NEED TO KNOW
Role Model’s performance of “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” has become a viral part of his tour, and now he’s finally shedding light on how it came to be.
While speaking with James Austin Johnson of Saturday Night Live at Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians event, the singer, whose real name is Tucker Pillsbury, revealed where he got the idea for his social media-famous “Sally” segment.
When he plays his hit song, “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” off the deluxe version of his latest album, Kansas Anymore, Role Model brings out celebrities, usually chosen by him, to play the elusive and mysterious “Sally” that he references throughout the lyrics.
Krista Schlueter for Rolling Stone
Following the release of his deluxe version of the album, the “Look At That Woman” singer explained that the tour kicked off in Phoenix, where he did his first show “normal.”
However, when the band went to Dallas, a joke began circling online that influencer and host of podcast Therapuss Jake Shane was the inspiration for the song.
“He happened to be in Dallas, and I was like this would be funny to like play into that and he came up,” he said during the recent vent. “Originally, I was going to have him up for a different song, something else, and then we did that and people loved that, so we started bringing up fans.”
River Callaway/WWD via Getty; Frazer Harrison/WireImage
The “Sally” moment has spurred a viral online phenomenon. Since then, Role Model has had everyone from Kate Hudson to Natalie Portman as his “Sally.”
Moments like these have become increasingly common on celebrity tours over the past year as well. On Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour, the pop star frequently features fans and celebrities in a segment where she jokingly arrests them for being too sexy.
Additionally, Charli xcx has a fan cam during her viral “Apple” song, where fans are featured performing the now-famous TikTok dance.
Role Model has had a standout year as his tour took the country (and the internet) by storm.
Speaking with PEOPLE late last year, the singer said of the album: “[Music] was brand new [to me] when I first put out a song, and I think people got to watch me very slowly figure it out,” he says. “I think Kansas Anymore was the turning point, where I just figured all my s— out. It was finally an album that I’m proud of and that I genuinely listen to all the time.”
