Highlights
- Sombr recalls fangirling over Taylor Swift after she praised him on the radio
- Singer opens up on body image struggles behind his song “My Body Isn’t Ready”
- Sombr says touring is “the biggest high,” even as fame brings trade-offs
Sombr is having a summer nobody saw coming, and he’s not pretending otherwise.
The 21-year-old singer, born Shane Boose, threw a surprise pop-up show at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg last month, one announced only hours in advance via text to his most devoted New York fans. The reason for the secrecy, he said, is that “the police are concerned about a riot.”
That’s the level of pandemonium trailing Sombr these days. His 2025 debut album, I Barely Know Her, has racked up more than 4 billion streams, and he’s now graduated to headlining Madison Square Garden. Fame, he admits, has cost him some of the small pleasures, like his old subway commute. “There are just trade-offs with this career,” he said.
Chief among the perks of that trade-off: Taylor Swift.
Swift name-dropped Sombr as an “incredible” listen during a radio interview last October, sending his phone into meltdown mode. “I had all these texts saying, ‘What the fuck — Taylor Swift just shouted you out in a radio interview!'” he recalled to Variety. He wrote to thank her, and she mailed back a letter and a lucky charm necklace. “I freaked out and fangirled,” he said, “and somehow I haven’t fucked it up.”
Their bond deepened in June when Swift asked him to perform at her Songwriters Hall of Fame induction. He wanted her to choose the songs. She refused. “She was like, ‘No, I want you to pick the songs,'” he said, adding that the pressure was real, “but she was really happy with my choices.” He landed on “Cardigan” and “Dear John.”
Watching her react in the crowd nearly broke him. “That’s a goddess,” he said of the moment he dared to make eye contact. Swift later called his performance “perfect” and told the room his songwriting makes her “actually envious,” declaring, “Sombr is the future.”
Sombr has also gotten unusually candid about body image, releasing the song “My Body Isn’t Ready” after months of online cruelty, including a viral TikTok pile-on that likened him to “Slender Man.” He said the track is meant to reassure fans who feel the same way about themselves. “I’m not always happy about my body image,” he admitted, adding that he’s made peace with the trolls. “Everyone can say whatever the fuck they want about me. I know who I am.”
As for the road, Sombr says it’s less a burden than a lifeline. “Touring is the biggest high you can get as an artist,” he said. “For me, it’s more about how I can survive not being on tour.”
With Madison Square Garden on the horizon and Swift firmly in his corner, Sombr’s rise shows zero signs of slowing down.
This piece touches on body image and disordered eating. If this resonates with you, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline (1-866-662-1235) offers free support.
