Rob Thomas has gotten to where he's comfortable enough in his own skin, at 47, to open "Chip Tooth Smile," his latest solo album, with a chorus of "I’m not afraid of getting older/ I’m one less day from dying young.” As Thomas sees it, getting older is much better than the only clear alternative.

That may not be the stuff of multiplatinum pop hits at the moment. But it is the stuff of life. And that's what matters more to Thomas at this stage of his career.

"If I was at the stage where my whole purpose was to try and play the game to exist on pop radio and really be a viable pop source, I probably wouldn’t be writing the songs that I’m writing," he says with a laugh.

He has played that game and enjoyed an incredibly viable run as a pop star, including two chart-topping smashes – Matchbox Twenty's "Bent" and the single he co-wrote and sang for Santana on the Grammy-sweeping triumph that was "Supernatural."

But it's been 20 years since "Smooth" and 12 since Matchbox Twenty's last big hit, "How Far We've Come." And he's OK with that.