Crying: Role Model Wrote A Beautiful Album About His Breakup With Emma Chamberlain
the king of indie pop is very much "deeply still in love"
Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Celeb Breakups, Music
Ilana Frost
Topics: Celeb Breakups, Music
For a small corner of the girls, gays, and theys internet, the No. 1 Roman Empire is Role Model and Emma Chamberlain’s epic romance. It’s a tale as old as modern time: An influencer and a musician fall in love and we learn about every detail of their relationship via the artist’s dramatic love and breakup albums. The influencer and the singer were first linked in 2020 and soft-launched their romance in March 2022 by featuring Emma’s back in Role Model’s “neverletyougo” music video. I have only watched that one several thousand times, I think. Despite Role Model’s countless heart-melting songs about loving the fashion-forward YouTube sensation, they reportedly called things off in October 2023. It was a dark day.
The subject is relevant again now because Role Model just released his Emma Breakup Album, Kansas Anymore. Plus, Emma’s rumored to be in a new relationship with another identical indie boy named Peter McPoland. Here’s why Emma and Role Model broke up and a breakdown of the music about it.
When Role Model was asked about the breakup on The Zach Sang Show, he offered a surprising amount of insight. “I knew there were things that were problematic while I was doing them,” he admitted, noting that he was always “communicative” about that. The singer explained that he wasn’t happy in Los Angeles and found himself going home to Maine a lot, “creating space” between him and Emma. He shared that his feelings of homesickness paired with a “quarter-life crisis” began to affect their relationship negatively. It seems like rather than some dramatic conflict, the musician and the influencer just grew apart.
It’s not confirmed that these two are dating, but there are some compelling hints. First of all, Peter had a wild appearance on The Zach Sang Show in November 2023 — he brought up Role Model and Emma’s breakup and then proceeded to spend five minutes praising Emma. “I appreciate Emma Chamberlain so much,” Peter said. “I appreciate what she’s done … she’s an icon to me, I look up to Emma Chamberlain, I love her, she’s so good,” he gushed, adding, “To me, she’s Bruce Springsteen.”
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When Zach asked Peter if he would make a move on Emma, Peter said he wouldn’t and pointed out that she’s “an icon.” He emphasized, “I love her in business.” Hmm. It’s giving that time Selena Gomez told Ellen DeGeneres she thought of Justin Bieber as her brother and would never date him.
For the record, Emma and Peter were spotted out and about together in recently and Emma’s dad and friends are all following Peter on social media.
Role Model’s pretty open about the fact that the whole album’s about Emma. The singer’s Spotify bio reveals that he started working on this album in 2022 but, “faced with the ending of a formative relationship, he scrapped much of this early work.” With this project, he wanted to turn a “personally heavy season of life into something that might move others.” Consider me extremely moved. Like, I’m currently unable to focus on my responsibilities because of the masterpiece that is this album.
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The track title, “Frances,” jumped out to me because that’s Emma’s middle name. The soft, acoustic tune honors Emma and their relationship in a beautiful way. “At the end of the day / I’m just happy I can say she was mine,” he sings. He reflects that they might still be together now if he didn’t “push [her] outta the spotlight.” Has anyone checked on Emma after this release?
In “Deeply Still In Love,” Role Model croons: “Well I heard you might’ve found somebody new / I still can’t swallow it but I think I’m proud of you / And I went out tonight, shit don’t feel the same / I tried to bury it till I called her by your name.” Oof. Perhaps the “somebody new” is a certain… Peter?