Meet the new prince of pop - viral on TikTok and already a Grammy nominee

If you are a millennial who loves alternative rock and have already lost all hope in its future because Gen Z supposedly has no interest in the genre, it seems that Sombr, the new TikTok music star, might be one of the artists leading its revival. Recently, I feel like I see his name everywhere. At the end of August, Shane Michael Boose released his debut album I Barely Know Her, which includes two of his viral hits, Back to Friends and 12 to 12. He then stole the show with his performance at the MTV Music Awards, and last week he received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Surreal moments have been coming one after another, and over the weekend he appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, all while wearing flawless glam rock fashion. All in all, 2025 has been the year of Sombr, the young prince of alternative pop and rock. Below, we bring you everything you need to know about him.

A radient rise

The story of Sombr begins somewhere on the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the pandemic. Shane Michael Boose turned his bedroom into a sound laboratory, keeping in mind that he was only fifteen at the time. As a student at the LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, the school that inspired the film Fame, he developed a dreamy sound built on rich harmony and aching longing. Using nothing but drum samples and amp emulations, he aligned himself with the wave of indie artists such as Cigarettes After Sex, who had no radio hits or critical acclaim yet amassed billions of streams. After signing with Warner Records and bringing producer Tony Berg, a frequent collaborator of Phoebe Bridgers, a collection of demos that were fifty to seventy percent finished, Sombr was given a budget to fully construct his wall of sound. As his star power grew, so did his confidence and commercial appeal.

His first major breakthrough, the song Caroline, exploded in 2022, reaching a million streams in a single week. Since then, Sombr has been on a steady rise. Songs like Willow, I’ll Remember Tonight, and later the Savior EP confirm a rare trajectory. He is a self-taught musician, producer, songwriter, and performer who writes songs the way someone would write a diary.

What do Sombr and Timothée Chalamet have in common?

Aside from the fact that both speak openly about their big ambitions, Sombr and Timothée attended the same school. In that school, everyone wants to be like him, so he was definitely someone who motivated me. When he showed up, everyone would go crazy. And that is the kind of effect I want to have when I go back. I have not had that moment yet, but I recently did a pop-up show in New York to celebrate the release of my album, and we shut down Canal Street. There were maybe ten LaGuardia banners saying “LaGuardia High School loves you!” It was an unbelievable feeling, because not so long ago I was one of those students. It was the best day of my life. I always say that if I had died after that show, I would have died happy. Fulfilled. That was the performance when I thought, this is why I do all of this, he recently told Vogue.

Photo: Instagram @sombr

The song with Addison Rae made a huge impact

I think it is the best song I have ever made, because it gives me the same feeling Daft Punk used to give me. The music video shoot was scheduled for Saturday, and it was already Wednesday, and we still did not have a girl for the lead role. Someone suggested Addison, because she had followed me on Instagram a few weeks earlier. But she follows a lot of people, so I thought, she will say no. Why would she even need this? But we clicked, we had a certain energy. In the end she said she was in, and I lost my mind from excitement, he said. The song in question is 12 to 12, which became a true summer hit thanks to its catchy melody and a provocative video with a seventies inspired aesthetic. We arrived on set, and when I saw her for the first time, she was simply unreal. We had choreographers ready, and she said, no, I will improvise. She started doing her thing and everyone’s jaw dropped. I am not exaggerating. Everyone was like, this woman knows exactly who she is. It is one of my favorite artistic projects I have ever been part of, and it feels like something bigger than me.

Concerts Across Europe

Sombr offers a hybrid musical world where romantic indie, dream pop, and lo-fi elements intertwine. His influences are clearly present yet transformed. Bon Iver for raw emotion, Phoebe Bridgers for lyrical honesty, and Frank Ocean for vocal flexibility.

Between opening for Nessa Barrett, performing a stage duet with Suki Waterhouse, channeling a Mick Jagger inspired style, a standout appearance at the 2025 MTV VMAs, and a global tour titled The Late Nights & Young Romance, the singer seems fully prepared to take over the pop scene. His two concerts scheduled for early 2026 at Salle Pleyel in Paris are already sold out, followed by shows in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Dublin. It seems like all of this is only the beginning of a radiant career.