From making music in his college dorm room to writing an album about his breakup with Emma Chamberlain, Role Model is one of America’s most up-and-coming singer/songwriters. With his song “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” becoming a number one Billboard hit, it seems as if every day he’s becoming more and more popular.
Role Model, or Tucker Pillsbury, born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is a singer/songwriter and former rapper. He got his start with rapper Mac Miller, who recognized Role Models’ early talents in his debut EP “Arizona” in 2017. He then signed with Mac Miller’s record label, Interscope Records. This made the 2 very close at the start of his career. His first debut album, “Rx,” released in 2022, was more different than anything Tucker had released before. It had a more alternative and indie feel, with some influences of rap.
Tucker followed with making his second album, Kansas Anymore. Kansas Anymore is a beautiful album, written about his ex-girlfriend, Emma Chamberlain. Emma Chamberlain has been described as arguably the most influential woman on the planet. With her “Anything Goes” Podcast averaging 1.5 million listens on each episode, as well as her appearance at many popular events, like the Met Gala. And her relationship with Role Model gained her even more popularity.
Their relationship was first being hard-launched onto the internet on March 22, 2022, when Tucker released a music video for his song “neverletyougo”, featuring Emma in the music video, symbolizing that the song is about her. After about 3 years of what seemed like the “perfect relationship,” Tucker and Emma split apart. Tucker stated in plenty of interviews that during the summer of 2023, Tucker felt like he was having a “quarter-life crisis”. While living in LA and trying to write a follow-up album to “Rx,” he was feeling overwhelmingly homesick. Tucker found himself frequently visiting his home in Maine, creating a space in their relationship that ultimately led to the couple splitting up. After their breakup, Tucker completely scrapped whatever he had of his first copy of “Kansas Anymore” and completely rebranded the album to be just about Emma. A song that stood out to me on Kansas Anymore was “Frances” because it’s Emma’s middle name. For a breakup album, it beautifully shows how much he valued their relationship. The lyric “the small chance we’d be together if I didn’t push you out of the spotlight” shows his reflection on their relationship, and how he was simply just happy to have been with her.
Additionally, “Kansas Anymore” was the album that gained Role Model the most popularity of all his projects. With songs like “Old Recliners” and “Some Protector” charting, and even “Sally When The Wine Runs Out” becoming a number one Billboard hit this month. “Kansas Anymore” explores the bittersweet feeling of a relationship ending, as he comes to terms with the reality of what happened in his relationship. Showing gratitude that the relationship even happened. Throughout the album, almost every song has an upbeat melody. When you listen to each lyric, you notice it’s more than just an upbeat pop song. His lyrics mostly keep a theme of relatable events related to relationships and mental health. Role Model makes his lyrics so deep and confessional that it almost seems personal. Songs like Superglue and Compromise really prove this, where both melodies are so upbeat and cheery, it almost distracts from the deep and true meaning of the lyrics. Lines like “the only thing I’m doing is never enough” from Superglue and “you deserve a happy ever after, even if it’s not mine, don’t you compromise” from Compromise. These lyrics are just showing his realization of his regrets and mistakes with his past relationship, showing a relatable theme of regret and realization.
In conclusion, Role Model is an amazing musician with incredible, deep, and honest music. He’s an uprising artist anyone can relate to. And with one of his songs being a number one Billboard hit, he’s rising in popularity every day.
