For Shane Boose, better known as Sombr, stillness is a rare luxury. At just 20 years old, the New York-born artist has spent much of the past year in motion, bouncing between cities, stages, and expectations that seem to grow louder by the day. What little quiet he finds feels fleeting, a brief pause before the next surge. His rise has been swift and unmistakable, fueled by viral success, an intensely devoted global fanbase, and nearly 60 million monthly listeners. Some artists receive public adoration while others are beloved by the critics, a musician’s musician, as they’re often called. Sombr so seamlessly achieved both with such haste that he is perhaps the first artist to reach near-overnight megastardom since a teenage Billie Eilish. It sets the prodigal artist on a path toward becoming a future Bob Dylan, the kind of musician who defines eras and inspires generations.

MATHIAS ROSENZWEIG: Where are you at the moment?

SOMBR: I’m in LA, at my house. But I’ve been all over. I just got back about two days ago after not being home for over a month.

MR: Yes, it’s been a busy year for you. Part of including a Grammy Nomination for Best New Artist. What does that feel like for you?

S: I mean, I knew I was in the running through all these articles leading up to it, but I still couldn’t believe that it was possible. When I was growing up, and I told my parents I wanted to be a pop star, they would say things like, “That’s a one-in-a-million chance. No one gets that opportunity.” So that, let alone having a hit or anything like that, seemed impossible. One thing led to another, and then being in the running to be nominated just didn’t feel real. I honestly thought it was bullshit. So on the day the nominations were set to be announced, I set my alarm for after the announcement, because it was too much for me to watch it live. I didn’t want to expect anything, because that’s unhealthy. I woke up to all these texts saying that I had been nominated. Let’s just say it was a very good day. I was over the moon.

MR: You went to school to study music, which isn’t the case for a lot of music stars. Can you tell me about how that helped shape you as an artist?

S: First of all, it was amazing. I went to LaGuardia High School in New York, and I was a vocal major. We had a full academic day, and in addition to that, we had music classes, which made the days a bit longer. It was nothing contemporary. We were classically trained, singing arias in different languages such as Italian, German, French, and more. I learned how to sing in an almost operatic way. I learned how to sing classically, which doesn’t really help me directly with what I do today, but it helped me with live performance and being able to sing properly without damaging my voice. I’m very grateful for that. It was also important because the New York school system can be a toxic environment, with bullying and things like that, and it was definitely the first place where, as a boy, I felt like it was normal.

MR: Since blowing up, have you had any regrets about lyrics or creative choices you’ve put out, or has the attention only made you want to double down?

S: No regrets. Everything happens for a reason, and I would never put art out into the world and have regrets.

MR: What are the hardest topics to write about?

S: I’d say the hardest things to write about are experiences with specific people that can still be difficult to think about. Other than that, there isn’t really anything that’s easier to write about. Writing is always a challenge. Creating something from nothing—the instrumental, the lyrics, the beat—it’s always challenging. And then it’s one thing to create something, but another thing to do it well. So it’s always challenging.

MR: Do you feel like you have a good sense of which ones might become radio hits or get really big, or has it been a surprise each time?

S: I mean, it’s always a surprise. It’s hard because I never expected to have a big song or a song that people knew in the first place. So when “Back to Friends,” my first hit, popped off, I was like, ‘What the actual fuck?’ It was shocking. Then we had “Undressed,” which was equally shocking. But the one that shocked me the most was “12 to 12,” because I was coming off the back of two really big songs, and “12 to 12” was completely different from both of them. It was a disco song with a four- on-the-floor beat, which I kind of started as a joke because I was uninspired one night. I thought, “Let me just make something completely different.” So I made “12 to 12,” and I really liked it, but I didn’t know how my new listeners would respond, because it was a complete 180. Then it became a hit, which was really shocking. It kind of taught me that I don’t have to stay in one box.

MR: Now that everything has gone so public and there are so many eyes on you, does Sombr ever feel like a character you inhabit on stage? Or is there not really much of a wall between Sombr and Shane at this point?

S: I’d say there’s not much of a wall at this point. Any part of Sombr that might feel like a character is really just me being myself, but feeling more free to express it, because all these people support me and like me for who I am. So it’s just me. It’s a stage name I came up with when I was 16 years old, and now it feels separated from the meaning of the word “somber.” It’s just my name now. If you yell “Sombr,” I’ll turn my head. If you yell “Shane,” I’ll turn my head. It’s exactly the same thing to me.

This cover story appears in the pages of VMAN 56: hitting global newsstands starting March 16, 2026!

Photography Luigi & Iango

Fashion Alexander Roth

Creative Director / Editor-in-Chief Stephen Gan

Interview Mathias Rosenzweig

Makeup Georgi Sandev (Forward Artists)

Hair Sasha Nesterchuck

Casting Greg Krelenstein (GK-LD)

Editor Kev Ponce

Fashion Market Editor Copelyn Bengel

Photo Assistants Francisco Betancourt

Styling Assistants Dylan Gue, Carter Bright

Cinematographer Santiago Montess