall “caused major safety liabilities and irreparable maintenance issues.” Following initial financing difficulties, city park officials were able to secure the funds needed to rebuild the playground with help from Swift’s donation.

Next: Jelly Roll Makes a Bold Declaration About Taylor Swift