Many heartbreak songs become popular through TikTok for their ‘poetic’ lines or similarity to a basic breakup. Their fame lasts for a month at most, then they are replaced by a new, catchier artist, but Shane Boose, more commonly known as Sombr, seems to differ.
Shane Boose, ‘Sombr’, regularly writes about losing the love of his life and wanting her back. Many artists depict this sorrowful feeling through music, but the unique way in which Sombr puts his emotions into words manages to capture many people’s attention.
When pop artists gain popularity, they usually only keep that top fame for a few months until falling back to a normal level. Despite this oddity, Sombr’s music continues to grow more popular with each passing day.
Sombr released his first song in 2021 and continued releasing singles from there. Few of these songs received attention, such as ‘Caroline’ or ‘Willow’, however, his new song ‘Back to Friends’ blew up quickly alongside another hit single, ‘Undressed’.
In March 2025, Sombr reached 10 million monthly listeners. Not even a month after reaching this high achievement, he surpassed 20 million listeners. In a poll on Tiger Times Instagram, 39% of participants responded yes to listening to or hearing his music.
The theme of Sombr’s song ‘Back to Friends’ revolves around dating and devoting his love to a girl for a long time, only for her to turn into a stranger once again. He sings the line “How can you look at me and pretend I’m someone you never met?” which many teenagers can relate to. In his song, he managed to capture the depth of losing your first love and the anger and sadness you experience as you go through it.
Several adults shared that Sombr doesn’t understand how these deep emotions truly feel since he’s only 19 years old. Adults have been known to tell their teenagers that the emotions we feel can just be ‘hormones’, saying that we need to experience more life before we know about ‘love’ or ‘emotions’, but that’s all we have, isn’t it? Our emotions are all over the place at this stage in life, so when we feel those emotions, we feel them the strongest we possibly can. A study by Wonder reported that out of 1,200 Americans, 78% experienced their first love between the ages of 15-20, most being 17.
Music can help teens let out and process their emotions. Sombr’s songs are a part of that, helping teens feel seen and not as if they’re being dramatic. ‘Undressed’ and ‘Back to Friends’ currently hold spots at 47 and 44 on Billboard Hot 100 and 24 and 25 on Billboard Global 200. He also started his first solo tour in March 2025 and will end in October. Sombr’s career has just started, and will continue to create emotionally staggering music in the future.
