How Sombr Became One Of Gen Z's Most Divisive Artists
If the 2026 Grammys are your first time hearing of Sombr, you’re probably an elder millennial or older, but if you have a teen in your life, we promise you they’re familiar—whether they like him or not.
Sombr, the stylized stage name of 20-year-old New York native Shane Boose, is nominated in the Best New Artist category after a meteoric, and controversial, rise to fame following the release of his debut album I Barely Know Her, which included breakout hits “Back to Friends” and “Undressed.”
With Timothée Chalamet-looks and rockstar-inspired music that perfectly lends itself to TikTok snippets, Sombr captured a predominantly teenage girl audience in the same way The Neighborhood or The 1975 once had.
However, with great fame comes great backlash, and Sombr’s came in fast and furious.
In October, a 25-year-old woman posted about her experience at one of Sombr’s Washington D.C. shows, calling it “genuinely the worst concert” she’d been to. The woman, Megan Tomasic, noted that she felt too old to be among the teen and tween audience who Sombr allegedly spoke to through “a bunch of niche meme references for like the 12-to-16-year-old age range” throughout the show. “It was like brain rot on stage,” she said.
Tomasic also raised another issue, one that has since sparked discourse online, when she accused Sombr of including adult content in his set despite his young audience. Per Tomasic, the singer mentioned “super vulgar stuff about getting his dick sucked,” and asked fans to “bark for me.” Both of these moments have been verified in TikTok videos.
Soon, videos of Sombr’s explicit ad-libbing circulated widely across TikTok, as well as an often-mentioned rumor accusing him of being an “industry plant” (proponents of this theory cite his rapid rise to fame and his parents’ work with high-profile charity events that could give them industry contacts).
Then, Sombr weighed in—a move that could be described as the ultimate no-no or a bold act of self-defense depending on who you ask.
“I thought I was chronically online, but it’s just come to my attention that there’s a TikTok drama going around because a 25-year-old attended my concert and was basically complaining that there were too many tweens there, I was making too many brain-rot jokes, and she just thought it was a cringe concert,” he said in his own TikTok video.
“If you’re 25 years old and you’re going to come to my concert and not expect people younger than you to be there when I, the artist, am five years younger than you, it’s just a skill issue,” he said.
As for the jokes, Sombr essentially chalked that up to him being, to borrow a Gen Z term, unserious.
“Anyone who knows me knows I’ve never uttered a serious word in my life,” he said. “And also, I make jokes for five minutes of the concert and the rest is music. Like, live a little, enjoy life.”
The controversy bewildered those over the age of 30 who were, and maybe remain, largely unaware of Sombr. But it also exposed a gap within Gen Z. Those in the older portion of the demographic, 25- to 29-year-olds, might be just as familiar with brain rot memes as younger Gen Z, but taking those memes off the internet and on a stage might just be a step too far.
For young Gen Z fans, 18- to 24-year-olds, this kind of backlash seems to have only galvanized them. Who cares if an older fan finds him cringe? Young Gen Z have been battling against perceptions of their generation for years. And thus, the intra-generational lines have been drawn, and who wins hangs on Sombr’s future success.