The "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out" singer told 'Rolling Stone' about the character at the center of his new album, 'Chuck Timely & The Hourglass'
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/olivia-rodrigo-role-model-060426-f726df4dc4bf4c2492c23dd2e5e7a8bb.jpg "Olivia Rodrigo and Role Model attend Sir Lucian Grainge's 2026 Music Is Universal Artist Showcase at Nya Studios on January 31, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.")
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NEED TO KNOW
- Role Model’s upcoming album Chuck Timely & The Hourglass explores themes of time, love and societal pressures
- He tells Rolling Stone the character Chuck Timely was created as a “pathetic yet charming” time traveler present in iconic cultural moments
- The album’s first single “High Hopes 3000” is out now
Role Model would like to introduce you to Chuck Timely.
In a new Rolling Stone interview, the 29-year-old "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out" singer-songwriter (whose real name is Tucker Pillsbury) detailed the backstory behind the titular character of his upcoming album, Chuck Timely & The Hourglass.
After announcing the upcoming album earlier this week, Role Model told the outlet, "The common thread was about time and feeling a little bit stagnant in this two-year period of being single and dating and then not dating and feeling this pressure the entire time of, 'All right, I’m getting older. I think I need…' — feeling a pressure to find love and all the questions that come with it."
He spoke about being "at the age where everyone’s getting married around me" and noted he's attended "weddings as an adult for the first time" over the past year.
"I wanted to represent this character that I came up with as well as the themes which he represents," said Role Model. "He’s a little bit pathetic in a charming way."
The Chuck Timely & The Hourglass album cover, shot by Chloe Chippendale, features Role Model drinking from a beer next to a couple of newlyweds looking at him with a judgmental stare.
He came up with the character while figuring out how to take listeners on a "journey through time" with the album and describes Chuck Timely as "someone who can represent that journey through time, someone who’s been there the whole time."
Role Model launched an Instagram page for Chuck Timely in April, and he's shared photos of the character standing in recording sessions with the Beatles and Britney Spears.
"We talk about him as a time traveler. This weird dude who was just for some reason in the background of all those studio sessions," the musician told Rolling Stone. "We talk about Chuck every single day in the studio, and it was the most fun part, honestly."
Credit: Courtesy Lede Company
He added, "Once the songs were written, all we did was talk about Chuck. We made up all these stories. I feel he was always in the background of photos with Michael Jackson for some reason, but also weirdly knows Olivia Rodrigo and has been through this journey through the decades. And the idea was to have someone represent what we were trying to do with the album."
Chuck Timely & The Hourglass is set for an Aug. 7 release. The album's first single, "High Hopes 3000," is out now.