“Does love come around or does one come around to it?” That’s the question at the center of “High Hopes 3000,” Role Model‘s just-released new single, and the singer-songwriter says the idea frames his entire third album. Chuck Timely & The Hourglass (Aug. 7) explores his journey after a very public break-up with Emma Chamberlain, with its musical approach taking off from the rootsy, strummy, ultra-hooky pop of his breakthrough hit, “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out,” from his second album, Kansas Anymore. He’s been rumored to be in another relationship more recently, but he emphasizes that the album’s songs are about an “up-and-down period of being single.”
Role Model (born Tucker Pillsbury) hopped on a Zoom to discuss the new album, the Chuck Timely character he’s created in connection to it, and his upcoming film debut alongside Natalie Portman and Mark Ruffalo in Lena Dunham’s comedy Good Sex. Plus, he reveals that he’s killing off a stage bit that went viral over and over — his nightly gimmick of bringing out a fan (or, often, a celebrity, from Portman to Charli XCX to Reneé Rapp to… Al Roker) as a “Sally.”What are you up to today?I am packing. I’m going to Primavera [in Barcelona] tomorrow, and signing way too many vinyls.
