Role Model debuted a new song during a secret concert in Chicago — with a not-so-subtle nod to rumored girlfriend Dakota Johnson.
Role Model, 29, performed “Love I You” from his upcoming album, Chuck Timely & The Hourglass, during his Thursday, July 30, gig at Chicago’s Thalia Hall.
“Hey, I think you’re perfect,” Role Model sings in social media footage, before Johnson’s voice can be heard teasing, “You say that to everyone.” (Johnson, 36, was not seen on stage during the show.)
In response, Role Model asked, “Is it working?” to which Johnson quipped, “Yeah, but don’t tell anyone.”
Role Model and Johnson go back and forth in the track, which ends with the 50 Shades of Grey actress flirtatiously calling the singer “Mr. Big Night.”
“Aw f***, you don’t know me,” he added.
Johnson and Role Model have been romantically linked since January after they were spotted holding hands and packing on the PDA on multiple occasions.
Neither the “Sally (When the Wine Runs Out)” musician nor Johnson have publicly addressed their relationship status. The romance would be Johnson’s first following her breakup from ex-fiancé Chris Martin. Johnson and the Coldplay singer, 49, were together from 2017 to 2025.
When quizzed about her dating non-negotiables post-breakup, Johnson revealed on the Today show in June 2025 that she had no interest in being with “an a**hole.”
As for Role Model, he previously dated social media star Emma Chamberlain from 2020 to 2023.
“To quote Sabrina Carpenter, ‘I swear they choose me. I’m not choosing them.’ I have never slid into the DM of a musician — only ever has the music man slid into mine,” Chamberlain, 25, said on a November 2025 episode of the “In Your Dreams” podcast of her history dating singers. “They do come to me, but I also am absolutely very attracted to me in music. … I kind of can’t figure out what it is.”
Many fans have even theorized that Role Model’s 2024 album, Kansas Anymore, was written about his split from Chamberlain.
“It is interesting. I learned about my own relationship through the music,” Chamberlain added on Owen Thiele’s podcast. “I’ve learned truly how, perhaps, people have felt about me through music. [It’s] great, but it’s also kind of weird when you hear more in the music than in real life. It’s like, ‘Really, you feel that way?’ People who make music, that’s their art [and] that’s their expression. That’s how they share their feelings [and] their emotions.”
Role Model, for his part, has not revealed the lyrical inspiration for the record.
“I don’t think there’s any thought to it, to be honest. I think it’s a product of my personality, there’s no part of me that’s like, ‘Oh, I’m trying to spill tea about fucking specifics and a relationship falling apart,’” he told Rolling Stone in April 2025. “No, I will always blame myself for everything, no matter what. Whether it’s relationships, friendships or just anything in life, I’m quick to take it out on myself. I don’t have it in me to write breakup songs where it’s like, ‘F*** you. You were the worst thing ever.’ I don’t think I’ve ever really felt that about anyone, ever.”
