'Winning Streak' by Jelly Roll - Lyrics and Meaning

Jelly Roll has long made it a staple of his discography to speak to those that have suffered from substance abuse and addiction.

Pulling from his own experiences and struggles with substance abuse, Jelly Roll formerly sold drugs, eventually serving jail time on drug charges. In the many years since, the Nashville native has gotten clean through the help of Alcoholic's Anonymous (AA) meetings and other methods of support.

One of the offerings from Jelly Roll's 2024 record, Beautifully Broken, falls in line with this, giving a glimpse of hope and unity when it comes to fighting off these kinds of demons.

Dubbed 'Winning Streak,' the powerful anthem opens up the entire album and spawns from a real experience that Jelly Roll had years ago while attending an AA meeting. He first performed the song as part of his anticipated Saturday Night Live debut, where he also sang his breakout tune 'Liar.'

'Winning Streak' has all the makings to be one of the most powerful anthems of 2024, ready to be sung in unison in sold out arenas all around the world.

With a slow 808 track keeping time, a lone piano carries the brunt of the tune, which sees some masterful production work from Zach Crowell, the credited producer across the album on the whole.

While other instrumentation comes in and out, everything works together, rising and falling at the perfect moments to truly reinforce the profound lyrics as a choir provides some goosebump-inducing background vocals throughout.

"The broken glass of a bottle makes a jagged rock bottom
Right now I got two shaky hands, only one way to stop 'em
And I haven't touched a drop in seven hours, three minutes
Hardly sobered up, already wanna quit quittin'
Sweating in an old church basement, wishing I was wasted
I never thought I'd say this

'Hello, my name's Jason'"

'Winning Streak' is sung from the perspective of a man attending his very first AA meeting. Recently sober, only about seven hours so, in fact, he's already experiencing withdrawals as his hands shake and he sweats out all the toxins that have been keeping him going for who knows how long.

Already close to giving up on quitting the bottle, he sits perched on a chair surrounded by people who have felt – or are feeling – the exact same way as him. While he never thought he'd be in this position, he begins to share his story.

"I've been losin' myself, I've been losin' my mind
I was standin' in the rain just trying to stay dry
I was so ashamed to be in this seat
'Til I met a man who was twenty years clean
He said, 'Evеrybody's here's felt thе same defeat
Nobody walks through these doors on a winning streak'
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on"

Zooming out, he explains that throughout this journey of using alcohol as a crutch, he's ended up losing himself and driving himself crazy.

Flooded with feelings of shame and regret for his actions and for needing the help that AA provides, someone offers him some life changing perspective.

With 20 years sober under his belt, and likely having seen the full swatch of people needing help, a man explains that no one who comes to these meetings has it figured out. In fact, if they did, they wouldn't be there at all. No one comes in feeling on top of the world, but if you stick with it, you'll get there.

"The broken man in the mirror can't look at me 'cause he's guilty
And I swear that the last couple months, that motherfucker tried to kill me
By the time I saw it coming, it was done with already
It's hard to run from it when it runs in the family
A problem with a thousand more it's causing
Damn, this shit's exhausting
This is why I walked in"

Back to his own perspective, the man talks as if his drunken personality is separate from his sober one, calling him guilty and also mentioning that it feels like this alter ego has been slowly trying to kill him.

Crediting his substance issues to his family, likely coming from a long line of people who find solace at the bottom of a bottle, he addresses the fact that his battle with alcohol has only served to cause more and more problems elsewhere in him life and he's at the end of his rope.

This is why he made the bold decision to come to the meeting and seek out some support.

"I'm tried of being broken
I'm sick of feeling hopless
Way down here at my lowest
At the end of my rope, at the end of my rope
So what do I do?
So what do I do?
What do I do?"

Finally arriving at a point where he's ready to get better and start beating his addictions, the man explains that he's tired of feeling broken, hopeless and at rock bottom.

As he pleads for help, we can only guess that his fellow AA attendees are there to pick him up and show him the way.

"I've been losin' myself, I've been losin' my mind
I was standin' in the rain just trying to stay dry
I was so ashamed to be in this seat
'Til I met a man who was twenty years clean
He said, 'Everybody's here's felt the same defeat
Nobody walks through these doors on a winning streak'
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on"

As noted, the impetus for 'Winning Streak' was an actual interaction Jelly Roll witnessed while attending his own AA meetings.

Explaining it to the New York Times, the Grammy-nominated artist said: "This kid, he's going through it. One of the old men sitting there was like, 'Look, man, it's all good. Nobody came here on a winning streak.' It was such a beautiful thing."

Jelly Roll continued: "I never share, I just sit quietly and appreciate the message and the meaning. It's not a part of my story that I share because I have so much respect for the men and women in the program that get actually completely sober that I never want my stuff to get in the way of them."

Similarly, during a recent stop on his Beautifully Broken Tour, the entertainer shared: "This song's called 'Winning Streak,' it's about a man experiencing his first day sober."

Addressing a man in the crowd who had a sign announcing his seven year anniversary of going sober himself, Jelly Roll added: "Those are the kinds of signs and the kinds of stories that inspire me... I promise you, as long as God gives me this stage, I will always speak for those who are not spoken for. I will always be a voice of the voiceless. I will always be a representative of the underdogs and the have nots. I promise you, I will never let us down!"

The broken glass of a bottle makes a jagged rock bottom
Right now I got two shaky hands, only one way to stop 'em
And I haven't touched a drop in seven hours, three minutes
Hardly sobered up, already wanna quit quittin'
Sweating in an old church basement, wishing I was wasted
I never thought I'd say this

'Hello, my name's Jason'

I've been losin' myself, I've been losin' my mind
I was standin' in the rain just trying to stay dry
I was so ashamed to be in this seat
'Til I met a man who was twenty years clean
He said, 'Evеrybody's here's felt thе same defeat
Nobody walks through these doors on a winning streak'
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on

The broken man in the mirror can't look at me 'cause he's guilty
And I swear that the last couple months, that motherfucker tried to kill me
By the time I saw it coming, it was done with already
It's hard to run from it when it runs in the family
A problem with a thousand more it's causing
Damn, this shit's exhausting
This is why I walked in

Thanks for letting me share, y'all

I've been losin' myself, I've been losin' my mind
I was standin' in the rain just trying to stay dry
I was so ashamed to be in this seat
'Til I met a man who was twenty years clean
He said, 'Evеrybody's here's felt thе same defeat
Nobody walks through these doors on a winning streak'

I'm tried of being broken
I'm sick of feeling hopless
Way down here at my lowest
At the end of my rope, at the end of my rope
So what do I do?
So what do I do?
What do I do?

I've been losin' myself, I've been losin' my mind
I was standin' in the rain just trying to stay dry
I was so ashamed to be in this seat
'Til I met a man who was twenty years clean
He said, 'Everybody's here's felt the same defeat
Nobody walks through these doors on a winning streak'
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on

--

For more on Jelly Roll, see below: