Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Pop: Rob Thomas Wooed Over to Hot Republic Records, Drops a New Solo Single, “Hard to Be Happy” On Friday

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Rob Thomas, leader of matchbox twenty, is one of our best singer songwriters. (He also doesn’t seem to age, but that’s another story!)

Thomas’s solo records are good as the group’s, too. Have you heard his song, “Someday”? You’ll never get it out of your head.

On Thursday night, Rob drops a new solo single called “Hard to be Happy.” From his Instagram post today, it sounds like another hit to go with all his others.

Rob has been with Atlantic Records for a long, long time. But he was wooed away this spring to Republic Records by their chief, Monte Lipman, the same guy behind Taylor Swift and most of the top 20 acts in the biz. Rob certainly likes people named Lippman — and they like him. His longtime managers are the legendary Michael Lippman, and son, Nick.

“Hard to be Happy” is the lead single off of Rob’s new album, “All Night Days,” which drops soon. He’s also on tour beginning any minute.

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A post shared by Rob T (@robthomas)

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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