Rob Thomas is entering a new chapter in his career ahead of the release of his first non-holiday album since 2019, as the three-time Grammy-winner and Matchbox Twenty singer has left his longtime label Atlantic for a new deal with Universal Music Group’s Universal Records.
Thomas officially signed with Universal back in April. News of the switch-up arrives officially on July 11, and with it Thomas will drop two new songs, “Hard to be Happy” and “Thrill Me.” His fifth solo album All Night Days comes out September 5. The change to Universal marks a major turn for Thomas, who’d previously called Atlantic his home for the last 20 years, releasing four solo solo albums there (and a Christmas collection), as well as five albums with his band Matchbox Twenty. (The band’s contractual obligations to Atlantic have been fulfilled, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.)
“The day I left Atlantic, Universal picked me up,” Thomas tells THR. “There was very little of the Atlantic family I knew left there. In this short time, me and my new UMG team have hit the ground running. It feels invigorating and I owe [Republic Collective CEO] Monte Lipman for picking me up without me having to spend a day swinging in the wind. No one leaves their label and goes to a bigger label.”
Thomas also mentioned the deal during a recent livestream on Twitch hosted by his musician son, Maison Thomas-Eudy. Speaking from backstage at a corporate gig in San Francisco, he reiterated how Atlantic “wasn’t my people anymore,” since the label’s overhaul of the past several years, which included Elliot Grainge take over last fall. Thomas said the label had a “different vibe” and that he “worked out a nice deal with Elliot to get out.”
Thomas said on the stream that he texted Lipman soon after, writing, “‘Just so you know, I’m gone from Atlantic,’ and he wrote right back and goes ‘Welcome to Republic!’”
An insider with knowledge of the deal says the singer left Atlantic because of “a different metric” for success in the modern day music label landscape. “There’s no love lost because we all understand how the business works. But you put your heart and soul into your art.”
A rep for Atlantic didn’t respond to request for comment.
All Night Days marks Thomas’ sixth solo album following 2019’s Chip Tooth Smile and 2021’s holiday record Something About Christmas Time.
Thomas previewed another All Night Days track, the sweepingly romantic ballad “Thrill Me,” at a January benefit gig for Sidewalk Angels Foundation, a non-profit he founded with his wife of 25 years Marisol Thomas, which supports no-kill animal shelters and animal rescues. “Hard to be Happy” is an upbeat track that opens with chirping birds and catchy chords but concedes that lows are part of everyday life with lyrics like, “If I feel like crying, it’s just a temporary low. Don’t try and comfort me, let it go.”
Outside of the album, The U.S. leg of Thomas’ The All Night Days Tour will kick off in Atlanta on August 1 and wrap with a performance at the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles on September 6 to celebrate the album’s release. Thomas will then head Down Under in October, playing seven dates in Australia before kicking off his first ever solo run in New Zealand, with three theater shows in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
As well as supporting All Night Days, the tour will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Thomas’ debut solo record …Something to Be, which spawned Grammy-nominated hits “Lonely No More” and “This Is How a Heart Breaks.”
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