You probably saw a video of a singer screaming: “Where is my Sally tonight?”, and a famous person walks onto the stage. Well, that’s Role Model, or Tucker Pillsbury, to the closest ones. The American singer is having a huge success with his new album Kansas anymore, and his new era, leaving the melodic pop from the album Rx to more country vibes.
But his career goes way beyond the recent success, so stick with us to learn more about him, and, by the end, you will definitely put him on your playlist.
Why “Role Model”?
If you search in the dictionary, a “Role Model” is a person to look up to as an example to follow. But that’s not the reason why Tucker chose this as his stage name. He said to the Australian QG that it was actually a joke, and now, he is stuck with it.
The beginning of the career, by accident…
Just as the choice of his artist name, Tucker’s career wasn’t planned; it actually started during college, after he was stuck in his dorm room due to a broken wrist and a lack of music equipment. During this time, he began rapping and created some mixtapes. In 2016, under the name DILLIS, he self-released the album Moth.
A year later, he released a new EP, ARIZONA IN THE SUMMER, which caught the attention of the rapper Mac Miller, who later invited him to a collaboration. This led to him signing a contract with Interscope Records, a label responsible for launching great artists like 5 Seconds of Summer, Selena Gomez, and Maroon 5.
Very often, Role Model would talk about the admiration he had for the rapper. In an interview to the independent music magazine The Line of Best Fit, he said: “I’ve never met someone and felt like they understood everything, I saw myself in him… he was really one of a kind”.
His first song to go viral was “Blind”, released in 2020, and later the album Rx. Still not very known by everyone, Tucker was starting to grow in the music industry.
The Kansas Anymore Era
Who would imagine that an album about a breakup would change his life? For context, Tucker and the podcaster Emma Chamberlain dated for almost three years, parting ways in October 2023. His new album talks about how hard it is to move on when you still love the person, but still understand all the mistakes you made. In addition, it brings songs that sound like love songs, such as “Frances” and “Deeply Still In Love”.
Let’s take a deep dive into some of the songs that sum up the vibe of the album:
Old Recliners
This song is about a childhood love and all the good and nostalgic memories that come with it. But as life is, the lovers grew apart, and the other persona “settles with someone else”.
“I remember when the days were long / Old recliners in the yard / Kicking heels up to a favorite song.
Now you cry all night ’til the morning / In the arms of someone you settled for.”
Some protector
This song is about your ex-lover moving on, and you’re still stuck in the relationship, still caring for the person who once was your whole world. We can definitely say this song is about his past relationship with Emma, because they broke up in September, and he sings, “Am I thinking ‘bout September”.
Further on in the song, he worries about never loving someone else, while he destroys his reputation with his actions, once he sees his ex getting with someone else. We see Tucker fighting against feeling guilty, jealous, sorry, caring, and trying to get over her.
The Longest Goodbye
Throughout this song, we can see the journey of our cowboy getting over the relationship. We can see the moment he realized things weren’t working anymore. In the verses, he battles between the feeling of not loving her anymore, but never being so sure he is over that feeling.
During the entire tour, he sang the song with the lyrics “And I don’t think I love you anymore. / But I don’t think I’ll ever be so sure”. However, at the last show, he completed it with: “I’m sure”. Meaning that, as the Kansas Anymore era comes to an end, so does his love for Emma.
“Where is my Sally Tonight?”
With more than 50 shows, Tucker toured his album on the No Place Like Tour. The concerts were filled with good performances and surprises. It was with his cowboy hat and little dances that he conquered the majority of his new public.
The peak of the concerts was when he sang “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out”, his most well-known song. We can say that the song is about a one-night stand filled with wine. When the music started, the fans knew what was coming: every night, a famous guest would enter the stage, being the famous Sally.
Cool, huh? We had Niall Horan, Olivia Rodrigo, Laufey, Conan Gray, Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, his bestie Lizzy McAlpine, and a load of other Divas.
In the end, we can say that Role Model is the moment, and you must give him a chance!
The article above was edited by Juliana Sanches.
Like this type of content? Check out the Her Campus Casper Libero homepage for more.