A step in the right direction

Review Score:

B-

August 11 / 2024 –

B-

This album was pleasantly surprising to me. Role Model’s music prior to this sounded like complete fluff to me. But on Kansas Anymore, Tucker Pillsbury (yes that’s his real name), is forced to be a little more introspective. Something I didn’t know prior to hearing this was that Role Model/Tucker was dating Emma Chamberlain – a woman who I’ve seen holding a microphone on a Tik Tok once maybe. I’m out of the loop, but Tucker’s fans certainly aren’t. Search the comment section of any of his videos and find 2000 comments saying “I’d fold” or “she should take him back”. Which might be frustrating for Tucker as an artist, had he not based his entire musical persona up until this point on his relationship with Emma Chamberlain.

With a country twang infused with as much modern pop as Tucker could stuff into it, Kansas Anymore has something his previous music did not: identity. On a recent interview with Zane Lowe, he admitted that this is the first time he felt a sense of pride in what he’d made. And he should. It’s clear that a lot more love went into this than ever before.

Maybe it sounds like I’m not a huge fan of Tucker Pillsbury and Role Model. Which would be true. Like Matty Healy, he can be hard to stomach. In fact, I feel that way about most pop stars when you really boil it down. But do I love the 1975? Absolutely. So I kept an open mind about this album. And I found something to enjoy about it.

Tucker delivers some solid, catchy melodies on tracks like “Scumbag”, “Deeply Still In Love”, and “Superglue”. The stripped back instrumentation isn’t groundbreaking, but takes a huge leap in quality by not sounding like it was written by whoever is in Maroon 5 these days. And as an added bonus, the listener can focus on the writing. Which, while often simple, manages to be clever and surprising at times.

“Slut Era Interlude” was the standout track. It caught me off-guard in a way no other song on this album could. Maybe I should just go listen to Dijon instead. Don’t let that deter you. This song is truly great. It’s raw, honest, even brutal at times.

“Slipfast” is gentle and sweet. Sticking to that self-reflective honesty that the album excels at, it ebbs and flows like a gentle tide. It’s sweet, and I like that about it.

While I don’t hate any of these songs, some feel entirely forgettable to me. The worst offender is “The Dinner”, which sounds like a Noah Kahan song (and I mean that in the meanest way). I enjoyed nearly every song while it was on, but I don’t find myself revisiting too many. “Oh, Gemini”, “Compromise”, “So Far Gone (feat. Lizzy McAlpine) – all guilty of this.

Maybe this all sounds too snarky. I did enjoy this album. And it probably is Role Model’s best work. I hope this is a sign of things to come.

Review Score:

B-

Gubb wrote this review. You can’t get mad at Gubb.