ROLE MODEL, the stage name of bedroom-pop phenom Tucker Pillsbury, is a bit of a misnomer. His musical charms are found in the most ordinary moments—dreamy pop tracks with inventive production, the kind to grow a cult following online and land a person barely out of their teens a major-label record deal. Now in his twenties, he’s released his debut full-length, Rx, following a few popular and experimental EPs (2017’s Arizona in the Summer, 2019’s Oh, How Perfect, and 2020’s Our Little Angel). It’s a statement work written with his confidante and producer Spencer Stewart (Olivia O’Brien, Ruel) that began in Pillsbury’s familial home in Portland, Maine, at the height of the pandemic before the pair returned to his new residence in Los Angeles. “The album came together at the same time that I had fallen in love for the first time,” ROLE MODEL tells Apple Music. “I wanted it to be about the power of a woman and the healing that went on. It’s the greatest drug ever. For the first time in my life, I felt a change in my brain. I was going outside, I was motivated. It was much bigger than anything I had experienced.”
A collection of hip-hop percussion (“can you say the same”), onanism metaphors (“masturbation song”), and clever plays on internet slang (“die for my bitch,” “who hurt you”), Rx doubles as an ode to Pillsbury’s love life. “Throughout this process, the biggest focus was on lyrics and songwriting,” he says. “I just want people to take me seriously as a songwriter. I genuinely wrote every song on this album. I’m very proud of that, and I hope people can see that.” Below, he walks us through Rx, track by track.
“die for my bitch”
“I’m a whore for clickbait-y lyrics or song titles to rope you in and then have some sort of wow factor. The first lyric that came out was, ‘My flight started crashing, so I started laughing.’ Going through surviving a plane crash, getting my head pushed underwater and drowning—nothing can hurt me because I’ll only die for you. It has a very explosive chorus, too, which feels very pop to me, but in a cool way.”
“who hurt you”
“After going on tour, we had a couple months to really finish the album, and that tour changed everything. I scrapped four songs because I was like, ‘Wait, we need drums throughout. We need energy consistently throughout a song.’ That’s how this song got birthed. I wrote the whole thing alone, brought the song to [Spencer Stewart], and he helped produce it into this very fun, upbeat song with pretty dark lyrics. I like to disguise those things with happy melodies and upbeat production.”
“forever&more”
“This is technically the first single of the album. We took a few writing trips, me and Spencer, over the course of the pandemic, just to get out of LA and get out of our houses. We went to the desert, and this was one of the four songs that we made. It was on the last day of the writing trip, we were both drained, and I was like, ‘We need one more or someone is going to kill us for wasting all this money on an Airbnb.’ He started playing the guitar chords exactly how they are. And I was like, ‘That’s perfect. Can you leave for a little bit?’ I kicked him out of the house for a couple hours and that first verse came out. He came back and helped a lot with the bridge. I have issues forming a complete pop song."
“save a seat”
“This is the one song on the album that’s about a past relationship. When I went home in the beginning of the pandemic, I had gotten a text from that person from the past. It was just rude. And so, that ignited the song, honestly. I already had the guitar loop, and it became one of the songs that pours out of you. It felt very classic rock, to me. I’m very proud of the production on this one: the big, angelic, gospel-y, quiet-y chorus thing is like a dream. I love that stuff.”
“If jesus saves, she’s my type”
“It’s obviously not about Jesus Christ. It’s not about religion. The song was written about being in this very dark hole before I met this person. It was one of the lowest points of my life. I’ve been a very independent person. I love experiencing things by myself. But I think even the strongest people reach a breaking point with that, and that was mine over two years ago. When I met this person and started talking to them, it was instantly like the greatest drug I’ve ever tried. It was a relief—I felt a higher power or had been saved.”
“masturbation song”
“This is probably my favorite song. My goal, with Spencer, was trying to find cool perspectives [to explain the feeling of] falling in love. And to me, it was like, what better way to show someone how much you care about them than to use masturbation as a message to them. Like, ‘This is how much I think about you; you’re constantly in my head.’ And make it a very sweet way to say, ‘I love you’ to someone. Obviously, it is very dirty, but it’s ballad-y, and the slow, sad guitar contrasts it very nicely. It’s more heartwarming, to me, than it is explicit.”
“neverletyougo”
“I had the melody in my head, the chorus of it, and nothing was really hitting the way I wanted it to. I found this piano loop that was super simple, and it was perfect. So, I brought it to [Spencer]. I had just written the verses and was like, ‘Let’s treat this like a rap song. Let’s just have this pitched-down vocal and have it almost sound like a sample.’ Then I just literally talk my shit in the verses and get to finally brag about this girl that I’m in love with. The song is nothing more than me being proud of the person I’m with and being a little bit braggy about it.”
“stripclub music”
“I have never been to a strip club, but I have always thought that the dynamic inside a strip club is so cool. It’s beautiful to have these men down low on the ground, and these women almost hypnotizing these men and literally taking their money, spinning above them. It’s so metaphorical and cool to me. I started trying to make a version of this song back in 2018, I think. There were probably four or five versions of the song that were cool, but not quite what I wanted. And once we had started this album, I brought the concept back up. Obviously, it’s made up, but I wanted to tell this story of a stripper and why I think it’s the coolest thing ever to me. It fits into the theme of the album: of a woman and this higher power.“
“life is funny”
“This one started with the melody that’s in the beginning of the song. It poured out in order, honestly. The verse is strong enough to carry the song. We just needed something simple in the chorus. And [Spencer] was like, ‘Well, what’s the message of the song?’ I was like, ‘Well, I guess people aren’t what they say they are. And life is funny that way.’ And we used that for the hook.“
“can you say the same”
“We were in Pasadena on the writing trip, and it was the last day. I needed one more. I asked [Spencer], ‘Can you play some Drake-esque chords?’ I love Drake. And that one was getting things off of my chest. This whole album process, I was trying to avoid talking about myself. So, I waited until the end of the album just to, I don’t know, keep it out of the way. And it also goes into ‘rx’ very nicely.”
“rx”
“The message of the album is explained at the very end of the very last song. I wanted a big-finale moment. At the very end of the song, I say, ‘Guess you’re all that really matters anymore.’ It shows this person how much they mean to me and how much I needed that in my life.”