Dakota Johnson
Dakota Johnson

Singer Tucker Pillsbury, who performs under the stage name Role Model, has confirmed his relationship with actress Dakota Johnson and explained why he missed Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding last month, in a new interview timed to the release of his third studio album.

Pillsbury addressed both topics in an interview with NYLON published Aug. 4, just days ahead of the Friday release of his album "Chuck Timely & The Hourglass." Asked about skipping Swift and Kelce's July 3 ceremony in New York City, Pillsbury said he couldn't attend because he was busy in the middle of his album rollout, adding that from what he saw, the wedding looked amazing.

A Relationship Confirmed After Months of Speculation

Johnson and Pillsbury first drew dating rumors in December 2025, after the two were photographed together during a candlelit dinner with friends, appearing affectionate throughout the evening. The 36-year-old actress had recently ended an eight-year, on-and-off relationship with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, which reportedly included a broken engagement before the couple split for good earlier last year. Pillsbury, 28 or 29 depending on the source, had similarly split from influencer Emma Chamberlain in 2023 after roughly three years together, a breakup that provided inspiration for his second album, "Kansas Anymore."

Despite months of public sightings and mounting speculation, both Johnson and Pillsbury had largely kept the relationship private until this week's interview, in which Pillsbury explicitly confirmed the two are together. He indicated he still intends to keep most details of the relationship out of the spotlight going forward, explaining that past experience had taught him to keep interviews focused on his music, since public discussion of his relationships tends to overshadow the work itself online.

A Surprise Musical Cameo

The confirmation came while Pillsbury was discussing one of the more unexpected features on his new album: a spoken-word cameo from Johnson herself on the track "Love I You." According to Pillsbury, the collaboration came about almost by accident during a studio session, when his guitarist and producer, Mason Stoops, suggested Johnson step in to record a female vocal part Pillsbury had been searching to cast.

Pillsbury said his initial instinct was to resist mixing his personal relationship with his professional work, recalling that he told the room to stop, insisting they weren't going to blend work and relationships. Johnson, however, was undeterred. According to Pillsbury, she volunteered on the spot, stood up, got into the vocal booth and recorded the part better than he and his collaborators could have imagined. Reflecting on the moment, Pillsbury said that once he saw she was willing, he considered it an amazing cameo.

On the track, Johnson does not sing a traditional verse but instead performs one side of a brief spoken-word exchange with Pillsbury during the song's bridge. In the exchange, Pillsbury tells her, "Hey, I think you're perfect," to which Johnson responds, "You say that to everyone." He follows up, "K, well, is it working?" and she replies, "Yeah, but don't tell anyone."

Johnson's feature on the track first became public when Pillsbury performed the song live during an intimate show in Chicago on July 30, and fans in attendance quickly recognized her voice and spread the news across social media.

A More Introspective Album

Beyond confirming his relationship, Pillsbury used the NYLON interview to reflect on the broader emotional journey behind "Chuck Timely & The Hourglass," which he described as pushing him toward greater self-examination. He said the process of writing and recording the album ultimately led him to begin therapy for the first time, explaining that making the record did something very good for him by pushing him to look at himself a little more deeply.

The album's themes are partly rooted in Pillsbury's evolving feelings about marriage and commitment, sparked by attending his first wedding as an adult. He said he had never previously found the institution of marriage particularly romantic, viewing the idea of gathering people in a church as unappealing, even while still finding the idea of lifelong partnership meaningful on its own. That perspective shifted, he said, after attending the wedding, which left him in tears. He attributed the emotional reaction in part to watching people around him move into new chapters of life while he felt somewhat stuck in his own. He said attending his sister's wedding affected him even more deeply.

Pillsbury has also spoken about feeling pulled toward his hometown roots in Maine each summer, describing a recurring desire for a more ordinary life removed from public attention. Those tensions, between ambition and a longing for simplicity, helped shape the album's concept, which Pillsbury has previously said centers on a fictional character named Chuck Timely and explores his own experience of navigating adulthood as friends around him settle down and marry.

New Album Arrives Friday

"Chuck Timely & The Hourglass" is set for release Friday, Aug. 7, and includes the previously released singles "Joy" and "High Hopes 3000," the latter of which debuted at No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album follows Pillsbury's breakout viral success with "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out," a song that helped establish him as one of the more closely watched rising artists in pop music over the past year.

Also included on the new album is "The Wedding," a track Pillsbury said was directly inspired by the wedding he attended as an adult, further tying the emotional arc he described in the NYLON interview to the finished project. With the album's release just days away, Pillsbury's newly confirmed relationship with Johnson and his more introspective approach to songwriting are likely to remain focal points of coverage as the record reaches audiences this week.

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