HARRISVILLE – When Brandon Barela’s teacher asked him and his parents if he wanted to perform in the third grade talent show at Silver Ridge Elementary School, his mom Kourtney Barela had a pretty good idea of where things were headed.
“Every Jelly Roll song is on repeat in this house,” Barela said of her 8-year-old son. “He takes my phone often, and we put music on, and he’ll just walk around and sing.”
8-year-old Brandon Barela sings Jelly Roll’s “I’m Not Okay,” at the family’s home in Harrisville. (Mike Anderson, KSL TV)
The idea of her son singing in front of his whole grade however comes with a bit of trepidation. Brandon, otherwise affectionately known as “Chomp,” has down syndrome. Both students and teachers however were very encouraging during the performance; giving Chomp thumbs up and cheering him on.
“The support was just crazy. Everybody was just so happy for him,” Barela said. “Everybody in the school knows him. They’re all friends with him. And so it’s just such a good experience for him, I think.”
Barela later posted the video to her Facebook page, which garnered a lot of positive attention from family and friends. She decided shortly afterwards to post the video on TikTok, holding some fairly low expectations, and was met with more surprise.
Brandon Barela sings “I’m Not Okay,” at his 3rd grade talent show. (Courtesy Barela family)
“Overnight I woke up just to an insane amount of notifications,” Barela recalled. “It’s a little bit overwhelming, but definitely such a positive thing.”
The video has already garnered more than 648,000 views and thousands of comments.
“It’s just been such a positive thing to see, which is very heartwarming and very, very reassuring,” Barela said. “Nothing but positivity on there. Everybody cheering him on, (and) tagging Jelly Roll in the post.”
Many of the comments called on the country singer and rapper to meet Chomp, with comments like, “Come on Jelly, make this kid’s world, bro!”
Unbeknownst to the thousands of commenters however, Chomp was already able to catch the attention of the Grammy nominated artist last year. Barela and her husband had already purchased tickets to his August concert, and decided it was worth a shot to see if Jelly Roll would meet their son.
“I had reached out to the management team just kind of saying, ‘hey, here’s who we are. My son is a huge fan,’” Barela explained. “We sent him a little clip of him singing a Jelly Roll song. And they emailed me back immediately.”
Chomp and his parents were able to meet Jelly Roll backstage before the August performance.
Brandon Barela and his parents meet with Jelly Roll backstage before his August 2024 show at The Delta Center. (Courtesy Barela family)
“(He) and Jelly Roll sang together for a few minutes, and it was such a cool experience,” Barela said.
Raising Chomp and his 3-year-old baby sister, Aliyah who also has down syndrome can have it’s fair share of challenges, but as Barela explained, the type of positivity and kindness that has been met out of Chomp’s love for Jelly Roll makes a huge difference.
Brandon Barela, and his 3 year-old sister, Aliyah.
“I think sometimes there’s kind of a stigma around, you know, kids with down syndrome, (they) can’t do certain things, or can’t be a certain way,” Barela explained. “And I think he, kind of, is breaking all of those rules and showing that really he can do anything.”
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