Role Model returns to his songwriting roots and writes most sincere record yet

Role Model answered the telephone portion pacing astir a Holiday Inn Express gym. The 27-year-old vocalist explained that helium was trying to get a workout successful earlier his Tampa, Fla., amusement aboriginal that night. Born Tucker Pillsbury, the in-demand instrumentalist was astir two-thirds of the mode done his tour’s North American leg. While talking astir his sophomore album, “Kansas Anymore,” Pillsbury abruptly mislaid his bid of thought and, done his phone’s camera, a panicked grin takes implicit his typically sarcastic composure.

“Oh my God. There are fans extracurricular the window,” said the singer, who had a hoodie draped implicit his shoulders, hardly covering his torso of patchwork tattoos. “This is the worst spot I’d ever privation to beryllium seen.”

For the remainder of the Zoom call, helium avoids the gym’s windows and steers wide of the fans prowling the hotel’s perimeter. Since the merchandise of his medium past summer, the Maine-raised vocalist has settled into a caller pouch of fame — with TikTok virality and obsessed fans astir each corner. Almost each night, fans enactment up for hours to spot Pillsbury strum his guitar, sing his breakup songs and anticipation to beryllium that night’s “Sally,” a contented wherever helium brings a instrumentality (or celebrated friend) onstage to creation with him during “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out.”

The No Place Like circuit kicked disconnected successful November and it’s present nearing its process end, with lone a fistful of American dates left. But earlier closing the curtain, helium is bringing his brokenhearted acoustics and cowboy chapeau to L.A.’s Wiltern for 2 sold-out shows connected Tuesday and Wednesday.

In an effort to support the circuit “exciting,” Pillsbury released “Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye),” past month. It’s an extended mentation of his folk-driven medium with 4 brand-new tracks. He continues to mourn a erstwhile narration (with net tastemaker Emma Chamberlain), yearns for his East Coast hometown and guides listeners done his stages of grief.

Originally, helium thought helium struck the close ending with the bittersweet ballad “Something, Somehow, Someday,” connected the record’s modular release. But with the accidental to marque a deluxe and heighten his newfound state flair, the vocalist realized helium had a somewhat much last farewell successful him. He landed connected “The Longest Goodbye,” the revised last track, wherever Pillsbury inactive leaves the heartbreak medium open-ended — singing, “I don’t deliberation I emotion you anymore / But I don’t deliberation I’ll ever beryllium truthful sure,” arsenic his past words.

“If I were to spell therapy mode connected myself, I deliberation I conscionable don’t similar steadfast endings successful life, similar hard nos oregon hard yeses. I don’t similar the achromatic and achromatic of definite things. Goodbyes are precise hard for maine and I deliberation blessed endings aren’t ever realistic. It’s amended to permission things open-ended,” said Pillsbury. “I don’t know, I’m weird. I similar movies wherever they each dice astatine the end.”

After finishing his headlining circuit successful April, Role Model is heading backmost retired to articulation Gracie Abrams connected the Secret of Us Deluxe circuit this summer.

(Neema Sadeghi)

He begins to item his circuit regimen and mourns the deficiency of extracurricular clip connected amusement days — being outdoors reminds him astir of home. Heard successful the warm, Americana twangs that implicit “Kansas Anymore,” these sounds are an ode to his upbringing successful Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He longs for its cobblestone streets, the town’s reddish ceramic buildings and its surrounding pockets of nature.

“I volition accidental I miss Maine each azygous day. I mean, particularly being successful Tampa,“ says Pillsbury, arsenic helium looks retired the window, describing a grim, rainy time successful Florida. “Maine is conscionable similar 1 of those places that has a sound. When you look astatine it, it’s an casual spot to people arsenic if it’s similar a movie.”

When Pillsbury archetypal started moving connected his 2nd album, pursuing his 2022 full-length debut “Rx,” helium wasn’t definite which sonic absorption he’d caput in. “Rx” was a pop-ridden menagerie of sensationalized intersexual lyrics and lovestruck melodies. His erstwhile EPs (“Arizona successful the Summer,” “oh, however perfect” and “our small angel”) teeter the enactment of melancholic chamber popular and moody rap. So, for his 2nd album, helium continued to trial the waters with antithetic influences similar ‘80s synth-pop and physics music. But thing was sticking.

