Role Model is pulling back the curtain on his creative process and personal life ahead of the release of his new album.
Ahead of the release of Chuck Timely & the Hourglass on Friday (Aug. 7), the singer-songwriter gets vulnerable about the journey behind the project in a new interview with NYLON, revealing that writing the record pushed him to begin therapy, ponder the success of his viral song “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” and embrace a more honest version of himself.
Role Model (real name Tucker Pillsbury) said the album sparked a period of self-examination that ultimately led him to start therapy for the first time.
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“Making the album and writing all those songs — I think me going to therapy now is a result of that,” he told the publication. “The album did something very good for me in the way that it made me look at myself a little bit deeper.”
The introspective record follows the breakout success of “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out,” which entered Billboard‘s Alternative Adult Airplay chart back in 2025 and remains one of Role Model’s biggest songs to date. Despite its popularity, the singer admitted he never felt pressure to top it.
“I love ‘Sally,’ and I’ll be performing that till I’m in a wheelchair,” he said before joking that the song contains “some of my worst lyrics,” adding that he felt “the bar was really low” going into his next album.
Further into the conversation, Role Model discussed the album’s alter ego, Chuck Timely, explaining that the character wasn’t created as a separate persona so much as a vessel to explore the project’s themes of love, heartbreak and self-discovery. The name itself dates back years, when he originally considered releasing music under the alias before just sticking with Role Model.
The singer also shared one of the album’s surprise features, revealing that his girlfriend Dakota Johnson appears on the track “Love I You” after spontaneously recording a spoken-word bridge during a studio visit. Though he initially resisted the idea of mixing his personal life with work, he said Johnson volunteered to record the part and it resulted in what he called “an amazing cameo.”
Chuck Timely & the Hourglass arrives Aug. 7 and includes the previously released singles “Joy” and “High Hopes 3000”; the latter hit No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its debut.
