What you need to know
Even my role model grandma loves his “Sexiest Man Alive” centerfold.
The 28-year-old indie pop singer shared a slew of photos on Instagram on Monday, Nov. 24. Among them was a photo of his grandmother, smiling broadly and holding up his PEOPLE insert.
Role Model is PEOPLE’s first ever Sexiest Man Alive centerfold, so it’s no wonder he included it in his highlight reel.
His “Certified Sexy” designation comes a year after he lost the title of Sexiest Musician in PEOPLE’s 2024 Readers’ Choice Poll to Harry Styles. And while it was a reader-selected poll, Role Models put “the people” at the top of their enemies list. Hopefully putting him on the 2025 centerfold cover rectifies the situation.
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“It feels amazing. It’s incredible. I’m honored,” the singer-songwriter, whose real name is Tucker Pillsbury, said of his momentous accomplishment.
“I feel like I had a fight with a friend and it’s the first text we get back after not talking to each other for a year and it’s like, ‘Hey, happy birthday. I know we haven’t talked yet, but we’re just keeping in touch,'” the singer tells PEOPLE. “It feels good.”
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The merry-go-round post also features highlights from his No Place Like tour, including Niall Horan playing “Sally” during a performance of his viral hit “Sally, Until the Wine’s Gone” at the London show on Nov. 4. Role Model revealed in the featurette Sexyest Man Alive that this is her “favorite part of being on set right now.”
Role Model also teased his upcoming album with a photo of him in the studio and the caption, “I’ve been working hard on Little Miss RM3…”
The singer told PEOPLE that he has been “writing a lot of songs” while on tour, drawing inspiration from “new experiences, coming home, and reuniting with old friends.”
“This time feels different,” he said. “I’m not withdrawing from social experiences to write an album. I’m doing the opposite and trying to experience everything now.”
Role Model went on to say that although she initially felt pressure after the success of “Sally, When I Run Out of Wine,” “at a certain point I stopped feeling the pressure to get through it.”
“I felt a little bit of that and thought, if you’re confused, maybe now isn’t the time to start writing,” he said. “It’s a song I wrote two years ago, but I think it’s grown now and I can write better songs than this, so I’m not worried.”
As for when their next album will be released, Role Model is undecided.
“I’d like to have another album out by next fall, but we’ll see. I can’t plan that far ahead,” he said.
