ROLE MODEL

ROLE MODEL is the alias of Tucker Pillsbury, a singer/songwriter whose processing of complex emotions is belied by his restrained vocals and preference for easygoing and often strummy pop. Within a year of self-releasing his first EP, he landed a deal with Interscope through Benny Blanco's Mad Love. His major-label affiliation has yielded the EPs Oh, How Perfect (2019) and Our Little Angel (2020), as well as his love-struck first proper album, Rx (2022). After a pair of stand-alone singles, he issued a follow-up album, 2024's Kansas Anymore. "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out," from the album's deluxe version, reached number one on the Billboard AAA chart in 2025. "High Hopes 3000," from ROLE MODEL's 2026 album Chuck Timely & the Hourglass, fared even better, reaching the Billboard Hot 100.

Pillsbury entered college with a desire to produce and direct movies, but the Portland, Maine native caught the music-making bug when he discovered that he could do it on his own with limited means. After he made a couple mixtapes that left him doubting his potential as a rapper, he started singing, quickly took to it, and ultimately changed direction with a subsequent newfound emphasis on songwriting. He debuted ROLE MODEL in 2017 with Arizona in the Summer, a four-song EP produced by local collaborator Owen Ardell.

Pillsbury moved up to the Mad Love roster the next year. A crop of singles, most notably the lazing "Minimal," led to Oh, How Perfect and Our Little Angel, issued respectively in 2019 and 2020. These six-track EPs saw Pillsbury refine his writing and fill out his sound with assistance from producers such as Benjamin Miller and Happy Perez, Andrew Luce and Todd Pritchard, and Spencer Stewart and Stint. He then worked closely with Stewart on ROLE MODEL's debut full-length, previewed in July 2021 with its lead single "forever&more." Rx arrived on Interscope in 2022, followed by the stand-alone singles "Cross Your Mind" and 2023's "A Little More Time." With the jaunty "Deeply Still in Love," the lead single from his follow-up album, Pillsbury landed a minor hit that made the Top 40 in New Zealand. Its parent album, Kansas Anymore, was released mid-2024. A deluxe version, Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye), arrived in early 2025 and featured the hit single "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out," which topped Billboard's AAA chart. Additionally, Laufey guested on a version of the song "The Longest Goodbye." In mid-2026, Pillsbury landed another hit with "High Hopes 3000," the lead single from his third album, and his first song to crack the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 95. The riffy "Joy" followed in July with the album, Chuck Timely & the Hourglass, appearing in August. The 12-track set was loosely built around its titular character, an inconspicuous time-traveling musician with ties to numerous celebrities. ~ Andy Kellman