If you’ve listened to Sombr’s music, you might have come away with the impression that this 20-year-old, allegedly six-foot-seven heartthrob is depressed. His lyrics circle heartbreak, inspecting it from every angle, and his primary inspirations are Bon Iver and Jeff Buckley—two patron saints of melancholy. The name doesn’t help, either. But to stand in the crowd at one of his shows, to witness the outright phenomenon that is Sombr in 2026, tells a different story. The musician’s stage work is peppered with “brainrot” Internet slang, and he has been known in the past to favor a handful of pulse-quickening mid-performance stunts. But despite his deep entrenchment in Gen Z’s digitally mediated realms, Sombr has a steely, glam-rock sex appeal that feels distinctly analog—and triggers a frenzy best witnessed IRL. In a manner that seems preternatural, he’s woven together the old-school with the newfangled, bringing his earworms to life with a bawdy and flamboyant onstage persona. He’s the almost too-perfect modern pop star.
Sombr, born Shane Michael Boose, grew up in what is now known as Dimes Square with parents who worked in events and communications—two things the LaGuardia High School dropout has become well-versed in over the past year. “When I was growing up there in the 2010s, Dimes was definitely not a cool area,” he tells me. (A tattoo on the knuckles of his left hand reads “LES.”) When his 2022 single “Caroline” became an unexpected viral hit, the then-16-year-old left school to pursue a record deal. In 2023, the legendary A&R man and producer Tony Berg, who has lent his Midas touch to everyone from Phoebe Bridgers to Sarah McLachlan, became a close collaborator.
The real onslaught of fame came in 2025, when his songs “Back to Friends” and “Undressed” amassed a collective 2.5 billion streams on Spotify. The ensuing months have been a whirlwind, complete with a breathless endorsement from Taylor Swift and a nomination for Best New Artist at the Grammys. The night he made his network TV debut with a performance of “Back to Friends” on The Tonight Show last May, he claims he walked offstage to discover 15 missed calls from the girl who inspired the lyrics by rejecting him in the first place.
Sombr understands the Internet better than most pop stars. His songs revolve around the 15-second emotional gut punch that translates perfectly into a TikTok loop and quickly yields millions of streams. It’s pure Gen-Z bait: longing delivered with lean, glitzy swagger. But Sombr is not just another pretty face doing the bidding of the machine. He writes and produces his own songs, making sure to leave a trace of DIY grit in the sound so it never feels too glossy. He pairs his steadily growing digital fan base with onstage flourishes that spark a flurry of commentary. In 2026, that’s the formula: undeniable talent, low-stakes chaos, and a rapt fan base that can’t decide whether they love you or simply can’t look away from the spectacle. (Is there even a difference?)
I ask him if LaGuardia—the U.S.’s most prestigious public school for the arts, which has birthed icons ranging from Jennifer Aniston to Slick Rick and Timothée Chalamet—was a competitive environment. “Everyone was very supportive of each other,” he asserts. “We were all working towards the same thing.” If anything, he adds, the halls were a runway. “Maybe it was a fashion competition,” he relents.
The musician still starts every song the same way as he did in high school: alone in his bedroom. (Though these days, he finishes them at the famed Sound City Studios in Los Angeles.) Dimes Square was the post-pandemic hub of what came to be known as “dirtbag” culture, propagated by a particular flavor of downtown writer, critic, and podcaster who delighted in intellectual provocation and a sometimes right-leaning, anti-woke sentiment. When I ask what that adolescence was like, he responds pithily: “I didn’t choose this life; this life chose me.” This made me laugh, because he is sort of right.
When we speak, Sombr is in a Berlin green room, in the midst of a world tour that’s taking him from Austria to Australia. The road, at that pace, is nothing short of punishing. But the musician is resilient: “I am definitely settling in,” he notes. It helps that his band is stacked with longtime friends. His drummer, Mitch Prewitt, has been a friend since before Sombr had fans. “It’s not a typical band where I hire just players. It gets so lonely if you don’t have friends with you,” he continues, leaning back on a green, worn leather couch backstage. “Luckily, it all just came together like that.”
Hair and Makeup by Daniela Magginetti
Production by Simona Ghinassi
Styling Assistance by Carolina Tolo
Lighting Assistance by Noemi Sorze and Mariachiara Padalino
Production Assistance by Andrea Blu Rivan
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