%%
%%
%%
%%Zero Context Examples are not allowed, neither is troping a person's life like it's a work. Do not uncomment a trope without providing sufficient context.
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%

[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ACreativeManILike_9345.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:259: Don't wanna be lonely no more.]]

Robert Kelly Thomas (born February 14, 1972) is an American rock recording artist and songwriter. He is the primary songwriter and lead singer of the band Music/MatchboxTwenty. Thomas also records and performs as a solo artist. Thomas earned three Grammy awards for co-writing and singing on the Music/{{Santana}} triple-platinum hit "Smooth", on the album ''Supernatural'' in 1999.

He has also lent his songwriting talents to such artists as Music/TomPetty, Music/WillieNelson, Music/MickJagger, Music/MarcAnthony, Pat Green, Taylor Hicks, Travis Tritt and Music/{{Daughtry}}.

Since 1995, his band has released a string of hit singles to radio including "Push", "3 A.M.", "Real World", "Back 2 Good", "Bent", "If You're Gone", "Mad Season", "Disease", "Unwell", "Bright Lights", and "How Far We've Come". In 2004, the Songwriters Hall of Fame awarded Thomas its first Starlight Award, recognizing young songwriters who have already had a lasting influence in the music industry.

His own hits include "Her Diamonds", "Give Me the Melt Down", "This is How a Heart Breaks", "Ever the Same", and "[[WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons Little Wonders]]".

He is not the creator of ''Series/VeronicaMars''.

!!Discography
* ''...Something To Be'' (2005)
* ''cradlesong'' (2009)
* ''[[NewSoundAlbum The Great Unknown]]'' (2015)
* ''Chip Tooth Smile'' (2019)

!!Tropes relating to his work:
* AdamWesting: Played a sociopathic version of himself in [[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS04E09DennisReynoldsAnEroticLife an episode]] of ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia''. He was Creator/{{Sinbad}}'s bitch, though [[spoiler: he was a delusion created by a severe blow to the head]].
%%* AntiLoveSong: "Lonely No More".
* AllTakeAndNoGive: "You just take and take and take and take and" in "Give Me the Meltdown".
* AnnualTitle: "Real World 09".
%%* AudienceParticipationSong: "Lonely No More".
* AuthorAppeal: Really really loves African music and African American gospel vocalists, shown on both his albums, part of his Matchbox Twenty work and expressed in the song; "Fire on the Mountain" explicitly.
%%* BeYourself: "Something to Be".
%%* BreakUpSong: "This is How a Heart Breaks", "Mockingbird", "Gasoline", "Natural", "Slowblind".
%%* CarefulWithThatAxe: In a sense on "This Is How A Heart Breaks", but when he really wants to let it all out, he does.
* FanService: Lonely No More features some sexual FemaleGaze cinematography and he's wearing some all black cowboy inspired outfit.
%%* GriefSong: "Fallin' To Pieces", "My My My".
%%* IntercourseWithYou: "Words are only words, can you show me something else" in Lonely No More. "I've been sleeping around but I still ain't over you" in "Still Ain't Over You".
%%* MoodWhiplash: "When the Heartache Ends", "Something to Be", "All That I Am".
%%* LoveWillLeadYouBack: "Still Ain't Over You".
* LyricalDissonance:
** "Her Diamonds". Very upbeat-sounding, but it's about his wife's auto-immune disease and their struggle to deal with it.
--> And she says ''ooh'', I can't take no more \\
Her tears like diamonds on the floor \\
And her diamonds bring me down \\
'Cause I can't help her now \\
She's down in it \\
She tried her best and now she can't win it \\
Hard to see them on the ground \\
Her diamonds falling down
** "Mockingbird" is a peppy, jovial song about a failing relationship and the calm resignation from both sides of a relationship that it just isn't working out between them.
* LyricalTic: Is fond of throwing in "hey man", "man" and variations on that feeling and word in his songs.
* ProtestSong: "Fire On the Mountain", dedicated to Africa and the issues Africa faces as a continent, and other continents suffering similar problems.
%%* PrecisionFStrike: As much as with his Matchbox Twenty work.
%%* SanitySlippageSong: "Something To Be", "Give Me the Meltdown", "Wonderful", "I Am An Illusion".
%%* SillyLoveSongs: "Now Comes The Night" "Ever The Same", "Problem Girl", "All That I Am".
* ShoutOut: Common all over the place on ''Chip Tooth Smile'', including the album cover, which strongly resembles the cover of [[Music/BruceSpringsteen Born In The USA]]
** ''Timeless''. off the same album, shouts out, Music/PhilCollins, Music/ThePolice, Music/GeorgeMichael, Music/{{Eurythmics}}, Music/CyndiLauper, Music/DavidBowie, Music/{{Prince}}, and that's just from the first verse and chorus.
* SpiritualSuccessor: The Latin/pop sound of "Lonely No More" stylistically follows "Smooth," his duet with Music/{{Santana}}, to the point that they're even in the same key. Contrary to popular belief, Carlos Santana did ''not'', in fact, co-write it.
%%* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Now Comes The Night", "Cradlesong", "All That I Am", "When The Heart Ache Ends".
* TakeThat: "Something to Be" features some intriguing lines about the artistic process:
--> "Play another one of those heartbreak songs\\
Tell another story how things go wrong And they never get back\\
My pain is a platinum stack/Take that shit back"
** Revisted with ''Funny'':
--> "Had a run with some good lines\\
All fear and alibi\\
Had a laugh for a good while\\
And all my tears were crocodile"
%%* ObsessionSong: "Still Ain't Over You".
%%* UnpluggedVersion: subverted with "Now Comes the Night" which was recorded live with him and his keyboard in a studio.
%%* YouAreNotAlone: "Streetcorner Symphony".
----