A consummate storyteller both as the frontman of Matchbox Twenty and as a solo artist, Rob Thomas has a lot to say about love, heartbreak and overcoming grief. Hes earned the right to sing from the vantage of a seasoned rocker aware of his own mortality but informed by a wealth of life experience. All of which makes his new album, Chip Tooth Smile , an anomaly in the youth-driven world of pop music.

Nowhere is that more apparent than on the first single, One Less Day (Dying Young), which was inspired by the deaths of pop star George Michael in 2016 and Matchbox Twentys longtime tour manager, Jason Browning , in 2017.

Those losses, Thomas said, prompted him to look beyond the romance in the idea of youth and embrace aging particularly in the spotlight for its less-heralded merits.

You hear people say, I dont want to get older or Getting older sucks, but the truth is, you lose friends who dont get that opportunity, and you realize its a privilege thats not afforded to everybody, the 47-year-old singer-songwriter told HuffPost. I have things Ive accumulated in my life that I dont want to lose. I have relationships with people, and Ive lost people who are close to me. I mean, getting old is up to you. I know people who are in their 70s who I would not call old. But getting older is something, if youre lucky, you get to do.

That wistful and introspective outlook informs the remainder of Chip Tooth Smile, which contains some truly great Rob Thomas moments. Family is paramount, as evidenced by the current single, Cant Help Me Now , which nods to Thomas wife, Marisol, and Breathe Out, delivered as fatherly words of wisdom to his son, Maison, now a student at Bostons Berklee College of Music.