Ever the Same

Last updated
"Ever the Same"
EverTheS-RT.jpg
Single by Rob Thomas
from the album ...Something to Be
ReleasedNovember 7, 2005 (2005-11-07)
Length
  • 4:17 (album version)
  • 3:51 (radio edit)
Label Atlantic
Songwriter(s) Rob Thomas
Producer(s) Matt Serletic
Rob Thomas singles chronology
"This Is How a Heart Breaks"
(2005)
"Ever the Same"
(2005)
"...Something to Be"
(2006)

"Ever the Same" is the third single from Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas's 2005 debut album, ...Something to Be . The song was released on November 7, 2005, and received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It has been used in commercials for NBA Cares . [1]

Contents

Song

"Ever the Same" is a ballad that Rob Thomas wrote for his wife, Marisol Maldonado. [2] [3] For several years, she battled a serious illness that doctors were unable to identify. [2] According to Thomas, Maldonado was "so frustrated by it that she would keep me at bay because she felt she'd be bringing me down." [4] After one particularly painful day, she cried herself to sleep in his arms. [2] He wrote the song, a promise that he would always be there no matter how tough life got, that evening. [2] [3] Thomas says that "It all stemmed from the line: 'Just let me hold you while I'm falling apart.'" [4]

The music has a decided 80s music feel. Thomas describes it as appropriate to play in the last five minutes of a John Hughes film. [3]

Music video

The music video, directed by Phil Harder, [5] features various shots mixed against a drawn and partially colored city background, interspliced with shots of Thomas singing the song. The music video features Wilmer Valderrama. Wilmer's character is a dove keeper who writes messages of hope and attaches them onto the doves legs before allowing them to fly off. As the video progresses, different people all over the city receive these tiny notes. Rob Thomas's wife Marisol is also featured in this video, playing a woman who lives in the apartment adjacent to Rob's. Both Rob and Wilmer look up to see her standing on the edge of her window ledge, presumably thinking about jumping off (most likely in a moment of despair). Wilmer then releases a dove to Marisol, who stops to read the note, smiling and taking seat on the ledge. She eventually jumps off from the ledge, transforming midway into a dove. Rob Thomas, who is out taking his dog for a walk, is sitting on a bench when the dove that once was Marisol lands beside him. He takes the message from its leg and then releases her. The video ends with crowds of people staring up in wonder as Wilmer's flock of doves color the sky and Marisol returning to Wilmer while Rob watches from his window.

Charts

Sales and certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) [15] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref.
United StatesNovember 7, 2005 Atlantic [16]
AustraliaNovember 14, 2005CD [17]
United StatesMarch 6, 2006 Contemporary hit radio [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Thomas (musician)</span> American musician (born 1972)

Robert Kelly Thomas is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for being the lead singer of the rock band Matchbox Twenty. Thomas also records and performs as a solo artist, with "Lonely No More" released in 2005 becoming his biggest chart success as lead solo artist. Thomas received three Grammy Awards for co-writing and singing on the 1999 hit "Smooth" by Santana, which was also his first song as a featured solo artist.

<i>...Something to Be</i> 2005 studio album by Rob Thomas

...Something to Be is the debut solo album from the Matchbox Twenty lead singer Rob Thomas. The album was released on April 5, 2005, and it debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, knocking out Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lonely No More</span> 2005 single by Rob Thomas

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">This Is How a Heart Breaks</span> 2005 single by Rob Thomas

"This Is How a Heart Breaks" is the second single from Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas's debut album, ...Something to Be (2005). Released in June 2005, the song was moderately successful on the charts, peaking at number 52 in the United States and number 13 in Australia. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 500,000 copies, and in 2006, it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smooth (Santana song)</span> 1999 single by Santana

"Smooth" is a song performed by American rock band Santana and Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, who sings the lead vocals. It was released on June 15, 1999, as the lead single from Santana's 1999 studio album, Supernatural. It was written by Itaal Shur and Thomas, who re-wrote Shur's original melody and lyrics, and produced by Matt Serletic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bent (song)</span> 2000 single by Matchbox Twenty

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disease (song)</span> 2002 single by Matchbox Twenty

"Disease" is the first single released from American rock band Matchbox Twenty's third album, More Than You Think You Are. The track was co-written by Matchbox Twenty lead singer Rob Thomas and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. Released on September 30, 2002, the song peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Disease" was one of two songs written by Thomas and presented to Jagger while he was producing his solo album Goddess in the Doorway, alongside "Visions of Paradise". Jagger returned "Disease" to Thomas, saying, "It sounds like you. It's your song."

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"3AM" is the third single and the third track from American rock band Matchbox 20's debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You (1996). Written by Rob Thomas, Jay Stanley, John Leslie Goff, and Brian Yale, the song was inspired by Thomas dealing with his mother's cancer as a teenager. The song was officially serviced to US modern rock radio in October 1997 and was given a commercial release outside North America the following month.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Push (Matchbox Twenty song)</span> 1997 single by Matchbox Twenty

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unwell</span> 2003 single by Matchbox Twenty

"Unwell" is a song by American alternative rock group Matchbox Twenty. Released on February 3, 2003, as the second single from their third album, More Than You Think You Are (2002), it was written by Matchbox Twenty lead singer Rob Thomas. "Unwell" spent 18 weeks atop the US Billboard Adult Top 40 chart and two weeks atop the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. It also reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their third and final top-10 hit. Internationally, the single became a top-20 hit in Australia, peaking at No. 12, and a top-10 hit in New Zealand, peaking at No. 8. "Unwell" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real World (Matchbox Twenty song)</span> 1998 single by Matchbox Twenty

"Real World" is a song by American rock group Matchbox 20. It was released in March 1998 as the fourth single from their debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You. The single was initially ineligible to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 due to not receiving a physical release in North America; it instead peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart in August 1998. However, in December 1998, the Hot 100 chart rules were changed to allow airplay-only singles to chart, and "Real World" became the band's first single to enter the listing, debuting and peaking at number 38. Worldwide, "Real World" reached number five in Canada and number 40 in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bright Lights (Matchbox Twenty song)</span> 2003 single by Matchbox Twenty

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">How Far We've Come</span> 2007 single by Matchbox Twenty

"How Far We've Come" is a song by American alternative rock group Matchbox Twenty. It was released in September 2007 as the lead single from their retrospective collection, Exile on Mainstream, which was released on October 2, 2007. The music video premiered on VH1's Top 20 Countdown on September 1, 2007. The CD single comes with two live covers as B-sides; "Remedy" by The Black Crowes and "Modern Love" by David Bowie. These two songs are also on the Best Buy version of Exile on Mainstream.

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"Her Diamonds" is the lead single from Rob Thomas's second studio album, Cradlesong (2009). Thomas confirmed the single's release via a Twitter account he had created on March 11, 2009. The single premiered on April 22, preceding the release of Cradlesong on June 30. On July 3, 2009, Thomas confirmed in an interview with Natalie Morales and Lester Holt on NBC's Today show that the song references his wife Marisol's auto-immune disease. Thomas announced his wife sang backup on the track and also helped produce its arrangement.

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