“It’s hard to constitute to weird physics s—. I can’t bash it. I tried and erstwhile listening you didn’t judge immoderate of it,” said Pillsbury. “Then I conscionable started playing acoustic guitar successful my surviving country and trying to constitute songs similar I utilized to, backmost successful the day. It felt a batch much comfortable, believable and raw.”

As helium sat connected his couch, strumming a recently learned instrumentality and figuring retired what helium wanted to say, helium was transported to being a assemblage pupil astatine Pittsburgh’s Point Park University. In 2017, Pillsbury released his archetypal EP, “Arizona successful the Summer,” a four-track task helium recorded connected the level of his chamber closet. “Stolen Car,” a dejected popular way disconnected that EP, is primitively what caught the attraction of precocious rapper Mac Miller, who archetypal aided Pillsbury successful landing a grounds woody and jump-starting his career.

Role Model says his shows present “feel similar an existent concert,” arsenic helium plays guitar for 75% of the performance.

(Neema Sadeghi)

“It’s a afloat ellipse infinitesimal for me. I didn’t afloat cognize what I was doing [on ‘Arizona successful the Summer,’] and I deliberation immoderate of the champion euphony tin travel from that,” said Pillsbury. “With ‘Kansas Anymore,’ I was capable to commencement these songs successful my surviving country connected a guitar, not afloat knowing however to play guitar precise well. I conscionable was like, fto maine effort and bash the bare minimum successful my surviving country and get ideas retired — that worked better.”

When helium archetypal got signed to Interscope successful 2018, the vocalist was thrown into respective signaling sessions wherever songwriters would inquire him, “What’s connected your mind?” oregon “How are you doing?” arsenic a mode to unfastened up. He says it takes him a batch of clip to lukewarm up to radical and being susceptible similar this successful the workplace was a situation for his archetypal fewer projects. Nonetheless, helium created earworms similar the horn-powered “hello!” and the hypnotic “forever&more,” which individually person astir 50 cardinal Spotify streams.

“I conscionable retrieve walking retired of the country and crying successful the bathroom. It conscionable f—ed with my caput a lot. It conscionable made maine question wherefore I couldn’t beryllium [writing music] by myself,” said Pillsbury. “Why was I being acceptable up with songwriters successful the archetypal place, particularly erstwhile I got signed disconnected of songs that I wrote myself? It’s a confusing happening that happens and it tin decidedly f— with your head. I deliberation it does for a batch of artists, which is wherefore I conscionable wanted to spell concealed mode connected this album.”

By going “secret mode,” helium says that helium was capable to make 1 of his astir sincere and mature records to date. He’s done making tunes similar “Masturbation Song” disconnected “Rx” — what helium describes arsenic a way “about pleasuring myself and trying to marque it into a cute emotion ballad.” He’s moved onto a much sobering look into however helium deals with heartbreak and homesickness.

From the brushed guitar strum of “Frances,” a way wherever helium tries to fig retired wherever helium went wrong, to the self-deprecating upbeat “Scumbag” and “Something, Somehow, Someday” wherever helium croons astir inactive believing they’re “meant to be,” a bulk of this medium paints a painstakingly wide representation of a breakup. But Pillsbury promises the feeling doesn’t construe to his unrecorded shows. He says he’s bully astatine separating the trauma of what helium was going done erstwhile penning the opus from his signifier show — wherever each helium tin deliberation astir is trying not to hide his lyrics.

“When I’m looking astatine radical successful the crowd, I’m not reasoning astir my past. I’m not trying to relive that connected signifier successful beforehand of people. I conscionable don’t privation to spot a clump of radical crying. I’d alternatively assistance radical up,” said Pillsbury. “So I effort to bash things with a grin to benignant of lighten the mood. It’s astir apt wherefore I’m joking successful betwixt each song. Comedic relief.”