Wonderful

putting up a front so you can have pretend happy because it's better than nothing. inside he feels like hell because he's just being what everyone else wants and he has no sense of who he really is

People who used to love him, are beginning to get bored or annoyed with him for no reason:

"All the ways they have to make me smile, and then they go and break me"

"And now I'm overrated, overdressed and overstated"

(I think Rob Thomas may be talking about the media's ever-changing opinions of him)

He feels the only way to make people like him is by pretending to be someone he's not. And no matter what he does, he falls short. He can't stop pretending because he desperately seeks his peer's approval.

"No I can't be myself And I can't be nobody else but if I could Would you love me then?"

So, he's frustrated because he's trying so hard, and people still have negative opinions of him. He's tired, confused, and he doesn't know what to do anymore.

I love this song because it's so relatable, especially since I'm in high school.

I was actually wondering....

Do you still have to be put on a mask to find/keep people's approval after high school? Even, if you're not a 3-time Grammy-winning recording artist?

To respond to navii's question:

"I was actually wondering....

Do you still have to be put on a mask to find/keep people's approval after high school? Even, if you're not a 3-time Grammy-winning recording artist?"

Usually, the answer is yes. But then it depends on the people. And whether you're a Grammy-winning artist doesn't really change that. (I think the Grammys are a stupid popularity contest, personally.) To most of the world, you're only as cool as the last thing you did that was important enough to make headlines. (Or at least local news.) So to be on the top of the popularity totem pole, you have to prove yourself again and again, which I'd imagine is very tiring. Some people exhaust their entire lives trying to do this. Others eventually realize that popularity is fickle and fleeting, and just settle for being liked by the handful of people who understand and accept them.

What the hell does this have to do with Rob Thomas? Well, he and his band have been out of the spotlight for a while, and I think that factors into the criticism of anything RT or Matchbox 20 are working on now. The longer you take a break, the more your new stuff is expected to be some huge chart-topping comeback (especially if you've won THREE GRAMMIES!) or else you're mocked as a commercial failure. RT was probably aware of this when he wrote this song - wrestling with whether to play the game and see how long he can keep his identity current with what people expect a big pop star to look/sound like, or whether he should just ditch that and be himself and if the rest of the world doesn't like that, then oh well.

I say he should go the unpopular route and just do whatever the hell he wants. I'm not sure whether he's doing that or just trying to find the middle ground - I like his music, but I don't think it's anything particularly amazing. I see him experimenting with styles in a few places, but then in others I see him falling back on a lot of tired radio cliches. Maybe tired radio cliches fit his personality; I don't know. Maybe he could be 100% himself and I wouldn't like it. But I'd critique it on the basis of the songwriting and musicianship, not on whether I think he's got what it takes to be at the top of the Billboard charts and win Grammies and be the heartthrob featured on teenybopper magazine covers. That stuff's silly. Just make good music, Rob.

Undoubtedly the best song (along with Her Diamonds) off Cradlesong. I love the "when I come home tired" part, Thomas is great at singing furiously.

celebrities, mass-media, MTV, disposable pop-stars.

the outrageous expectations of what people want celebrities to be - manufactured sell-out fashion-and-music-video pop-tarts.

and he's not that kind of person.

but if he was all those things, would they love him then?

phenomenal song :P

In response to navii, I'm in high school too, and I've discovered that the best way to stay happy is not to care what people think, just be yourself. It's got me a few enemies, but I don't care. If they can't accept me for who I am, they're not worth a second thought.