Album Review
October 29, 2024
Design by Clotilde Pedron
It’s been a while since the music industry has given us an album in which the muse is so blatantly obvious, especially coming from a male artist. ROLE MODEL’s sophomore album is about the internet’s sweetheart, Emma Chamberlain. From casual middle name dropping to mentions of her astrological sign, this leaves little to no room for listeners to hypothesize on who Kansas Anymore might be about. Put simply, the album is one of yearning, reflection on a more than three year long relationship, ending with a glimmer of hope of finding one another again when the time is right.
Emma’s influence on Tucker’s music can be traced back to his title “blind” which appeared on his 2020 EP our little angel. The starting line can be connected to Chamberlain’s aesthetic at the time—particularly the mention of ‘gold hoops’ which would make a another cameo on title two of his latest album: “Look At That Woman,”
She got the gold hoops, Prada fit
I'm in love with all of it
- from blind, Role Model
Well, she had the hoops, white gold
With the penny loafers covering her toes
She was mine, got cold
- from Look At That Woman, Role Model
In a GQ interview back in 2022, ROLE MODEL revealed that he found straightforward love songs boring. Ironically, two years later, he dropped an album containing a plethora of straightforward love songs. “Frances” and “Deeply Still In Love” have listeners swooning over the dripping admiration portrayed, perhaps wishing that the songs were written about them instead. There’s a strong sense of vulnerability in a known artist releasing an album dedicated to another public figure, and it’s an added dimension to this album that a portion of their relationship was spent in the limelight. The struggle of pursuing a relationship in which both parties know fame is mentioned in “Frances”. In the song, Tucker discloses that part of the reason the relationship ended is due to his own homesickness. He was constantly leaving Los Angeles where Emma is based to go back home.
I was surprised to find out that Tucker Pillsbury was not from Kansas, but from Maine. The title made sense once “The Dinner” rolled around half way through the album, and clearly referenced the famous Wizard of Oz line: "Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore."
I click my heels three times, oh
We're not in Kansas anymore
- from The Dinner, Role Model
This phrase has been borrowed in pop culture for years on end. In this context, Los Angeles has become a foreign land for Tucker, and an uncomfortable one at that. One that represents the dark side of the city: drugs, mentalities, hypocritical lifestyle. The cumulation of these feelings fuel his desire to go home, with or without his lover.
“Slut Era Interlude” elicits a shift in the album from a muse-obsessed loverboy to one that is trying to move on. While the first half of the album is composed of an upbeat momentum, focused on the love he still seemingly has for her, the second half highlights the need to prioritize his feelings over his lover's. In “Compromise”, ROLE MODEL sings that his lover’s happiness shouldn’t be forgotten for the sake of their relationship—in this case, Emma was affected by his homesickness turned into absence. A touch of romance is added through the use of French dialogue, which perhaps was an innuendo to Emma’s glamorous visits to Paris for fashion weeks and the like.
The songs polarize the couple all throughout the listening experience: think “Scumbag,” “Oh Gemini,” “Slipfast” and finally , “Something, Somehow, Someday.” These songs characterize him and her as tremendously different people—he puts her on a pedestal, all the while bringing himself down. There’s this underlying impression of her being ‘too good’ for someone like him. This finale wraps up Kansas Anymore on quite an optimistic note—one in which the two would find each other again regardless of their differences.
Emma Chamberlain is known to have a relatively private dating life and has never been the type to hard-launch before she’s sure about the relationship. During her relationship with Tucker, she did publicly acknowledge which songs were about her, which give us, the public, an insight on the depth of their relationship.
Though she hasn’t publicly spoken about her breakup nor the album, she released a podcast episode in August called, “can celebrities find true love? a talk with emma.” The snippet below explains why, according to her, celebrities struggle to find love. “Celebrities are constantly at risk of being used by their partner by more than just their partner, their family, their friends because celebrities have fame, power, money.” Emma, though a public figure herself, criticizes the development of a God complex for people in the public eye through gained traction and popularity. Paradoxically, she also mentioned that some of her past partners showed ‘animosity’ towards the attention she gained, her public, and oftentimes her glamorous way of life.
Kansas Anymore is their love story written with Tucker’s pen. With the both of them being well known, there will always be some other detail missed or emitted. Taking out the information we know about the couple, the album remains an ode to a girl he once (or still?) loved(s). It’s catchy, emotional, relatable and signals a cornerstone in his career.
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