a sombr tale: warner's alt-pop troubadour turns tears into streams

19-year-old Warner signing sombr is blowing up.

The singer-songwriter’s sad alterna-pop track “back to friends” (via SMB Music/Warner) has moved up to #53 at Spotify U.S. and #57 Spotify global, and is making noise at TikTok and seeing action at radio. A second track, the brand-new “undressed,” is also taking off, already at #117 Spot U.S. and #187 global. The artist is turning heads as a live act, too.

The yearning “back to friends” is averaging 1.5m daily global streams on the Spot. The song is playlist bait not only on Spotify stalwarts like Today’s Top Hits (and genre bellwethers Pop Rising and sad hour) but Apple Music’s ALT CTRL and Elton John’s Rocket Hour, Amazon’s All Hits and Pandora’s Today’s Hits.

It was added at KROQ, Alt Nation and other Modern Rock outlets and is now #44 on the Alternative radio chart.

"Undressed,” meanwhile, is racking up north of 1m global streams per day. Since the teen upstart teased the track earlier this month, it has reached 9.5 million views on TikTok—amassing 5.4 million views and 1.4 million likes in 72 hours. We also note that “back to friends” has sparked 276k TikTok creations and nearly 1b TikTok views. In the last seven days, 100k new sombr-inspired UGC videos were created.

All that sadness is naturally breeding gladness among interested parties.

Sombr, in case you were wondering, is the nom de rock of NYC native (and current L.A. resident) Shane Boose, whose lanky frame and tousled locks probably won’t hurt his chances at the brass ring. He first attracted fan (and biz) attention with 2022 single “caroline,” which has amassed 41m+ global Spotify streams; 2023’s “would’ve been you” has 86m+.

The Aaron Bay-Schuck signing’s success, we’re told, is the result of a three-year development process, and it shows.

The classically trained artist, who’s repped for live by UTA’s Matt Meyer and John Taylor, is on the road through 4/19 with former Why Don’t We singer Daniel Seavey. He’ll join Nessa Barrett on tour in the U.K. and Europe this summer.

Is sombr on the way to a full-on (albeit melancholy) pop breakthrough? Don’t touch that dial.